![St. Carlo Acutis relic inspires faith at Wayne parish #Catholic – On Sept. 13, young people, their families, catechists, and parishioners filled Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Church in Wayne, N.J., with joy as the parish embarked on the new religious education year. With help from Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, the faith community also welcomed the arrival of a first-class relic of St. Carlo Acutis — canonized last year as the first millennial saint — to inspire people’s faith at its new home in IHM’s church.
Pope Leo XIV canonized two young men as saints, St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, on Sept. 7 last year in Rome. They have become models of the Catholic faith, especially for youth and young adults in the Church.
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 his digital media skills 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.
On that Sept. 13, Sunday morning, Bishop Sweeney celebrated a Mass at IHM with Father Mateusz “Fr. Matt” Jasniewicz, its pastor. Children from the parish’s religious education program led the congregation in songs of praise during the liturgy.
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“It’s wonderful that one of St. Carlo’s relics has been entrusted to IHM and is available for prayer and veneration. It’s significant because St. Carlo shows young people and everybody that holiness is possible now — not only in the Middle Ages or in the future,” Father Jasniewicz said. “St. Carlo also had a devotion to the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith. He can open youth to learning more about the Church and our faith and how to have a relationship with Jesus — to fall in love with him — and share that love with others,” he said.
After undergoing a formal process with the Diocese of Assisi in Italy that included Bishop Sweeney, Father Jasniewicz flew to Assisi in August to secure one of St. Carlo’s first-class relics — a snippet of his hair — for IHM. In Assisi, St. Carlo is entombed in the Shrine of Renunciation inside the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Housed in a reliquary, the St. Carlo relic is displayed in a shrine in the rear of IHM’s church near the confessional. It joins several other relics at the shrine in IHM, including ones of St. John Paul II, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. Lucy Filippini.
St. Mary Parish in Dover, N.J., also has a first-class relic of St. Carlo from Assisi.
Father Jasniewicz also said St. Carlo is relatable to young people in their own lives — with backpacks, computers, and soccer balls.
“St. Carlo was a young person who loved life, technology, his friends, and above all, Jesus in the Eucharist. His life reminds our young people that becoming a saint does not mean becoming someone else. It means allowing God to work through who you are and the gifts He has given you,” Father Jasniewicz posted on social media after the Mass.
BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI
[See image gallery at beaconnj.org]](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/st-carlo-acutis-relic-inspires-faith-at-wayne-parish-catholic-on-sept-13-young-people-their-families-catechists-and-parishioners-filled-immaculate-heart-of-mary-ihm-church-in-wayne-n-j-w.jpg "St. Carlo Acutis relic inspires faith at Wayne parish #Catholic – On Sept. 13, young people, their families, catechists, and parishioners filled Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Church in Wayne, N.J., with joy as the parish embarked on the new religious education year. With help from Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, the faith community also welcomed the arrival of a first-class relic of St. Carlo Acutis — canonized last year as the first millennial saint — to inspire people’s faith at its new home in IHM’s church.
Pope Leo XIV canonized two young men as saints, St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, on Sept. 7 last year in Rome. They have become models of the Catholic faith, especially for youth and young adults in the Church.
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 his digital media skills 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.
On that Sept. 13, Sunday morning, Bishop Sweeney celebrated a Mass at IHM with Father Mateusz “Fr. Matt” Jasniewicz, its pastor. Children from the parish’s religious education program led the congregation in songs of praise during the liturgy.
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
“It’s wonderful that one of St. Carlo’s relics has been entrusted to IHM and is available for prayer and veneration. It’s significant because St. Carlo shows young people and everybody that holiness is possible now — not only in the Middle Ages or in the future,” Father Jasniewicz said. “St. Carlo also had a devotion to the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith. He can open youth to learning more about the Church and our faith and how to have a relationship with Jesus — to fall in love with him — and share that love with others,” he said.
After undergoing a formal process with the Diocese of Assisi in Italy that included Bishop Sweeney, Father Jasniewicz flew to Assisi in August to secure one of St. Carlo’s first-class relics — a snippet of his hair — for IHM. In Assisi, St. Carlo is entombed in the Shrine of Renunciation inside the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Housed in a reliquary, the St. Carlo relic is displayed in a shrine in the rear of IHM’s church near the confessional. It joins several other relics at the shrine in IHM, including ones of St. John Paul II, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. Lucy Filippini.
St. Mary Parish in Dover, N.J., also has a first-class relic of St. Carlo from Assisi.
Father Jasniewicz also said St. Carlo is relatable to young people in their own lives — with backpacks, computers, and soccer balls.
“St. Carlo was a young person who loved life, technology, his friends, and above all, Jesus in the Eucharist. His life reminds our young people that becoming a saint does not mean becoming someone else. It means allowing God to work through who you are and the gifts He has given you,” Father Jasniewicz posted on social media after the Mass.
BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI
[See image gallery at beaconnj.org]")
On Sept. 13, young people, their families, catechists, and parishioners filled Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Church in Wayne, N.J., with joy as the parish embarked on the new religious education year. With help from Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, the faith community also welcomed the arrival of a first-class relic of St. Carlo Acutis — canonized last year as the first millennial saint — to inspire people’s faith at its new home in IHM’s church.
Pope Leo XIV canonized two young men as saints, St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, on Sept. 7 last year in Rome. They have become models of the Catholic faith, especially for youth and young adults in the Church.
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 his digital media skills 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.
On that Sept. 13, Sunday morning, Bishop Sweeney celebrated a Mass at IHM with Father Mateusz “Fr. Matt” Jasniewicz, its pastor. Children from the parish’s religious education program led the congregation in songs of praise during the liturgy.
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
“It’s wonderful that one of St. Carlo’s relics has been entrusted to IHM and is available for prayer and veneration. It’s significant because St. Carlo shows young people and everybody that holiness is possible now — not only in the Middle Ages or in the future,” Father Jasniewicz said. “St. Carlo also had a devotion to the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith. He can open youth to learning more about the Church and our faith and how to have a relationship with Jesus — to fall in love with him — and share that love with others,” he said.
After undergoing a formal process with the Diocese of Assisi in Italy that included Bishop Sweeney, Father Jasniewicz flew to Assisi in August to secure one of St. Carlo’s first-class relics — a snippet of his hair — for IHM. In Assisi, St. Carlo is entombed in the Shrine of Renunciation inside the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Housed in a reliquary, the St. Carlo relic is displayed in a shrine in the rear of IHM’s church near the confessional. It joins several other relics at the shrine in IHM, including ones of St. John Paul II, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. Lucy Filippini.
St. Mary Parish in Dover, N.J., also has a first-class relic of St. Carlo from Assisi.
Father Jasniewicz also said St. Carlo is relatable to young people in their own lives — with backpacks, computers, and soccer balls.
“St. Carlo was a young person who loved life, technology, his friends, and above all, Jesus in the Eucharist. His life reminds our young people that becoming a saint does not mean becoming someone else. It means allowing God to work through who you are and the gifts He has given you,” Father Jasniewicz posted on social media after the Mass.
St. Carlo Acutis relic inspires faith at Wayne parish #Catholic –
On Sept. 13, young people, their families, catechists, and parishioners filled Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Church in Wayne, N.J., with joy as the parish embarked on the new religious education year. With help from Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, the faith community also welcomed the arrival of a first-class relic of St. Carlo Acutis — canonized last year as the first millennial saint — to inspire people’s faith at its new home in IHM’s church.
Pope Leo XIV canonized two young men as saints, St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, on Sept. 7 last year in Rome. They have become models of the Catholic faith, especially for youth and young adults in the Church.
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 his digital media skills 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.
On that Sept. 13, Sunday morning, Bishop Sweeney celebrated a Mass at IHM with Father Mateusz “Fr. Matt” Jasniewicz, its pastor. Children from the parish’s religious education program led the congregation in songs of praise during the liturgy.
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
“It’s wonderful that one of St. Carlo’s relics has been entrusted to IHM and is available for prayer and veneration. It’s significant because St. Carlo shows young people and everybody that holiness is possible now — not only in the Middle Ages or in the future,” Father Jasniewicz said. “St. Carlo also had a devotion to the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith. He can open youth to learning more about the Church and our faith and how to have a relationship with Jesus — to fall in love with him — and share that love with others,” he said.
After undergoing a formal process with the Diocese of Assisi in Italy that included Bishop Sweeney, Father Jasniewicz flew to Assisi in August to secure one of St. Carlo’s first-class relics — a snippet of his hair — for IHM. In Assisi, St. Carlo is entombed in the Shrine of Renunciation inside the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Housed in a reliquary, the St. Carlo relic is displayed in a shrine in the rear of IHM’s church near the confessional. It joins several other relics at the shrine in IHM, including ones of St. John Paul II, St. Vincent de Paul, and St. Lucy Filippini.
St. Mary Parish in Dover, N.J., also has a first-class relic of St. Carlo from Assisi.
Father Jasniewicz also said St. Carlo is relatable to young people in their own lives — with backpacks, computers, and soccer balls.
“St. Carlo was a young person who loved life, technology, his friends, and above all, Jesus in the Eucharist. His life reminds our young people that becoming a saint does not mean becoming someone else. It means allowing God to work through who you are and the gifts He has given you,” Father Jasniewicz posted on social media after the Mass.