St. Carlo Acutis Relic Visits Campus

On Saturday, November 15, JPCatholic hosted a special celebration to honor St. Carlo Acutis. A first-class relic of the newly canonized saint (strands of his hair) was brought onto campus for just one day. The event was open to the public, including a mini-exhibit on Eucharistic miracles, a Holy Hour on campus and the opportunity to venerate the relic, followed by the unveiling of a new mural of the saint on the southwestern face of the Academic Building (155 W Grand Ave, Escondido).

The mural was designed by Keyana Harrod ‘23 and printed on a series of panels installed last week. Titled “St. Carlo Acutis: Patron of the Youth”, it features St. Carlo with a rosary and Bible, surrounded by technology like a game controller, laptop, and headphones. A plaque at street level provides a quote from Pope Francis about Carlo Acutis, given in his 2019 message to youth, Christus Vivit.

Carlo Acutis (1991–2006) was an Italian teenager who developed a deep devotion to the Eucharist from a young age, while cultivating a marked aptitude for computers and digital media. Born in London and raised in Milan, he taught himself programming and created a website cataloguing Eucharistic miracles around the world. He died of leukemia at age 15 on October 12, 2006. On September 7, 2025, Pope Leo XIV canonized him at St. Peter’s Square, making him the first millennial-generation Catholic saint.

His ethos of leveraging modern skills and culture in service of the Gospel, integrating technology, creativity, and Eucharistic devotion, resonates powerfully with JPCatholic’s mission to Impact Culture for Christ through creative arts and entrepreneurship.