The Patron Saint of Geeks

Let’s be honest. When we think of saints, we usually picture people in robes and habits, sporting pious faces, long beards, or funny haircuts.

Of course, in most cases, this was the normal look of the time in which they lived.

But never have we seen a statue in a church of a saint dressed in a zip-up hoodie and Nike shoes, with a smile on his face and a video game controller in his hand.

Well, that’s about to change.

Carlo Acutis is set to be canonized as a saint by Pope Francis on April 27, 2025, at 10:30 AM local time in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. He will be the first Millennial saint, already referred to as “God’s Influencer” and the “Patron Saint of the Internet.”

(God knows we desperately need one!)

Carlo was a young Italian boy who died at the age of fifteen from leukemia. Born in 1991, if he were still alive today, he’d be thirty-four years old. Although his life was cut short, he had a profound impact on the world and the lives of those who knew him.

Let’s take a closer look at his remarkable life through some of his quotes…

“I am happy to die because I have lived my life without wasting a minute on those things which do not please God.”

Carlo was inspired by Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple. One piece of wisdom Jobs shared struck a chord with the young boy: “It is only by saying ‘no’ that you can concentrate on the things that are truly important.”

Carlo played the saxophone and liked soccer and dogs. But he especially loved playing video games, with Halo and Super Mario among his favorites. Carlo was not one to denounce video games as “bad,” but he embraced the wisdom that only by saying ‘no’ to a lesser good can we say ‘yes’ to something greater.

And so as a spiritual discipline, Carlo limited his video game playing to no more than two hours per week and had regular conversations with his gaming buddies about the importance of going to Mass and confession.

“All people are born originals but many die as photocopies.”

Carlo rallied against the slavery of conformity, but not with the modern response to be radically individualistic. He noticed that many people, in an attempt to be different, really end up being like everybody else.

I think about my own time in art school, and how most of my fellow students declared their disdain for conformity. And yet, they all ended up dressing alike, painting their fingernails black, and listening to the same music.

Carlo, like many young people, had a love for superheroes, with Spider-Man being one of his favorites. He admired the character’s sense of responsibility and courage and the unique way he used his abilities to serve others. Carlo understood that God made each of us unique, and it was our responsibility to discern our calling and use our talents to inspire and bring people closer to God.

“The Eucharist is the highway to heaven.”

One of the ways Carlo served the Church was through his talent in technology. Growing up in the Information Age, he was fascinated by computers and taught himself some of the basic coding languages, including C and C++, as well as how to build websites.

He designed websites for his parish and school, embracing technology as a tool to share good news, to connect, and to do good. Eventually, he decided to devote his energy to an even bigger project: documenting all of the reported Eucharistic miracles around the world.

“Jesus is very creative because he hides in a little piece of bread, and only God could do something so incredible!”

Carlo was personally convinced that the scientific evidence from Eucharistic miracles would help people to realize that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist and come back to Mass.

He finished the project when he was 14, ultimately cataloging more than 150 miracles, listed in over a dozen languages, and created an exhibition that has since gone on to be displayed at thousands of parishes on five continents.

“People who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints.”

Not surprisingly, Carlo’s appreciation of the Eucharist included a devotion to the habitual prayer of Eucharistic Adoration. He loved spending this time of intimate communion with Jesus. He compared it to being like St. John the Apostle who leaned on the Lord’s breast at the Last Supper.

His mother recalls something he often said, “He used to say, ‘There are queues in front of a concert, in front of a football match, but I don’t see these queues in front of the Blessed Sacrament’…So, for him, the Eucharist was the center of his life.”

Carlo also had a deep love for Jesus’ mom…

“The Virgin Mary is the only woman in my life.”

As a young child, Carlo’s parents were not practicing Catholics and rarely attended Mass. But he had a Polish nanny named Beata who taught him the basics of the faith, prayer, the sign of the Cross, and how to pray the Rosary.

He visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii in Italy, where he made a consecration to Mary, and formed the remarkable habit of praying the Rosary every night before going to bed.

“Sadness is looking at ourselves, happiness is looking towards God.”

It seems that everybody these days wants to be an influencer. But mostly it’s about gaining fame, power, and popularity.

We look at how many likes and followers WE have. How do WE look on camera? How do WE compare to everyone else?

As Carlo reminds us, this self-centered disposition eventually leads to sadness and depression.

The important question is, what do you want to influence them to do?

As I mentioned earlier, Carlo’s parents weren’t especially devout. His mom admitted that before Carlo, she went to Mass only for her first Communion, her confirmation, and her wedding. But from a very young age, his remarkable connection to Jesus and Mary through the Blessed Sacrament and the Rosary had a strong effect on her, leading to a deep conversion.

It was not the boy’s parents who brought him to Mass, as we so often see, but it was the little boy dragging his parents and relatives to Mass!

Carlo had another caretaker in his life named Rajesh, who was Hindu. According to Rajesh, on the second day of his employment, he saw the brown-haired, angelic boy running towards him, smiling broadly with his hand outstretched to offer his new friend a piece of chewing gum. Carlo’s deep devotion to the Eucharist and his uncommon generosity toward others was the catalyst that converted Rajesh to the Catholic faith.

Now that’s an influencer.

“To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan.”

Simply stated, that’s how you become a saint.

Saints are the superheroes of our faith.

Spider-Man fans know that under the mask is a teenage geek named Peter Parker.

Carlo dressed up like the superhero for Halloween, and is now known as the “Patron Saint of Geeks.”

From now on, if your kids are going to an All Saints Day party and you need an emergency saint costume, you can throw on jeans and a hoodie and say they’re Carlo Acutis.

He may not look like the saints of old, but he is a heroic example to show us that in any time and place, each of us is called to sainthood in our own way.