The Church in Italy has sought the help of the police in tackling the sale of purported relics of Carlo Acutis.
Hundreds of alleged relics have appeared online in the wake of growing public interest in the Italian teenager who died in 2006.
The upcoming canonisation of Blessed Carlo Acutis will make him the first millennial saint. His cause was formally approved by the Holy Father at the Ordinary Public Consistory on July 1, 2024.
Acutis, born in London but who spent most of his life in Milan, showed an early interest in the Faith despite not receiving a religious upbringing.
He would ask his parents to take him to Holy Mass, and at 12 became a catechist for his parish. His example led to the conversion of his mother and housekeeper.
Acutis also had a great love for computers.
However, he set boundaries on his use, allowing himself only one hour a week to play computer games.
From this passion, he became a skilled computer programmer. He created a website dedicated to cataloguing each reported Eucharistic miracle in the world and maintaining a list of the approved Marian apparitions of the Catholic Church.
On 1 October 2006, Acutis fell ill and died less than two weeks later from acute promyelocytic leukaemia.
Since his death, hundreds of thousands have flocked to his tomb in the Shrine of the Renunciation at the Church of St Mary Major in Assisi, and interest in the saint has continued to grow.
Some online vendors have been capitalising on this public interest by selling purported relics of Acutis.
Jason, the owner of Beststuff4uStore and based in the United States, offers a variety of Carlo Acutis relics on the online retail platform Etsy. For £85 (including shipping), devotees can receive a piece of cloth allegedly worn by the saint, or, for the same price, a small piece of paper said to contain his handwriting. It is unclear how many of these alleged relics Jason possesses, but according to Etsy, only five pieces of cloth and eight small pieces of paper remain available. Jason is also currently offering a five per cent discount.
For those looking to spend more, a strand of Carlo Acutis’s hair can be purchased for £132, with potential customers assured that “the certificate will be provided as shown” and urged to act quickly: “This is your chance to own this unique relic from St Acutis. Very RARE!”
After learning of an internet auction in which an alleged first-class relic of Acutis’s hair sold for €2,000, Bishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino filed a formal complaint with the Italian authorities. This led to an investigation by the Perugia Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is currently underway.
The bishop, in a video posted on the Dioceses website, described the buying and selling of relics as “something impossible to accept”, and added: “We do not know whether the relics are real or fake. But if it were also all fabricated, if there was deception, we would be not only in the midst of a fraud but also of an insult to religious belief.”
Reflecting on the particular instant that led to the complaint, the bishop reflected: “After we verified the auction on the internet, we decided to file a complaint. What can the idol of money lead to… I fear that Satan has a hand in it,”
According to The New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law: “The prohibition against selling any sacred relic is expressed in the code’s strongest language, ‘nefas est’, meaning ‘it is absolutely forbidden’. Relics may be given away by their owners, except for the second category of relics which may not be given away without permission of the Apostolic See” (1415).
Blessed Carlo Acutis is set to be canonised on Sunday, 27 April 2025.
The event will take place in St Peter’s Square, with the canonisation Mass expected to begin at 10.30am Rome time.