St. Carlo Acutis

His life

Carlo was born May 3, 1991, in London to Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano and grew up in Milan. His mother says that before his birth she was "a prisoner of everything that is relative and limited," but Carlo "showed me how to live in my century while turning toward eternity." He loved computer programming as his faith deepened.

From age seven he went to daily Mass. "My secret is to contact Jesus every day," he said. He prayed the rosary often: "The Virgin Mary is the only woman in my life."

The Eucharistic miracles

His greatest contribution was a portable exhibit and website cataloging 187 Eucharistic miracles over two and a half years, to help others encounter Jesus in the Eucharist. "The Eucharist is the highway to heaven," he said. "When we face the sun we get a tan... but when we stand before Jesus in the Eucharist we become saints."

Death and sainthood

He died of leukemia in October 2006, at fifteen. His last words to his mother were: "Mama, don't be afraid. Since Jesus became a man, death has become the passage towards life." He said, "I am happy to die because I lived my life without wasting even a minute of it on anything unpleasing to God." He was beatified in October 2020; Pope Francis said his witness shows that true happiness is found by putting God first and serving him in others, especially the least. He was canonized on September 7, 2025.

His body is intact but not incorrupt; it showed signs of decomposition, and his face and hands were covered in wax.

The miracles

• Matheus Vianna, a Brazilian boy with annular pancreas, a rare pancreatic disorder, was suddenly and completely healed after his mother prayed for Carlo's intercession; the Church found the cure medically inexplicable.
• Valeria Valverde, the daughter of a Costa Rican mother, had severe head trauma from a bicycle accident; she began breathing on her own the day her mother prayed at Carlo's tomb in Assisi in July 2022; by July 18 her hemorrhage was gone.

His lessons

Holiness is attainable for all, at any age, and talents and technology can serve the gospel. "Sadness is looking at ourselves, happiness is looking towards God." "The only thing we have to ask God for, in prayer, is the desire to be holy."