Nearly 20 years after his death, Carlo Acutis has continued to inspire teenagers and young people with hope that sainthood is possible.
The Church’s first millennial saint, who was to be canonized by Pope Leo XIV on Sunday, Sept. 7, was diagnosed with leukemia as a teenager and died at age 15 in 2006. He was canonized alongside Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925), another young Italian who died at age 24.
Carlo Acutis, from Milan, Italy, enjoyed video games and computer coding. He used his computer skills to create a website documenting Eucharistic miracles.
An exhibition of his documented Eucharistic miracles has been displayed at parishes on multiple continents. Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School had the exhibit on loan from Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics in Maria Stein, Ohio, for two weeks at the beginning of the school year.
Students at the high school, roughly the same age as the saint at the time of his death, observed and learned about the Eucharistic miracles he documented.
Rebecca Metzger, director of campus ministry at St. Francis DeSales, hoped the exhibit starts a conversation about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
“For our students, we have maybe 70 or 75 percent are Catholic, but 25 percent aren’t, and so, if seeing this brings to mind just even the thought process of, ‘Let me think about that; this is really the Body and Blood of Christ because of these miracles,’ that’s my hope,” she said, “that some of this will spark those thoughts and conversations.”
Students read “Carlo Acutis: The First Millennial Saint” by Nicola Gori for a summer reading assignment this year.
The school received the Blessed Carlo Acutis International Exhibition “The Eucharistic Miracles of the World” before the first day of school. The exhibit was set up in the school’s Little Theatre.
“When they went to pick it up, the gentleman that takes care of the Shrine and was giving it to one of our employees … he said that he was praying over all of it to ask God that it would have an impact on the kids while it’s here,” Metzger said.
St. Francis DeSales students were encouraged by the saint’s life and dedication to Christ.
Cori Gaddis, 16, a junior at the school, enjoyed reading about the various Eucharistic miracles.
“I’ve always loved stories of saints and Eucharistic miracles and all of that because my grandma used to show them to me when I was younger, and so, this brings me back to why I fell in love with my faith in the first place,” she said. “Reading the stories, like, wow, this happened, and it so much uplifts my faith.”
Gaddis said she loves that the newly canonized saint is a teenager.
“Everybody loves that about him, but it takes so much faith for somebody to be young and still give their life to Christ like that,” she said.
“You read stories about these guys who lived a while ago, who spent years and years perfecting who they are and becoming a saint, and then, for somebody to have such trust in God that they could be a saint so young is just really inspiring.”
“It’s hopeful because it’s not impossible. Sometimes it feels like it is, or that it’s too hard to attain, but it’s not, and he showed that through his life,” Cameron Rudolph, 15, a sophomore, said of sainthood.
Rudolph visited the tomb of Carlo Acutis in Assisi, Italy, this past summer with her family.
The saint’s tomb opened for public veneration in Assisi in October 2020. Carlo asked to be buried there because of his love for St. Francis of Assisi.
Rudolph said she was struck by how much Carlo Acutis loved Jesus in the Eucharist and centered his life around the Eucharistic Lord.
“He really has an inspirational story and hope for us young people,” she said.
For Rudolph, the exhibit was also an opportunity to read about Eucharistic miracles in greater depth.
Brayden Steller, a theology teacher at the school, created an assignment based on the exhibit. His senior class was instructed to select three Eucharistic miracles and describe how it impacts their belief about the Real Presence of Jesus.
As juniors, the students learned about the Eucharist and the Church’s teaching. This year, they are contemplating the Eucharist more deeply, Steller explained, and how such miracles impact belief.
He believes many students can relate to Carlo and the way he lived.
“I think a lot of them really grasp onto the fact that he was really interested in coding and using the internet,” Steller said.
“I think they thought it was really cool that he developed his own website, and that they can still see the fruits of that and see how somebody who’s just like them, who’s just their age is able to make an impact on the broader Church, and I think that really inspires a lot of my students to hopefully make an impact on the Church, too.”
Emma Minser, 17, a senior at St. Francis DeSales, completed the assignment as part of Steller’s class. She was inspired by Carlo’s humility.
“Even though he was blessed with a lot, he still put all that aside … and helped people through anything they were going through and taught them about the Eucharistic miracles, which I think is really important in helping people believe in Jesus and believe that He’s truly present in the Eucharist,” she said.
“It’s just a beautiful thing that such a young person did that and wasn’t afraid to do that despite the judgment that they may face.”
On Friday, Aug. 22, Father David Johnstone, school chaplain and parochial vicar at Worthington St. Michael the Archangel Church, led a Eucharistic procession in the high school. The procession took place while Carlo’s Eucharistic miracles exhibit was on display.
Students and teachers were asked to kneel as Jesus in the Eucharist passed by their classroom.
“I think (the procession) will help us to set the tone for the year, especially as we have Blessed Carlo Acutis being canonized,” Father Johnstone noted.
It will “bring the two of those together for the students who just read the book; we have the display here, and now we’re going to have the reality of the Eucharist as central to our faith and have everybody recognize that through the procession,” he said.
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