St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City spilled over with thousands of spectators on Sunday, Sept. 7 as Pope Leo XIV canonized two young men, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis — the first canonization of Pope Leo’s pontificate.
Local Catholic, Christine Minch of Mesa, Ariz., was in Rome during the canonization. She was part of the crowd that waited in line for several hours before the doors opened in the early morning, and she found seats in the center third row, where she experienced the two-hour Mass.
“It was like standing at the intersection of heaven and earth,” Minch said. “Witnessing them raised to sainthood deepened my conviction that holiness is truly possible for any ordinary person who chooses to live a Eucharistic-centered life.
“I first learned about [Frassati] 15 years ago,” she continued. “He was born into wealth, yet, behind the privilege, he quietly lived a life of generosity.” Minch noted that Frassati gave away his clothes, shoes and money to the poor and brought medicine and flowers to the sick, befriending those on the margins.
“What makes him so relatable is that he wasn’t a priest or religious — he was an ordinary young man who loved the Eucharist, the Church and the poor.”
Frassati was a 24-year-old mountaineer with a deep love for those in need and is known as “the Man of the Beatitudes.” Acutis, who died at the age of 15, was tech savvy and had a deep devotion to the Eucharist. He is the Church’s first millennial saint. The lives of both men point toward the irreplaceable role of youth in the life of the Church and holiness lived in ordinary life.
The canonization Mass started at 10 a.m. local Rome time and featured relics of Frassati and Acutis, which were placed before a statue of Our Lady. Pope Leo XIV’s homily encouraged young people to “direct their lives upward” and make them “masterpieces,” which Frassati and Acutis exemplified in their own lives.
