Padua Obtains Relic of Soon-to-Be Saint: Blessed Carlo Acutis

On Sunday, September 7, 2025, Pope Leo XIV will canonize the Catholic Church’s two newest saints, Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis. Padua Franciscan High School has a unique connection to the younger saint.

Prior to Carlo Acutis’ canonization, Padua chaplain Friar Johnpaul Cafiero, OFM was selected through an application process, and then, travelled to Assisi, where he was presented with a first-class relic of the church’s first saint from the Millennial generation.

“It was a long process to be approved by the Bishop of Assisi,” Cafiero said. “Carlo’s tomb is in Assisi. He’s in a glass coffin, and I got a chance to pray in front of his body. It’s in the Church of Mary Major, and it’s over the site where Francis stripped himself of everything and gave his life to God.”

“It’s a beautiful place, where Carlo himself wanted to be. He said he wanted to be in Assisi, with St. Francis. He had a great love for St. Francis, and so I think it’s so appropriate for us, as a Franciscan school, to have this wonderful model of what it means to live not only a Christian life, a Catholic life, but a Franciscan life.”

A first-class relic is a part of the saint’s physical body, and as such, is the highest classification of relics. Examples of first-class relics include pieces of bone, hair, or blood of the saints, and they are considered among the most sacred objects in the Catholic Church.

Padua’s first-class relic is five strands of Blessed Carlo Acutis’ hair.

During a pilgrimage to Assisi in the summer of 2024, Cafiero inquired about obtaining a relic, which started the yearlong process.

Those who seek to acquire a relic must provide official documents to prove they are authorized to receive a relic. Also, one must be able to travel to receive the relic because they are only distributed in person.

Cafiero worked to get formal letters from the Provincial of Our Lady of Guadalupe Province, Diocese of Cleveland Bishop Edward Malesic and Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago. Following the submission of those documents, Cafiero received notice that “your relic is in process.”

While leading a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi this past summer, Cafiero received the relic and brought it back to Padua, where it is housed in the school chapel along with first-class relics from St. Francis of Assisi (bone), St. Clare of Assisi (ashes from her tomb) and St. Anthony of Padua (bone).

Born in London in 1991, Blessed Carlo Acutis moved with his family to Assisi, where he grew up participating in the school band, playing video games and Pokémon, and enjoying soccer. Additionally, like one of his role models, St. Francis of Assisi, Blessed Carlo Acutis loved animals, including his four dogs, two cats and multiple goldfish.

Blessed Carlo Acutis felt called to help others and organized missions with his classmates to go into the community and feed the poor. He put together information about Eucharistic Miracles that became the basis for the International Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles, which continues to tour the world to this day.

At the age of 15, Blessed Carlo Acutis was diagnosed with an advanced form of leukemia and passed away weeks later.

“It was so aggressive that when they were on their way to the hospital for testing, Carlo told his mom that he wouldn’t be coming home, that he was going to go meet Jesus on the highway to Heaven,” Cafiero said.

While St. Carlo Acutis had done good works on earth, his road to sainthood required review from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Vatican office that examines whether the holy person lived a life of heroic virtue and whether God has confirmed their holiness through miracles.

If the pope agrees with a recommendation of the Dicastery that the candidate for sainthood lived a life of heroic virtue, he or she is declared Venerable. Then, normally two documented miracles are needed – one for the candidate to be declared Blessed, and a second for canonization.

The first of these miracles attributed to Carlo was the cure of a young Brazilian boy, Matheus Vianna, who suffered from a pancreatic disease and struggled to eat. His mother, Luciana, discovered the story of Carlo Acutis, and prayed to him. Then, she met with Carlo’s mother, who gave Luciana one of his t-shirts. After receiving the shirt, the young boy requested something to eat, and despite previous diagnoses, was able to consume the food.

“The doctors said, ‘It’s a miracle. There’s no way, no medical explanation why all of a sudden, his issue was gone,’” Cafiero said. “Now Carlo could be called Blessed Carlo Acutis.”

The second miracle involved Valeria Valverde, a young student from Costa Rica who was studying in Florence.

While riding a bicycle, she was struck by a vehicle and thrown to the ground. As a result of the collision, she suffered a broken neck and was paralyzed. While she was in a hospital in Florence, her mother flew from Costa Rica and prayed in front of Blessed Carlo’s tomb. It was at that time that she received a call saying her daughter was moving her fingers and toes.

When her mother returned to the hospital, Valeria was sitting up in bed. However, in addition to the neck injury, Valeria sustained a lesion on her brain and was told not to travel.

“She went to Assisi anyway with her mom,” Cafiero said. “They prayed at the tomb of Carlo. She went back to Florence for testing, and the lesion was gone, so she was completely cured.”

As a result of this second miracle, Carlo was selected for canonization by Pope Francis. The canonization was scheduled for late April, but with Pope Francis’ passing on Easter Monday, it was delayed until Sunday, September 7.

“I think he’s a great model for our students, and what an honor for us,” Cafiero said. “We’re the only chapel, the only school in Ohio that, to my knowledge, has a first-class relic of St. Carlo Acutis.”