Since his youth, Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati was influenced by different religious orders and congregations. He studied at the Jesuit-run Instituto Sociale in 1913 for the Latin language. In this school, Pier Giorgio was inspired to received daily communion which was a practice he continued until his death. It was suggested by the rector of the school, Father Pietro Lombardi, S.J. 

Pier Giorgio’s hometown was in Turin which was also the hometown of Saint John Bosco, the founder of the Salesians. The Salesian presence was still strong and felt in Turin during Pier Giorgio’s lifetime. He took preparatory exams at the Salesian-run Collegio Don Bosco in Alassio. He also visited the poor regularly near the shrine that St. John Bosco built in Turin. When the Salesians were being criticized, Alfredo Frassati defended them in his newspaper La Stampa. The Father General of the Salesians thanked Mr. Frassati personally ad asked him what help he could give in return. Mr. Frassati asked the help of Salesians in his son’s Latin studies. With this, Father Cojazzi who was a Salesian priest became Pier Giorgio’s tutor in Latin. Additionally, the Salesians were regular confessors to Pier Giorgio as he frequently received the Sacrament of Reconciliation from them.

His love and service for the poor was greatly influenced by the Vicentians who focused their mission on the marginalized. Pier Giorgio got connected with them through the Conferences of St. Vincent de Paul that he was introduced to when was studying at the Instituto Sociale. He was committed in attending the weekly meetings of the conference to serve poor families in Turin. 

Pier Giorgio is also most known for being a lay Dominican saint. The saint grew closer to the Dominican order during his college years. He became a professed lay Dominican or tertiary at the Church of Saint Dominic in Turin on May 28, 1922. He even took the name of “Fra Girolamo” as his religious name in profession after the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola who he admired for his preaching against corruption. Pier Giorgio was committed to his Dominican vocation as he practiced its spirituality in his prayers and lived it in his daily life.