Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney visited St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison, N.J., on Sept. 7 to celebrate its regularly scheduled 11 a.m. Mass for young adults, which included special prayers for St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati. Pope Leo XIV canonized these two young men as saints that morning in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. They have become models of the Catholic faith, especially for youth and young adults in the Church.
Father Paul Manning, vicar for evangelization and vicar for education of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey, concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Sweeney.
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Considered to be the first millennial saint, British-born St. Carlo died from incurable leukemia in 2006 at age 15 in Italy. Active in parish life, he served as a catechist and helped inspire several people to convert to Catholicism. Called “God’s influencer,” St. Carlo received the Eucharist daily and used in skills in digital media to share the joy of Christ’s Real Presence with the world. He developed what have become traveling exhibitions about Eucharistic miracles, which have visited the Paterson Diocese on several occasions.
Since he died in 1925 from polio at 24 years old, St. Pier Giorgio has become a global patron for youth, young adults, athletes, and “ordinary people.” The Italian-born saint regularly attended Mass and adoration, served poor people, advocated for social justice for the disenfranchised, participated in student and sports activities, and was devoted to his family. An avid mountain climber, St. Pier Giorgio organized trips into the mountains with his close friends with occasions for prayer, liturgies, and conversations about faith.
Pope Francis intended to canonize Carlo Acutis on April 27, the Jubilee of Adolescents, and Pier Giorgio Frassati at the Jubilee for Youth at the end of August, but the Argentine pope died on April 21. So on Sept. 7, Leo XIV declared them saints together — the first of his pontificate, according to America: the Jesuit Review.
Madison young adults delight in canonizations of two saints