WELLINGTON | It was historic for the Catholic faithful around the world, especially the youth, as Pope Leo XIV proclaimed Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati as canonized saints Sept. 7, 2025, at St. Peter’s Square in Rome. It was the Holy Father’s first canonization of saints.
St. Rita Parish in Wellington honored the canonization the same day, beginning with celebration of the Eucharist with Father Daniel Donohue, parochial vicar, and ending with opportunity for the faithful to participate in a Eucharistic holy hour and veneration of the saints.
St. Carlo is the first millennial saint in the Catholic Church. He wore sneakers and sweatshirts and was a computer whiz who died at age 15 of a rare form of leukemia. He documented church-approved Eucharistic miracles and apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary on a website he created. He has become a worldwide phenomenon recognized for his holiness and relatability to youth.
St. Pier Giorgio was a mountaineer who had an immense love for the poor and the Eucharist. He died at age 24 of polio in 1925. Although the new saints lived a century apart, they are significant for today’s youth to emulate.
Before the local Mass began, the Florida Catholic asked Maria Villeda and her daughter, Juliana, a St. Rita Junior Legion of Mary member, “What does the canonization of these two saints today mean to you?”
Juliana said, “It means that even young people can have a really strong connection to God and become saints.” Her mother agreed, saying, “Carlo is an example for young people to see how young he became a saint.”
St. Rita’s youth leader Tammy Basore said, “We have actually been following Blessed Carlo Acutis for a long time and have been talking about him within our youth ministry.” She added, “The children today are attracted to this saint because they can relate,” and “we love our saints, but this is real life for them, computers, soccer, and a lot of them didn’t know what a saint was.”
Helena Muñoz, vice president of St. Rita’s Junior Legion of Mary, said, “St. Carlo Acutis relates to children and youth of today by showing them how to balance technology within their Catholic lives,” as he used “his computer coding skills to spread the faith in making a website about the Eucharistic miracles.”
“His life demonstrates that holiness can be found in today’s digital age,” she said, “making the Catholic faith a part of our daily lives and inspiring today’s youth to love Jesus.”
Father Donohue’s homily was inspirational, especially for the youth of today who are looking for heroes to imitate. “In Rome this morning, two young men, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, were declared saints of the Catholic Church, and for the first time the universal church points to them and says that ‘these young men are models for you. Follow their path and you will find holiness.’”
It is an extraordinary moment for the church whenever men and women are canonized, he said. “It helps us realize that sainthood is not so far in the distance from us.” He advised that if “we focus our energy on our spiritual lives,” and if we “focus all of our desires on the will of the Father, we too can become saints.”
Father Donohue quoted and reflected upon what St. Carlo once said: “‘All are born originals, but many die as photocopies.’ He refused to copy the empty patterns of the world he lived in.” He explained that St. Carlo “lived by the wisdom of God.”
Reflecting on St. Pier Giorgio, Father Donohue said the new saint “also lived by God’s wisdom. His friends knew him as joyful, athletic and very sociable, but he didn’t waste his youth. He knew life was a gift to be spent for others.
“He climbed the mountains and he loved shouting ‘Verso l’alto,’ to the heights. He meant not just the physical heights of the Alps, but the spiritual heights of holiness. He saw life not as an accident, but as a mission,” he said.
Offering advice to young people, Father Donohue said, “The world tells young people, ‘Do whatever you want, follow your feelings, stay comfortable,’ but these two saints show us a wiser way. They call us to see life as a gift that is to be used for love.”
Comparing the holiness of the two saints, he said, one “was a teenager in the age of computers and the other was a university student in the age of mountaineering. Neither lived long lives,” and yet “today both are saints because they lived with depth, with courage, with God at the center. ... Holiness is really not boring; holiness is really not that far away from us; holiness is friendship with Christ lived with joy.”
For more information on St. Rita Parish’s youth ministry, call Tammy Basore at 561-795-4321. Connect with the parish at www.saintrita.com or by calling 561-793-8544. For more about the Junior Legion of Mary, call 954-540-9900.
