The story of Blessed Carlo Acutis, who is on his way to becoming the Church’s first canonized saint from the Millennial generation, has captured the hearts and imaginations of both Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Carlo was born on May 3, 1991, just three months before the first web browser was introduced to the world, and he died on October 12, 2006, less than a month after Facebook became available to the general public. His life was bookended by two incredibly significant developments of the digital age, and in his short lifetime, he used that developing technology to promote information about Eucharistic miracles in a project that has since been viewed by millions.
While so many know Carlo for his global impact through digital media and his traveling Eucharistic miracles display, his witness of faith to those closest to him bore important and lasting fruit. In that sense, Carlo is like many of the clergy converts we work with who may have had public platforms to share their testimony, but whose deepest desire is that their own friends and family join them in the Catholic Faith.
In Carlo’s case, his faith was not something necessarily instilled in him by his parents; their work had them traveling all over Europe, and it often took priority over their participation in the sacraments. But they did take the step of having Carlo baptized as an infant, and as he grew older, those graces began to bear fruit.
Carlo’s insistence on making Mass a priority— almost from the time he learned to talk—meant his family began to make it a priority as well; his mother has since spoken at length about the impact of her son on her own return to faith. But beyond his own nuclear family, Carlo also had a significant impact on another close and important figure in his life: his caretaker, Rajesh.
Rajesh Mohur came from a Hindu family of the Brahmin caste in Mauritius. Carlo’s family was well off enough to hire him as a full-time housekeeper and overseer of Carlo’s activities. He soon came to realize that this would be no ordinary caretaking job! Whereas other kids might constantly be asking to stop the car for fast food, Rajesh found that every time they passed a Catholic church, Carlo would ask to stop and go in to pray before the Blessed Sacrament.
Carlo’s care and concern for the poor affected Rajesh as well. When they passed a man sleeping on the street, Carlo wanted to help, but Rajesh suggested they move on. However, Carlo insisted on procuring a sleeping bag for the man, and a home cooked meal, telling Rajesh, “this man in difficulty should eat like we do, too.”
Over time, the persistence and deep faith of Carlo Acutis began to affect Rajesh profoundly. When they would visit churches, Rajesh would ask Carlo questions about what he was praying about and experiencing, and Carlo would do his best to try and explain his childlike Catholic faith to an adult from a different religious background than his own. Carlo’s persistence with the local convent resulted in him being allowed to receive his First Communion a year early, at age seven, on June 16, 1998. A year later, his friend and caretaker Rajesh, who he had helped catechize, requested and received Baptism in the Catholic Church.
In May of 2024, the Vatican announced that the miracle necessary for Carlo Acutis to become a fully canonized saint was approved; a 21-year old Costa Rican woman who suffered a severe head injury after a bicycle accident made a rapid and full recovery after her mother prayed for Carlo’s intercession. And so the ripple effects of Carlo’s Christian witness continue to extend and enrich the Communion of Saints.
For so many of the converts we work with, Carlo’s story is a particularly meaningful sign of hope. Like many of the pastors who once spoke to full congregations as Protestants, and perhaps as Catholics now have a global audience through podcasts, books, and public speaking, their most intense prayers are often for the ones closest to them. They want to reach a broad audience with their testimonies, as they once did from their Protestant pulpits; but they want even more for their friends and family to share their experience of Christ in the sacraments.
They want their witness to touch their families, as Carlo’s witness touched his, and they want it to impact their friends, as Carlo’s witness impacted his friend Rajesh.
Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for us!
Feast Day: October 12
