News that canonization dates have been set for Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, who have become popular patrons for teens and young adults, is being met with joy and gratitude by a number of Catholics in the U.S.
Pope Francis announced Nov. 20 that he will elevate Acutis and Frassati, both currently titled “blessed,” to sainthood in 2025, when the universal Catholic Church will mark a jubilee year. Acutis will be canonized April 27, during the April 25-27 Jubilee for Adolescents in Rome. Frassati’s canonization will follow amid the July 28-Aug. 3 Jubilee of Young People in Rome.
“What a wonderful gift to the Church Militant both of these new saints will be,” Christine Wohar, president of FrassatiUSA — a Nashville-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting Frassati’s canonization, in collaboration with the Associazione Pier Giorgio Frassati in Rome — told OSV News in a Nov. 20 email.
Wohar, whose organization is planning a pilgrimage to the canonization, said that the canonizations are timely.
“Our culture so desperately needs Catholic models of courage, devotion to the Eucharist and Our Lady, true manhood and fidelity to the Church,” she said.
Born 90 years apart, Frassati and Acutis both lived brief but faith-filled lives that saw them devoted to Christ, particularly in the Eucharist, and to those around them.
Dubbed the “Man of the Eight Beatitudes” by St. John Paul II, Frassati — born in Turin in 1901 to an influential family — began receiving daily Communion at a young age, while serving the poor through the St. Vincent de Paul Society and evangelizing his friends.
Almost a century later, Acutis, in many ways, mirrored his predecessor’s qualities. The sunny-faced teen — who was born in London in 1991 and grew up in Milan, Italy — displayed an early attraction to the spiritual life, reciting the rosary and attending Mass daily, serving as a catechist, volunteering at a church soup kitchen and tutoring children with their homework. At the same time, Acutis was known for his enthusiasm for typical teenage interests, such as video games, pets, soccer and music.
Acutis died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15, having lived a brief life of extraordinary holiness that was marked by a profound devotion to Christ and the Eucharist. His desire to foster awareness of the Blessed Sacrament, along with his formidable computer skills, led him to create a database of Eucharistic miracles throughout the world. Pope Francis beatified him in 2020.
