Matheus Vianna, born in 2009, suffered from a rare birth defect called annular pancreas, which prevented him from digesting food, causing constant vomiting. By the age of 4, he weighed only 9 kg, surviving on vitamins and protein powder. Doctors didn't believe he would live much longer.
Luciana Vianna, Matheus's mother, spent years praying for her son's recovery without success. Around this time, Fr. Marcelo Tenorio, a family friend, learned about Carlo Acutis, who was then considered a saint, and began praying to him.
Born in 1991, Acutis, from a young age, asked his parents to visit churches in Milan and donated his pocket money to the poor. At school, he helped classmates with disabilities, those who were bullied, or those whose parents were separating. He also began charitable activities.
Acutis was considered a computer prodigy, but he didn't use computers for entertainment. Instead, he used his skills for charitable purposes, helping those in need. With his talent for computer science, he taught himself to code from elementary school, creating websites for Catholic organizations and a site documenting miracles around the world.
Acutis died of leukemia in 2006. "When he died, the church at his funeral was full of poor people, those whom Acutis had quietly helped," said Nicola Gori, the postulator for Acutis's beatification cause in 2020.
Acutis's body, clad in jeans, sneakers, and a tracksuit, lies in a glass coffin in the Sanctuary of the Spoliation in Assisi, central Italy. Officials regularly schedule the tomb's opening for the public and devotees to visit and pray.
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A mother and her child visit the tomb of Carlo Acutis in the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels in Assisi, central Italy, on 10/4. Photo: Reuters |
A mother and her child visit the tomb of Carlo Acutis in the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels in Assisi, central Italy, on 10/4. Photo: Reuters
In 2013, a relic of Acutis, a dark blue sweater, was displayed at the Mato Grosso do Sul church in the Sao Sebasstiao parish, Brazil. Fr. Tenorio invited worshippers to a mass, encouraging them to pray to Acutis and ask God for healing miracles.
Ms. Vianna brought Matheus and her family to the parish for the prayer service on 12/10/2013. "That day, at the Chapel of Our Lady of Aparecida during the blessing, a boy suffering from annular pancreas was brought near the relic," Fr. Tenorio recalled.
"While waiting for the blessing, the boy asked his grandfather what he should pray for, and his grandfather replied: 'To stop vomiting'. The prayer worked," Fr. Tenorio said.
Published images show young Matheus touching Acutis's relic in the church. "From that moment on, the boy stopped vomiting," the priest said.
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Matheus Vianna touches the relic of Carlo Acutis in St. Sebastian Church in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, in 2015. Photo: St. Sebastian Church |
Matheus Vianna touches the relic of Carlo Acutis in St. Sebastian Church in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, in 2015. Photo: St. Sebastian Church
After the service, on the way home, Matheus told his mother he was cured. Upon arriving home, he asked his mother for french fries, rice, beans, and steak, and ate everything without vomiting. He continued to eat normally in the following days.
In 2/2014, the family took him for a medical examination, which confirmed his complete recovery. Doctors were baffled by Matheus's inexplicable recovery.
After studying the case, the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognized Matheus's recovery as Acutis's first miracle, leading to his beatification in 2020.
11 years after the miracle, Matheus is living a healthy life with his mother and brother on a farm in Anapolis. "He's now like his peers, eating, playing games, and using his phone," his grandmother, Solange Lins Vianna, said in 10/2024.
14-year-old Matheus still attends church with his grandmother and always carries a picture of Acutis with him.
"For us, he has long been a saint. Now he will be a saint for everyone," Ms. Vianna said before Acutis's canonization.
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Matheus at age 12. Photo: UOL |
Matheus at age 12. Photo: UOL
The Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints also investigated and confirmed Acutis's "intervention from heaven" in the miraculous recovery of Valeria Valverde, a woman involved in a traffic accident in Italy in 2022. This was recognized as the second miracle, qualifying Acutis for sainthood.
The most common "miracles" involve the recovery or complete healing of the sick through prayers, beyond scientific explanation.
Pope Francis issued a decree in 2024 recognizing Acutis's two posthumous miracles. His successor, Pope Leo XIV, canonized Acutis on 7/9, making him the first "saint in jeans" in the history of the Catholic Church.
He also canonized Pier Giorgio Frassati, an Italian Catholic who died in 1925 at the age of 24, praising both for "creating masterpieces in their lives by offering them to God."
"The greatest risk is wasting life outside of God's plan. These new saints are a call to us, especially young people, not to waste our lives, but to aim high and turn them into masterpieces," the Pope said in his homily.
Hong Hanh (Churchpop, AP)
