Posted
September 11, 2025
Most Edsmen come to school with backpacks full of homework, athletic gear, snacks, and a tangle of chargers. Last year, James Jirgal ’28 showed up with something different entirely: prayer cards of Blessed Carlo Acutis, a teenager on the path to sainthood.
James felt called to share his devotion and invite others to pray. Last weekend, those prayers were answered.
On September 7, the Catholic Church recognized Carlo as the first millennial saint. Parishes everywhere were packed with young people eager to celebrate. For them, he isn’t just another holy figure from centuries past—he looks like them, talks like them, and lived in the same digital world they do. His short life is a reminder that a life of faith can be lived in jeans, sneakers, and yes, even while playing video games.
Carlo was born in 1991 and grew up in Milan, Italy. He loved soccer, action movies, animals, hanging out with friends, and logging hours on his PlayStation. His middle school report cards even included comments like “clowns around” and “disturbs the class.” In other words: he was a totally normal kid. But at age 15, Carlo was diagnosed with leukemia and died soon after—leaving behind not perfection, but a legacy of trust in God.
Carlo attended Mass daily, prayed the rosary, stood up for classmates who were bullied, and poured himself into kindness and courage. He even combined his love of computers with his faith, creating a website that catalogs Eucharistic miracles—a digital project that demonstrates how a life with God can flourish just as easily online as it does in a church pew.
“He is relatable,” says Theology teacher Pat Chrosniak ’02. “Most books make saints sound so perfect, like they never messed up. People see that and think, I could never be like that. But saints were human—they were on the struggle bus just like the rest of us. What makes them different is that they kept trying to put God first anyway.”
It's effort. It’s community. It’s being a sign of God’s love in the middle of everyday life. And honestly? That’s way more inspiring than some perfect, fairytale version of sainthood. - Pat Chrosniak ’02
Carlo himself once said: “Everyone is born an original, but many people end up dying as photocopies.” For today’s teens, growing up in a world of TikTok trends and copy-paste identities, his challenge hits hard. Don’t be a photocopy. Be the person God created you to be.
James Jirgal ’28 takes that advice to heart, and is inspired by Carlo's authenticity. “When we’re born, we’re so close to God—we’re original and exactly how He intended,” he explains. “But as we get older, life throws things at us that make us doubt ourselves or feel like we’re not good enough. That’s when we begin to act like photocopies. God made us unique on purpose, and the closer we stay to that truest version of ourselves, the closer we are to Him.”
What inspires James even more is Carlo’s commitment to the Eucharistic Revival.
Carlo wanted to bring the true light of Jesus to everyone he met by being a light himself, I tear up with happy tears when I think about that. He was a 15-year-old kid with leukemia who gave everything to Jesus. That blows my mind. He was an original; he didn’t just talk about faith—he lived it. - James Jirgal ’28
Last summer, James and his dad traveled to St. Jerome Parish in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where a relic of Carlo was available for veneration. “Standing there, it just hit me—this guy was basically my age,” James recalls. “And he made a conscious choice to spend time each day growing his relationship with Jesus.”
Carlo Acutis rests in Assisi today, dressed in jeans and Nike—reminding us that saints aren’t just faces in stained glass, and that holiness can grow from ordinary choices made with extraordinary love.
The path to following God wholeheartedly is open to anyone, anywhere, at any moment—and James is already walking it, prayer cards in hand.
