Who was Carlo Acutis, the 15-year-old to become the first millennial saint?

Carlo Acutis's path to sainthood gained momentum after reports of a miraculous recovery by a Brazilian child, who allegedly overcame a rare pancreatic ailment by touching one of his shirts

A UK-born teenager, who succumbed to leukaemia in 2006, is poised to etch his name in Catholic history as the first ‘millennial saint’.

The declaration, heralding Carlo Acutis’s ascent to sainthood, follows Pope Francis’s announcement affirming a miracle credited to the Blessed Acutis, thereby setting the stage for his imminent canonisation.

Francis took the decision during a meeting with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, a statement said on Thursday.

Who was Carlo Acutis?

Carlo Acutis was a computer prodigy who passed away in 2006. He left a permanent mark on the digital dissemination of Roman Catholic teachings, reported The Guardian.

 

Born in London in 1991, Acutis spent his early years in Milan with his Italian parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano.

Even as a child, Acutis exhibited a commitment to his religion. As recounted by Salzano to the local newspaper Corriere della Sera, at the age of three, Acutis displayed a profound inclination towards visiting churches in Milan, offering his meagre pocket money to aid the city’s poor.

Described as compassionate beyond his years, Acutis extended support to classmates navigating familial strife, stood up for peers with disabilities facing bullying, and assisted Milan’s homeless population by providing sustenance and shelter.

Harnessing his precocious talent, Acutis delved into coding during his elementary school years, leveraging his skills to craft websites for Catholic groups and a global database of miracles. Following his demise, Acutis’s mortal remains and cherished belongings found a solemn resting place in a revered tomb in Italy.

Acutis’s journey to sainthood

Acutis’s sainthood journey gained momentum following reports of a miraculous recovery involving a seven-year-old Brazilian child, who purportedly overcame a rare pancreatic ailment upon touching one of Acutis’s t-shirts, with a priest interceding on the child’s behalf, reported NDTV.

Following meticulous scrutiny, Pope Francis authorised the miraculous recovery, thereby validating Acutis’s candidacy for sainthood.

A subsequent incident bolstered Acutis’s claim to sanctity when a Florence university student, grappling with a life-threatening brain haemorrhage following a bicycle accident, defied medical prognosis and experienced a miraculous recovery.

Initially deemed beyond hope by medical experts, the student’s daughter, after fervent prayers at Acutis’s tomb, underwent a startling transformation, as evidenced by medical scans conducted ten days post the intercession.

Modern-day saint canonised

Carlo Acutis, born in the 1990s, emerges as the lone canonised figure of his generation, with Pope Francis having canonised a total of 912 individuals to sainthood, the most recent canonisation dating back to 1926, said a report by The Guardian.

Recognising his “important role in evangelization through the internet”, Acutis was honoured as the patron of the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon, as announced by event organisers, Reuters reported.

In adherence to Catholic doctrine, the path to sainthood mandates the validation of two miracles credited to the individual by the Pope, with the Medical Council of the Congregation for Saints' Causes entrusted with scrutinising the veracity of purported miracles.