Artemis II : Historic lunar fly-by takes the name of St Pier Giorgio Frassati around the moon

Last year NASA invited the public to add their name to a microchip that would travel on the Artemis II rocket around the moon. SSVP Scotland added the name of St Pier Giorgio Frassati, the patron saint of Vincentian youth, to be part of the historic journey.

Artemis II’s record breaking journey around the moon last week offers a fitting echo of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati’s famous motto, “Verso l’alto”—“Toward the Heights.” Frassati wrote the phrase on a mountain photograph to capture both his love of climbing and his pursuit of holiness. His life reminds us that sainthood does not require abandoning our passions. We can pursue adventure, friendship, and joy—but always direct them “Toward the Heights”.

Artemis pilot, Victor Glover, said that he hopes the world would use the time during this mission to come together. He told the BBC when we’re behind the moon and out of contact with everyone, ‘Let’s pray, hope, send your good thoughts and feelings that we get back in contact with the crew’.

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St Pier Giorgio Frassati is the Patron Saint of Vincentian Youth. He was canonised last year on 7th September 2025.

Saint Pier Giorgio was an Italian Catholic layman, known for his deep faith, love for the poor, and vibrant personality. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1990 who described him as the man of the ‘eight Beatitudes’. Frassati was born in Turin, Italy, in 1901, and died from polio at the young age of 24.

He was a member of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and the Third Order of Saint Dominic and he dedicated himself to social justice.

Frassati loved the poor. His mother often scolded him for showing up late to dinner after serving the poor – he usually had to run home after giving away his bus-fare money. His father chastised him for coming home without a coat, a regular occurrence since Pier Giorgio used to give away his own clothes to anyone in need.

It was not simply a matter of giving something to the lonely, the poor, the sick – but rather, giving his whole self. He saw Jesus in them.

“I see a special light surrounding the poor and unfortunate,” he observed to a friend, “a light that we do not have.”

He was appointed patron of Vincentian Youth in 2017. His feast day is the July 4th which is also SSVP’s International Youth Day.