Blessed Carlo Acutis: A Saint in Sneakers

Maria Riley reviews a biography of the millennial teen who proved it's possible to both enjoy video games and love the Eucharist.

The millennial teen who loved the Eucharist and video games comes alive in Blessed Carlo Acutis: A Saint in Sneakers by Courtney Mares. In this thoroughly researched and comprehensive biography, Mares takes us on the journey of a young man who didn’t live to old age, but who impacts youth and adults alike in our modern age of technology.

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Carlo Acutis was born in 1991 and died in 2006 at the age of 15 after a brief battle with leukemia. He is the first millennial to be declared Blessed by the pope (Blessed is one step before full canonization as a saint). Blessed Carlo Acutis: A Saint in Sneakers is appropriate for all readers teen and up, and youth especially can connect with and relate to Carlo’s life.

As the book retells the short yet profound life of Carlo, readers get to know him as he was: a simple, regular kid who was in love with the Eucharist. Mares relates his experiences in an easily understandable and chronological way. She includes experiences and quotes from a variety of people who were impacted by Carlo’s short life, including priests, classmates, family members, and Vatican officials.

Carlo grew up in a wealthy Italian family who didn’t prioritize their faith. Typically, parents have to drag their kids to Mass and perpetually remind them to pray. For the Acutis family, it was backwards. Thanks to the love and example of a Polish nanny, Carlo developed a deep passion for the Catholic faith and insisted his parents and subsequent caretakers take him to Mass as often as possible. If Mass wasn’t available, Carlo would stop in and spend time with Jesus in the tabernacle.

Due to his deep faith, not only did his parents return as fully participating members of the Catholic Church, but he also helped with the conversion of his Hindu au pair. Thankfully for the world, Carlo’s evangelization didn’t end there.

Once he truly understood the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist (the truth that Jesus is actually present in every consecrated host in the world), Carlo spent the rest of his short life sharing this simple yet life changing truth. Carlo believed that through the various Eucharistic miracles of the world, Jesus gives us tangible, verifiable proof of the transubstantiation.

Readers learn in the book about how Carlo used his technological skills to share the truth about the Eucharist. He taught himself computer programming and compiled a list of Eucharist miracles on a website. Carlo and his family worked to create panels explaining the various Eucharistic miracles, which have toured throughout the world.

Throughout the book, Mares shares personal nuggets of information that remind the reader that Carlo truly was an average, everyday teen. He played sports with his friends, watched TV, and loved video games. He attained holiness not by becoming a priest, but by living a virtuous life every day as he hung out with friends, went to school, and did normal teenager things.

Blessed Carlo Acutis: A Saint in Sneakers also includes an 8 page color insert with pictures of Carlo from when he was young through the year of his death. Readers learn about not only his earthly endeavors but also his heavenly ones too, including the Vatican-approved miracle considered for his case for beatification.

This comprehensive biography of the first millennial declared Blessed is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn about the True Presence, the power of daily Mass, and what a saint in sneakers looks like.

Ask for Blessed Carlo Acutis: A Saint in Sneakers at your local Catholic bookseller, or order online from Amazon.com or the publisher, Ignatius Press.