Carlo Acutis was a boy just like any other… and yet, his life was very special.

He was born on May 3, 1991, in London, England, to an Italian family, and grew up in Italy.

Carlo Acutis:  A Life United with Jesus and Mary

Saint Carlo Acutis was a young man who was able to transform the ordinary aspects of his life into something extraordinary through his deep friendship with Jesus.

“To be always united with Jesus—that is my life’s mission,” he wrote when he was only seven years old.

His life was short—he died at only fifteen—but it was extraordinarily full. Carlo thus reminds us that what matters for a Christian is not so much living a long life as not wasting the time we are given, for every moment is a grace from the Creator.

Without ever succumbing to busyness—for he cultivated an intense life of prayer—Carlo was brimming with activity. In addition to his duties as a son and a middle school student, he taught catechism to children preparing for First Communion or Confirmation. He volunteered at the soup kitchen for the poor run by the Capuchin Friars and the Sisters of Mother Teresa, helped the poor in his neighborhood, and assisted children struggling in school. He also carried out his apostolate online, played the saxophone and soccer, developed computer programs, and enjoyed video games and detective movies.

But at the heart of this very active life lay a profound inner life. Because of his exceptional maturity in the faith and his great love for the Eucharist, Carlo was able to receive his First Communion at the age of seven. From then on, he attended Mass every day and devoted time to Eucharistic adoration. For him,

“the Eucharist is his highway to Heaven”, it was the preferred path for advancing rapidly toward holiness.

A tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Like all saints, Carlo loved the Blessed Virgin deeply. He said of her that she was “the woman of his life.” One could even say, in the words of the Curé d’Ars, that she was for him “his oldest friend.”

From childhood onward, Carlo had been moved by the apparitions at Lourdes and Fatima. He watched films that told their stories, was moved by the lives of Mary’s young confidants, and was captivated by her maternal love. This affection for the Madonna was also evident in the little things of daily life: he loved to pick flowers in the fields to make small bouquets that he offered her.

His devotion to Mary was inseparable from his recitation of the Rosary. Carlo began reciting it at the age of four and a half, and from the time of his First Communion onward, he prayed it every day until the end of his life.

He understood at a very young age what so many saints had experienced before him: the Blessed Virgin leads souls to Jesus and accompanies them on the path to holiness. All the saints cultivated a tender devotion to Mary and the Rosary. St. Francis de Sales said that reciting the Rosary was his sweetest occupation.

The Rosary is a humble and simple prayer, yet profoundly powerful, because it unites us to Mary, who intercedes for us before her Son. God delights in revealing his glory through the simplest and most humble means. That is why the Rosary, despite its simplicity, can become a true path of inner transformation.

Carlo understood this: holiness does not consist solely in accomplishing great things, but in welcoming the graces that God gives us and allowing them to take root within us. Mary, through her prayer and intercession, helps us precisely to receive these graces and to let them lead us to God.

Following in Carlo’s Footsteps

Until his departure for Heaven on October 12, 2006, Carlo remained faithful to his life’s mission: “to be always united with Jesus.” He was beatified on October 10, 2020, and canonized on September 7, 2025, by Pope Leo XIV.

Like Carlo, let us take up our Rosary and pray it with love and perseverance. Let us entrust ourselves to Mary, with the trust of a child in its mother. Let us ask her to dispose us to desire and receive all the graces that Heaven has prepared for us from all eternity, and to help us allow them to unfold within us for the greater glory of God and the salvation of all souls.

Together with Mary, Joseph, Carlo, and all the saints, let us ask for the grace of perseverance in praying the Rosary. May Mary lead us ever closer to Jesus and teach us, like Carlo, to make our whole life a journey toward Heaven.