On Sunday 7th September 2025 two young men will officially be declared Saints. Pier Giorgio Frassati from the early 20th century, and Carlo Acutis the first millennial saint. These two young men led completely different lives but were nonetheless united in their love for Christ and their ability to impart that love to those whose lives they touched.
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Pier Giorgio was born in 1901 to a prominent Turin family. He balanced a deep life of faith with active engagement in politics and service to the poor. He joined the Dominican Third Order, climbed Alpine peaks, and distributed food and medicine to the needy in the poorest parts of Turin. On July 4, 1925, he died from polio – he was aged 24.
During his homily on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (June 15th in St. Peter’s Basilica), Pope Leo XI recalled Frassati’s legacy and emphasized the role of sports in spiritual life:
“It is no coincidence that sport has played a significant role in the lives of many saints in our day, both as a personal discipline and as a means of evangelization. We can think of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, patron saint of athletes: his straightforward and luminous life reminds us that, just as no one is born a champion, no one is born a saint. It is daily training in love that brings us closer to final victory (cf. Rom 5:3-5) and enables us to contribute to the building of a new world.”
Nearly a century later, in 1991, Carlo Acutis was born in London to a wealthy Italian family — the same year that the World Wide Web went public. A self-taught coder, he experimented with Java and C++, He loved Super Mario video games and filmed his pets on a camcorder. While his computer-coding millennial peers launched start-ups, Carlo used his tech savvy to catalogue Eucharistic miracles from his family’s Milan apartment. This exhibition has been viewed by thousands around the world.
Carlo, who famously called the Eucharist “my highway to heaven,” attended daily Mass from age 7 – shortly after his first Communion. He once said, “People who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints”. As a child, he gave up eating Nutella as a sacrifice and sold toys to help the poor. He later volunteered at a Milan soup kitchen run by Capuchin friars. “His love was extraordinary,” said Nicola Gori, Postulator for his Cause. “He used his weekly pocket money to help the beggars and those who slept outdoors.” He found peace in Assisi, the hometown of St. Francis, where his family spent summers. Away from Milan’s fashionistas and financiers, he prayed with Assisi’s Franciscan friars and Poor Clare nuns. In 2006, at just 15, Carlo died from a sudden and aggressive leukaemia.
The example of Carlo and Pier Giorgio shows young people that holiness can be found in the ordinariness of our lives: in hiking and computer coding and hanging out with friends and in finding chances to be generous so that we can follow and love Jesus.
“Carlo’s tech-driven apostolate speaks to a generation immersed in digital culture, while Pier Giorgio’s active, relational charity inspires those drawn to community and service. Both lived ordinary lives with extraordinary faith, proving that sainthood is accessible to all.”
Fr Will Conquer, A Millennial in Paradise: Carlo Acutis.
“If we are spending our days looking at screens, maybe we need to reflect on that.”
Pier Giorgio is quoted as saying: ‘To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth — that is not living, but existing. ‘We should never just exist, but live.’”
National Catholic Register correspondent Sabrina Ferrisi contributed to this story.