A number of churches across Wexford are set to host relics belonging to the first millennial saint this week.
Carlo Acutis, a young Italian teenager who was born in England, passed away from Leukemia in October 2006 at the age of 15 years old.
He was canonized on September 7, 2025, as the first millennial saint for living a life of "heroic virtue" and for having two posthumous miracles attributed to his intercession.
Despite his modern lifestyle, he was deeply committed to daily mass, the rosary, and charity work with the poor and homeless.
He also created websites cataloguing Eucharistic miracles, showcasing how technology could spread the word of the gospel in the digital space.
After his death in 2006, the Catholic Church officially recognised two miracles attributed to Carlo Acutis’s intercession.
The first one occurred in relation to a three year old boy named Matheus who was born with a rare congenital defect called an annular pancreas, which prevented him from eating solid food and caused constant vomiting.
In 2013 on the seventh anniversary of Carlo’s death, members of the young child’s family attended a service where they touched a relic in the form of a small piece of Carlo’s clothing.
Mattheus rapidly recovered and doctors were said to not be able to explain the change.
In 2022, Valeria, a university student from Costa Rica, suffered severe head trauma and a brain haemorrhage after falling from her bicycle.
After being given a low chance of survival, her mother Liliana, made a pilgrimage to Carlo's tomb in Assisi where she prayed and left a note.
On the same day, Valeria began to breathe on her own and subsequently made a full recovery.
For an event to be officially called a "miracle" for sainthood, it must pass a rigorous investigation by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. A board of medical experts must confirm that the healing had no scientific explanation and that it happened specifically after prayers were directed to the aspiring saint.
The relic will be making its first stop in Wexford in St Aidan’s Cathedral at 7.30 p.m. on Sunday, April 19.
The relic will then be in Church of the Assumption on Bride Street on Monday, April 20, St Mary’s Church and St Michaels church in New Ross and St Senan’s Church, Enniscorthy on Tuesday, April 21, and St Michael’s church, Gorey on Wednesday, April 22.
Each church will be scheduled for blessings of the relic, and will have a number of events including talks.