A Catholic school in Ireland has become the first in the country to be named after St Carlo Acutis. Gort a' Choirce National School, located in Donegal, will now be known as Scoil Naomh Carlo Acutis.
School principal Patricia Uí hArlaigh said the parish community of Scoil Náisiúnta Gort an Choirce had been praying for St Carlo Acutis’ canonisation for a decade and that the school was “honoured” to include his name in its title.
“This is a very special day for the parish, a special day for Donegal, and a special day for all of Ireland. We are delighted to be the first school in Ireland to be named after St Carlo,” she said.
Bishop Niall Coll of Raphoe and Mgr Anthony Figueiredo of Saint Carlo Parish in Assisi celebrated Mass to mark the occasion, before parishioners venerated relics of St Carlo Acutis brought from Assisi, where he is buried. Among the relics was a piece of the pericardium surrounding the saint’s heart.
Bishop Coll noted that the area had “been Christian for 1,500 years, spanning 50 generations.” “In some ways there has been a stumble in Ireland over the last two or three generations in the transmission of the faith,” he said.
“But that does not mean that the power and attraction of the Gospel have lost any of their strength. Don’t let anyone convince you that God doesn’t matter. When you send your children and grandchildren to Scoil Naomh Carlo Acutis, remember that they have a patron for the modern generation.”
Mgr Figueiredo called St Carlo Acutis, who is the first millennial saint, “a genius with a computer, the first saint with an email address, and a normal boy who loved Nutella.” “We bring the relics because he is no different from you,” he said.
“All of us are born originals, yet we want to be photocopies: Carlo made a decision to follow Jesus at the age of seven and brought his parents back to Mass. You can be originals in a world where God is cancelled.
“Carlo had a vision for his life: always to follow Jesus. He did this through attending Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, Confession, devotion to the Blessed Mother and the saints, and by carrying out small acts of charity.”
Blessed Carlo was born in London in 1991 and moved to Italy with his parents when he was three months old. He was known for his devotion to Eucharistic miracles and Marian apparitions, which he catalogued on a website he designed, earning him the nickname “God’s influencer”. He developed untreatable leukaemia and died in Monza, Italy, in 2006 at the age of 15.
He was canonised by Pope Leo on September 7, 2025.
