The way of imagination

       In the third decade of the 20 th century, while Dietrich Bonhoeffer was embarking on the path that would eventually lead him to resist Nazism in Germany, another young, politically active Christian was resisting fascism in Italy.   Maria Di Lorenzo’s Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: An Ordinary Christian tells the story of Bonhoeffer’s Italian Catholic contemporary, who died in 1925 at the tender age of 24.   Both Dietrich and Pier Giorgio were born into wealthy, high-status families; both of their fathers were accomplished, well-connected professionals.   Interestingly, both young men would spend time in the capital of the other’s country.   Pier Giorgio’s father, Alfredo, was appointed the Italian ambassador to Germany in 1920 and the young Frassati spent 3 months in the German capital in 1921, during which time he met Father Karl Sonneschein, “the Saint Francis of Berlin”, a prominent figure of Catholic social action in Germany. ...