“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, California, 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.”

Pope Francis said that Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati “will be a saint soon.”

Known as “the Man of the Eight Beatitudes,” he was beatified by St. John Paul II in 1990 after his sainthood cause was launched in 1932. The Polish pope had said the young blessed, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, had served as “a beneficial influence” on him during his youth in Poland and that as a student he “was impressed by the force of his Christian testimony.”

Pope Francis recalled the Italian blessed’s example during a meeting June 24 at the Vatican with volunteers of the Circolo San Pietro, an organization founded in 1869 to support papal charities in Rome.

He told the group how beautiful it was for older generations to hand down their faith through concrete charitable action.

“I am reminded of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati — soon to be a saint — who went to the homes of the poor in Turin to bring help,” the pope said.

Even though he was from “a well-to-do, upper middle-class family,” he did not grow up sheltered and protected from the real world and he did not “lose himself living the high life because the vitality of the Holy Spirit was in him, there was love for Jesus and for his brothers and sisters,” Pope Francis said.

While the pope did not offer a date or any other details about the expected canonization, he reinforced recent remarks by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

The cardinal spoke at the 18th national assembly of the Italian Catholic Action in Sacrofano, 16 miles north of Rome, April 26. Blessed Frassati was active in Catholic Action and the Popular Party, which promoted the Church’s social teaching. He once said, “Charity is not enough; we need social reform.”

“I would like to tell you that the canonization of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is now clear on the horizon and looks to be (possible) for the next jubilee year,” said the cardinal, who was interrupted by a long applause, according to Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference.