“Prayer works … and God is always listening to our prayers,” said a Los Angeles priest, who as a seminarian experienced a miraculous healing that led to the upcoming canonization of a much beloved Italian youth.
Father Juan Manuel Gutierrez, associate pastor at St. John the Baptist Church in Baldwin Park, Calif., spoke at a Dec. 16 press conference at his parish to share his experiences of being healed from a serious sports injury after seeking the intercession of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.
The inexplicable recovery was judged by the Vatican to satisfy the final requirement in Frassati’s canonization cause. On Nov. 25, Pope Francis formally recognized the miraculous healing of then-seminarian Gutierrez — whose name was kept confidential during the canonization process. He had previously announced that Frassati, along with Italian teen Blessed Carlo Acutis, would be canonized in 2025.
Joining the priest at the press conference, which took place in both English and Spanish, were Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and St. John the Baptist pastor Father Ismael Robles. Participating remotely via live feed were Msgr. Robert Sarno, a former official of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, who served as the archiepiscopal delegate in the Los Angeles diocesan process for Frassati’s cause; and, from Rome, Frassati’s niece, Wanda Gawronska.
Dubbed the “Man of the Beatitudes” by St. John Paul II, Frassati — born in Turin in 1901 to an influential family — began receiving daily Communion at a young age, while serving the poor through the St. Vincent de Paul Society and evangelizing his friends.
A lay Dominican, Frassati also participated in demonstrations to defend his faith against the Communist and Fascist parties in Italy. His passion for outdoor activities such as mountaineering has made him a patron of athletes. Frassati died in 1925 at age 24, having contracted polio, which doctors speculated he may have contracted from serving the sick.
Archbishop Gomez said the official public announcement of the miracle in all its detail marked “a joyful day for the whole family of God here in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles,” adding that Father Gutierrez “has an amazing story to tell.”
The miracle itself was an appropriate one for the cause of Frassati, an avid outdoorsman whose hobbies included skiing and mountaineering — with his motto for the latter pursuit being “verso l’alto,” Italian for “to the heights.”
Then-seminarian Gutierrez had torn his Achilles tendon, which connects the calf and heel muscles, while playing basketball with fellow seminarians in September 2017 at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, Calif.
Thinking it was a minor injury that would heal on its own, he managed to navigate for a few weeks with a borrowed air cast and crutches. However, as the pain intensified, he scheduled an MRI, and a doctor confirmed the diagnosis and recommended surgery — a prescription the seminarian dreaded due to the expense and the delay it would cause in his formation.
He was inspired to begin a novena for aid in coping with the injury, and although he had only minimal knowledge of Frassati, the seminarian — who had learned about the saint-in-the-making from YouTube — sought his intercession, promising to make known any favors received.
Although he hadn’t specifically requested a miraculous healing, the seminarian found himself experiencing a gentle warmth in his injured leg. He no longer needed a brace, and days later, an incredulous doctor confirmed that the injury had inexplicably disappeared.
Joining the livestream from New York, Msgr. Sarno admitted the investigation of the miracle — a process Father Gutierrez likened to being on “a roller coaster” — was “almost like a comedy of errors, or a comedy of things well done.”
Having retired from the Vatican to teach at St. John’s Seminary on the diocesan phase of canonization, Msgr. Sarno was approached in 2020 by one of his students — then-seminarian Gutierrez, who wanted to make good on his promise to make Frassati’s favor to him known, especially since a previous effort to do so via an email to cause promoters had gone unanswered.
“I immediately suspected that there might have been some substance to this case,” said Msgr. Sarno, who with Archbishop Gomez’s approval began the diocesan-level canonical investigation.
Speaking from Rome, Gawronska noted that the canonization will take place 100 years after Pier Giorgio’s death, adding that her uncle’s case had “been through lots and lots of troubles” over the years.
Frassati’s canonization cause, opened in 1932, was suspended by Pope Pius XII after anonymous allegations impugned the youth’s moral integrity. The case was reopened by Pope Paul VI, after Frassati’s sister, Luciana, approached Vatican officials to restore her brother’s good name.
One of several students from St. John the Baptist School in attendance at the press conference asked Father Gutierrez for his thoughts on being part of Frassati’s canonization.
“It’s crazy, but it’s a wonderful blessing,” said Father Gutierrez. “Pier Giorgio wanted to spread faith in God. … That invites us to take our Catholic Christian faith seriously, and to be willing to take it outside of the doors of the church to influence the life of society. Because that’s where God, the love of God and Jesus, and what he brought to us, is so desperately needed.”
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