St. Carlo Acutis

Their story

Carlo Acutis was born in 1991 in London to Italian parents and grew up in Milan. His family was not especially religious, but from childhood Carlo was drawn to God. After his First Communion at age seven, he went to Mass and prayed the Rosary every day whenever he could, and he spent time in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. He called the Eucharist his highway to heaven. Carlo was also an ordinary teenager. He loved soccer, his dogs and cats, and video games, though he limited how much he played. He was gifted with computers and taught himself programming. He used those skills to create a website and an exhibit documenting Eucharistic miracles from around the world, which has since traveled to thousands of parishes. He stood up for classmates who were bullied, brought food and sleeping bags to homeless people in Milan, and encouraged his friends to know Jesus. He liked to say that everyone is born an original, but many die as photocopies. In 2006, Carlo was diagnosed with leukemia. He offered his suffering for the Pope and for the Church, and he died within days, on October 12, at the age of fifteen. He is buried in Assisi. Pope Leo XIV canonized him in 2025, making him the first millennial saint.