Carlo Acutis

About Carlo Acutis

Carlo Acutis was born in London on 3 May 1991 to Italian parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano. His family returned to Milan that September. He began school there, first at the San Carlo Institute and then with the Marcelline Sisters at the Tommaseo Institute. At seven, he received his first Communion at the monastery in Bernaga di Perego on 16 June 1998.

Growing up, Carlo combined religious interests with the pleasures of an active boy. He liked football, video games, detective stories, and playing the saxophone. He made films featuring his pets and became absorbed in computers, using them to develop programs and help other people with their work. He also volunteered in charitable settings, including soup kitchens run by the Capuchins and the Missionaries of Charity. At his parish he helped prepare younger children for the sacraments. These activities belonged to a life that still included lessons, friends, and recreation; his service did not require him to cease being a teenager. He also helped classmates with homework, putting an interest that delighted him at the service of their immediate needs.

At Tommaseo, his teachers did not remember a flawless pupil. Sister Monica Ceroni recalled that he sometimes arrived late or forgot homework, but persisted when a subject caught his interest. He joked with classmates and liked joining discussions. He also noticed children who were isolated. Sister Miranda Moltedo remembered him caring for a classmate whose mother had left, while teachers described his defence of a boy with a disability who was being bullied. When that friendship demanded patience, Carlo continued to treat the boy as a friend rather than a burden. The memories show kindness expressed through particular relationships, alongside the untidiness of ordinary school life.

At home, he formed a close bond with Rajesh Mohur, who joined the household in 1995. Mohur remembered the small boy taking him by the hand to show him his toys and asking that he stay. As Carlo grew, Mohur accompanied him to school, spent afternoons with him, and shared conversations about prayer. Carlo invited him to Mass rather than treating faith as a private interest. Mohur later credited these daily encounters with helping him become Catholic. He also recalled Carlo stopping outside a church because he wanted to help a man sleeping rough. That evening they brought the man a sleeping bag. It was a practical response that Mohur remembered long afterward.

Carlo's interest in the Eucharist also gave direction to his computer work. After visiting an exhibition at the Rimini Meeting in 2002, he decided to prepare one about Eucharistic miracles recognized by the Church. His family helped with a project that occupied roughly two and a half years. He assembled material for a photographic exhibition rather than merely posting a personal message online. The subject brought together his enthusiasm for technology, his Catholic belief in Christ's presence in the Eucharist, and his wish to share that belief. The exhibition's later international travels belong to its reception, not to Carlo's own itinerary, and its religious claims remain claims presented within Catholic devotion.

In 2005 he entered the classical course at Milan's Leone XIII Institute. His teacher Fabrizio Zaggia remembered a curious student who approached the desk with questions and wanted fuller explanations. Carlo proposed, filmed, and edited a short video about volunteering for a competition, drawing his classmates into the project. The class worked with its teacher, so this was collaboration rather than solitary achievement. He also gathered material for a new volunteering section of the school's website. Zaggia and Carlo planned to continue that work during the summer of 2006, but the project remained unfinished. The teacher's recollection leaves room for both Carlo's initiative and the plans that illness prevented him from completing.

In October 2006 he became seriously ill with leukemia. On 9 October he was admitted to San Gerardo hospital in Monza with acute promyelocytic leukemia. The doctors and nurses who treated him later recalled how grave his condition was and how gently he responded to them. Nurse Claudia Negri remembered explaining the critical situation honestly, even though her patient was only fifteen. Dr Mercedes Arguello remembered his calm during the brief admission. Dr Momcilo Jankovic, who was on duty when he arrived, recalled the positive impression Carlo made despite the severity of his illness. Carlo died on 12 October 2006, shortly after beginning his second year of high school.

His family and school community mourned him, and his funeral was held at Santa Maria Segreta in Milan. His body was later taken to Assisi, a city he had loved and visited during holidays. The Church beatified him on 10 October 2020. On 7 September 2025, Pope Leo XIV canonized him in Rome. Leo's homily presented his holiness through prayer, friendship, study, and generous service rather than through technological skill alone.

Prayers for Carlo Acutis