Our Patrons
The Archdiocesan Office for Youth is guided by the words: PRAY, WITNESS, SERVE. We have also adopted two patrons that lived these three words throughout their lives.
Meet Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
Pier Giorgio Frassati was born in Turin, Italy, in 1901. His father, an agnostic, was influential in Italian politics. Pier Giorgio spent his youth between two world wars when Italy was in social ferment and Fascism was on the rise. He developed a deep spiritual life which he never hesitated to share with his friends. In 1918 he joined the St Vincent de Paul Society and dedicated much of his spare time to serving the sick and the needy. He decided to become a mining engineer so he could ‘serve Christ better among the miners,’ as he told a friend.
Blessed Mary MacKillop’s story
Australia's first saint! From the age of sixteen, Mary earned her living as a governess and as a teacher at the Portland school. While acting as a governess to her uncle's children at Penola, Mary met Father Julian Tenison Woods and in 1866, encouraged by Fr Woods, Mary opened the first Saint Joseph's School in a disused stable in Penola. She was a woman of holiness, a great educator, an advocate for the poor and a visionary of Christianity. Pope Benedict XVI recently announced that Blessed Mary MacKillop will be canonised in Rome on Sunday 17 October 2010.
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