Saints Among Us

by Joseph Stoutzenberger

On September 7, 2025, the Catholic Church officially canonized as saints two young Italians from the past century: Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis. Pier Giorgio died in 1925 at the age of twenty-four. Carlo Acutis died in 2006 of leukemia at the age of fifteen. Both were renowned for their passion for life and for finding an impetus for their exuberance in their Catholic faith. Pope John Paul II called Pier Giorgio “a man of the Beatitudes” because he lived the Christian call to holiness so faithfully, and young Carlo Acutis is described as “God’s influencer” because he used his skill with computers and the Internet to spread God’s message.

There are two ways to look upon these two new saints. One is that they were exceptional. They gave to people in need even when they had little themselves. They entered into life with a joy, enthusiasm, and free-spiritedness that drew other people to them. Both had a deep devotion to the Eucharist. Pier Giorgio had a great love of nature and was a frequent mountain climber. Even as a child, Carlo Acutis mastered computers and computer programming with skill well beyond his years.

Although they were exceptional, as described at their canonization Mass, another way to look upon the two is that they were quite ordinary. Neither expressed a desire to become a priest but found ways to live their vocation doing what their friends and acquaintances were doing. I have worked with young people for fifty years, and I have encountered many young people who gave themselves to others and did so with equally refreshing grace and enthusiasm. I often met students who would light up a room with their zest for life, always seeking to share it with others. I had one student who, midway through college, lost her mother. She had two young sisters, so she interrupted her studies to take care of the home and her siblings, becoming in essence the mother to two youngsters. She was never morose about this new role she took on. Her young sisters were blessed to have such a caring mother figure in their lives. I had another student who always came to class with a smile and an “I’m ready for fun” attitude. I asked what she was studying and what her plans were. She said that she worked in a nursing home and loved to take care of the older people there. She was studying to be a nurse so that she could help them more fully. Clearly, she brought joy to people whom most of us would just as soon forget. When I was teaching high school, a student told me about a family who was struggling financially because the mother was sick and the father was caring for her full time. He asked if I would be a faculty moderator for a car wash and bake sale to raise money for the family. He gathered a large group of fellow students who gladly gave up a Saturday to join in this good work.

Before the canonization Mass for Carlo and Pier Giorgio, Pope Leo addressed the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square and expressed his happiness that so many young people were present. Many people are in the pipeline awaiting sainthood. There is a reason these two were recognized for their saintliness in 2025. At a time when many young people have lost interest in religion in general and Catholicism in particular, church leaders wanted to celebrate two young people who found their faith to be a spark that can ignite good-heartedness, a desire to help others, and a loving relationship with God. An engineering student, Pier Giorgio felt called to be involved in works of social action in his post-World War I Italy because he heard that message in the tenets of his faith, especially in his experience of the Eucharist. Carlo’s mother says that her son was an average teenager, hanging out with friends and playing sports, but that “he could not be indifferent to suffering.” Both he and Pier Giorgio were “average.” We might even say “ordinary,” if being young naturally blossoms into youthful exuberance about life and about the endless possibilities to enter into it for good. This is what young people can be. They enjoyed what young people throughout the world want to enjoy. They remind all Catholics that entering into life with passion and gusto, always reaching out to others, is what Catholic faith is all about. Their powerful experience of God’s love for them brought them joy and consolation and led them to a life of love themselves. There are plenty of other young people out there who also live that message. Rejoice in the saints among us.