New Saints to Inspire Young Catholics: Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati
The canonizations of Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati on September 7, 2025, are a beautiful reminder for Catholic families that youthful holiness is possible. This joyful occasion should also inspire all the faithful to dwell on the urgent need to foster holiness in young people today.
Models of Faith for the Young
Carlo Acutis, who died of leukemia in 2006 at just 15, will become the first millennial canonized a saint. Known as a “computer geek” with extraordinary digital skills, Acutis used his gifts to direct hearts to Christ.
The young Italian toiled to bring to life his Eucharistic Miracles of the World exhibit to foster greater devotion to the Real Presence. In 2007, the Real Presence Association entrusted The Cardinal Newman Society with promotion of the exhibit to schools and colleges.
Between 2007 and 2015, The Cardinal Newman Society reached hundreds of students with Acutis’ exhibit, part of an effort to encourage students’ devotion to the Eucharist and especially the practice of Eucharistic adoration.
Students gave stirring testimonies about how the exhibit impacted them on their faith journey. One student wrote:
“It was a beautiful opportunity to be able to see a display about so many Eucharistic miracles. Some people don’t believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, so I look forward to sharing some of the things I read in hopes that they will someday fully embrace the truth. These miracles are amazing and beyond our comprehension, but knowing that the Eucharist really is the Flesh and Blood of Jesus should make us want to run to Mass and Adoration! After all, a wonderful King awaits us.”
For Acutis, the Eucharist was his “highway to heaven,” as he once explained. Shortly after receiving his First Communion at age 7, he told his mother, “To always be united to Jesus: This is my life plan.”
He lived that plan faithfully through daily Mass and Eucharistic adoration, practices that inspired many of his peers and even led his parents back to the practice of their faith.
“People who place themselves before the sun get a tan; people who place themselves before the Eucharist become saints,” Acutis once remarked—a conviction that defined his short but powerful life.
Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died in 1925 at age 24, embodied a life of charity, prayer, and joy. An avid mountaineer and Third Order Dominican, he dedicated himself to the poor, the sick, and the marginalized, even contracting polio while serving them.
On a photograph of his final climb, he wrote the words “Verso l’Alto” (“to the heights”), a motto that continues to inspire young Catholics to strive for the summit of holiness.
St. John Paul II, who beatified Frassati in 1990, described him as a “man of the eight beatitudes … entirely immersed in the mystery of God and totally dedicated to the constant service of his neighbor.”
Frassati’s witness to holiness shows that youthful zeal, when rooted in prayer and charity, can transform not only one’s own soul but the world around us.
Why Catholic Education Matters
The canonizations of Acutis and Frassati remind us why the mission of The Cardinal Newman Society is so critical.
Many young Catholics today face the lure of secularism, confusion about truth, and education that neglects or even undermines their faith. Without strong Catholic formation, too many drift from the Church, idolizing celebrities instead of saints.
But Acutis and Frassati show another path—the path of faithful Catholic education and formation.
The schools and colleges recommended in The Newman Guide prioritize devotion to the Eucharist, daily prayer, and authentic Catholic teaching. These institutions help students see clearly what Acutis and Frassati knew well: life’s aim is not the fleeting satisfaction of this world, but the eternal joy of heaven.
The Cardinal Newman Society’s work to promote and defend faithful Catholic education ensures that more young Catholics are prepared to live holy lives, standing out as “rebels” against a culture of sin.
As Acutis once observed, “All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies.” Catholic schools and colleges must form young men and women to live authentically in Christ—not as copies of a broken culture, but as saints.
Saints for Our Children
The canonizations of Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati are more than a celebration; they are a challenge. The extraordinary lives of these young men are proof that holiness is possible even for teenagers and young adults. But if we want our children and grandchildren to follow in their footsteps, they need daily reminders of heaven’s call: Mass, Confession, Adoration, prayer, study, and friendships rooted in Christ.
Faithful Newman Guide education provides these supports. Through The Newman Guide, Catholic families can find schools and colleges that nurture saints-in-the-making—a mission that is vital for the future of the Church.
On September 7, when the Church proclaims Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati as saints, the faithful should rejoice—and then rededicate ourselves to forming new generations of Catholics who can follow them “to the heights” of holiness.