Who Was Carlo Acutis? Meet the Teen Who Was Canonised in 2025
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Carlo Acutis has just made history.
At just 15 years old, he captured the hearts of millions. He’s become the first millennial saint.
Other than a few headlines, that’s all that many Catholics know about Carlo Acutis. The story of St. Carlo is a very relatable story, which has inspired people to take their faith seriously. Yet, few have heard it.
So, who is this modern saint? And why does the Church recognise him as holy?
The Boy Who Became A Saint
You would think that a saint would have to be raised by the most religious parents possible… right?
Carlo’s story was quite the opposite.
He grew up in a family like many today: Catholic mostly by name. His mother, Antonia, had him baptised but rarely went to Church herself.
Yet, a spark would soon ignite in his heart…
It came early. When he was three, Carlo witnessed his grandfather’s death after receiving the Anointing of the Sick. That night, he saw his grandfather in a dream, asking for prayers. Moved, the young boy asked his grandmother to go to Church so that he could pray for him.
Despite his parents not being religious, his Polish babysitter started planting seeds of faith in Carlo’s mind.
Carlo’s infancy was at times pious but quite normal.
Becoming a Man
As he grew, his devotion became more visible.
When his family employed a Hindu housekeeper, she was so inspired by Carlo’s faith that she eventually chose to be baptised.
Throughout his life, Carlo had a deep love for the Rosary and the Eucharist. He went to Mass daily and spent time in adoration. He famously said;
“When we face the sun we get a tan...but when we stand before Jesus in the Eucharist we become saints"
At 12, he became a catechist, leading youth groups and sharing his passion for Jesus. At school, he was remarkably normal. He was not overly showy, but just a humble person who often just blended into the background. As a teenager, he did what teenagers did. He played video games but did so with Jesus in the front of his mind. Even for something like gaming, he moderated to one hour per week.
Carlo had a big heart, always caring for the homeless. Walking past a homeless man in tears, he was determined to give him food every single night.
In 2004, Carlo Acutis took this passion even further and created a website cataloging the Eucharistic miracles around the world. Carlo knew the power of the Eucharist. It is God himself. He called it his “highway to Heaven”.
In Carlo’s mind, if more people knew the power of the Eucharist, it would change their lives.
But then, tragedy struck.
The Bad Diagnosis
In 2006, something was wrong.
He fell ill. Soon, he was too sick to even leave his bed for Mass.
His parents rushed him to the ICU. Carlo’s health was rapidly declining. And tests confirmed the worst, it was leukemia.
Within a few days, a priest would receive the sacrament that he saw his grandfather take all those years ago.
In his final moments, he didn’t curse God or get resentful for dying so young. But instead, he offered everything to God for the Church. He consoled his mother, saying, “Do not be afraid… let us prepare ourselves to experience something extraordinary in eternal life.”
4 days after he was rushed to the hospital, he fell into a coma from which he would never wake up. But with a smile on his face. He lived the life that he so gladly preached.
It was not an extraordinary life. It was an ordinary life transformed by extraordinary love.
Not the End
In 2020, the Vatican made an important announcement.
In Brazil, there had been a child who suffered from a severe pancreatic defect. This sickness was so bad that he couldn’t eat solid food and would often vomit. But after touching the cloth of St Carlo, that changed.
All his symptoms went away.
Later, the ultrasound confirmed it.
His pancreas was fine.
And with this, paved the way for Carlo’s beatification. But only four years later, another miracle had been reported. This time, a woman with severe brain bleeding, on the verge of death, was healed.
In the Catholic Church, a saint needs two miracles to be approved before being declared a saint. And Carlo had just had both of them happen.
A Proud Mother
On September 7th, in front of 80,000 Catholics, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed Carlo Acutis as the first millennial saint.
It was a historic moment in the Church.
In a society attacked by atheism and toxic beliefs, Carlo stood as a model of how we should act. He was the first saint of a generation that we hope produces many more.
But there was something more personal to the whole event.
In the crowd sat the parents of Carlo Acutis.
The mother who never went to Church, after seeing the faith of his child, started to go again. And now, she is sitting in the Vatican, watching her son become a saint.
As the woman who knew him best, there is no emotion that can describe the pride that a mother would have. Seeing so many people honouring your son would have made any mother teary.
Every saint has a family. The rare thing was that for St. Carlo, his one was here to witness it.
A Mission Continued
The death of Carlo Acutis is by no means the end of his legacy.
His mother has decided to make it her mission to continue the mission of her son.
There is a new generation of people. More than ever, they are being attacked by vices and lies. And in the face of all that, there lies a real saint who became holy through this modern age.
Unfortunately, this saint’s wisdom has passed away. But the woman who knew him best is keeping the stories of his life and his wisdom alive.
Antonia has captured them in her book, My Son Carlo: Carlo Acutis Through the Eyes of His Mother, sharing his story in detail and revealing the lessons of a saint whose life continues to inspire countless people.
- Learn practical ways to bring holiness and virtue into your own life
- Discover how a young saint navigated modern life with faith and joy
- Be inspired to share Carlo’s example with family, friends, and the next generation
You can order your copy here today and join thousands of people whose lives have been touched by Carlo’s story. Through his intercession, let’s inspire a new generation of saints.
God Bless.