Laity and clergy from the Diocese of Camden were among the 80,000 people who gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the canonization of Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis on Sept. 7 in Rome.
Three from South Jersey – Father Edward Friel, pastor of Mary, Queen of All Saints, Pennsauken; Adrianne Bendu of Saint Peter Parish, Merchantville; and David Pirolli of Saint Joseph the Worker Parish, Haddon Township – experienced the Eternal City together.
“Each one of us had our own personal reason for making the pilgrimage, but God was leading us to be with each other in Rome,” Father Friel said. “We walked around Rome visiting Pope Francis’ grave and meeting other pilgrims from around the world.” For Bendu, her personal reason was Saint Frassati.
“I entered the Church in 2014, and shortly after, Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati found me,” Bendu said. “I developed a devotion to Pier Giorgio and the entire Dominican Order.”
Currently in formation to become a third order in the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic, Bendu was able to venerate the saint’s body in July when she traveled to Rome for the Jubilee of Young People.
“To be at his canonization with Pope Leo XIV, our first American pope, was a blessing from God,” she said. “It was wonderful to see so many young people coming into the Church and falling in love with Jesus through Saint Pier Giorgio and Saint Carlo. May these two new saints of the Church bring many more souls to the kingdom of God.”
For Father Friel, the journey for the canonization was one led by the Holy Spirit. Father Friel was in Rome earlier this year on pilgrimage to the Jubilee Year Holy Doors. With him then and now: a pilgrimage cross with countless prayer intentions made by faithful from parishes and schools around the Diocese of Camden. The wooden cross was made in 2017 by one of his parishioners; it has traveled with Father Friel to numerous countries since.
“I knew that this could be my only opportunity to attend a Canonization Mass,” Father Friel said of the trip.
Turns out, it was an opportunity of encounter on many levels.
“I had the opportunity to briefly meet the parents of Carlo Acutis in the lobby of my hotel,” he said. “I had seen them a few times, but there were always a lot of people around them. After the Mass on Sunday, I saw them speaking to two people. I went up and introduced myself. Even after a long and important day, they were very gracious to me and the many others who were filing into the lobby.”
He continued to meet large groups of pilgrims throughout the trip, one of which was a woman from Lesotho, which is surrounded by South Africa.
“On Friday afternoon, I was walking toward my hotel after walking over 9 miles. I was in St. Peter’s Square when a woman asked me to bless her rosary and crosses,” he said, adding that she and her friends were surprised Father Friel was familiar with her homeland.
“She said, ‘Too many people ignore that Lesotho exists, and especially as Catholics,’” Father Friel recounted. “She was right! How many people are unaware of other countries or even dismiss their existence?”
In addition to the people he met in Rome, there were some he carried in his heart.
“In 2009, a young girl from my parish was critically injured and was sent to the ICU,” Father Friel remembered. “Her younger sister called and asked, ‘Father Ed, who do you know in the saints waiting room? I heard that there are people in heaven waiting for one more miracle so they can become a saint. I need someone to help make my sister better. So who do you know?’”
At the time, he had just learned about Saint Frassati. So he prayed with the sister for Pier Giorgio’s intercession. “As the pastor of Mary, Queen of All Saints, I encourage my parishioners to become aware of the many holy men and women that the Church recognizes as saints … and those in the saints waiting room.”
Reflecting on his experience overall, he said, “There are many more stories of the people I encountered that will remain in my heart.”
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