Three weeks after Pope Leo XIV canonized St. Carlo Acutis, Cardington Sacred Hearts Church installed a stained-glass window with his image.
The stained glass, designed by Mellini, was the first that the Italian company made of the new saint.
The 15-year-old, who died of leukemia in 2006, lived his less than two decades of life with a special devotion to the Eucharist, creating a website documenting Eucharistic miracles.
While other stained-glass windows of the young boy have been designed, few exist worldwide.
Sacred Hearts Church, located in Morrow County, holds the title as one of the first parishes to feature a window of the Church’s newest saint.
Bishop Earl Fernandes blessed new stained-glass windows, including of St. Carlo Acutis, at Sacred Hearts Church this year following a Thanksgiving Day Mass commemorating the 10th anniversary of the church’s dedication.
Sacred Hearts was rebuilt a decade ago and dedicated in 2015. Its previous church building burned to the ground in a fire on Thanksgiving Day 2013.
On the holiday two years later, a new church was dedicated in its place. It included several windows, but none were stained-glass.
Parishioners discussed the possibility of upgrading their windows. In February 2024, they proposed an idea to move forward with the project. Sacred Hearts raised the necessary funds and partnered with the Italian window company, which designed each of the images.
Father Ed Shikina submitted a list of saints to Mellini in November 2024. The parish chose stained-glass windows depicting men and women devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary – the church’s namesake.
Coincidentally, the Vatican announced the same month that Carlo Acutis was to be canonized a saint in April 2025.
The announcement coincided with the Cardington church’s decision of which saints to feature in the stained-glass windows.
Father Shikina was eager to add the young soon-to-be saint to the list. Carlo’s image would show the teenager in his blue jeans, tennis shoes and carrying a laptop computer by his side.
The church’s pastor said he wanted parishioners to know that they, too, can be saints. The youth, he suspected, could especially relate to Carlo as a millennial saint of their time.
However, when Pope Francis died on Easter Monday in April, Carlo’s canonization was postponed.
“I got a little nervous because the window would say ‘St. Carlo Acutis,’ and even though I was confident that he would be declared a saint, it still wasn’t a sure thing,” Father Shikina recalled.
“It was sort of a running joke that, well, we hope that a new date is set for Carlo Acutis to be canonized so that we can have a saint that actually matches what is … on the window.”
Much to the parish’s relief, the Vatican announced in June that Pope Leo would canonize Carlo alongside St. Pier Giorgio Frassati on Sept. 7, 2025.
Weeks after the canonization, the stained-glass windows were installed in Sacred Hearts Church. The five-day installation project was completed on Oct. 3.
Each window features a male and female saint in tandem. St. Carlo Acutis is pictured alongside St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who received apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the 17th century. Other saints with devotion to the Sacred Heart on windows in Sacred Hearts Church include St. John Eudes, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, St. Gertrude the Great and St. Maria Faustina Kowalska.
Stained-glass windows of St. Gregory the Great and St. Cecilia were installed in the church’s choir loft.
Other stained-glass windows in the nave, or central part of the church where Mass is celebrated, include men and women with a devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary or a special love for the Blessed Mother.
The saints featured include St. Pio of Pietrelcina, St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Francis de Sales and St. Maximilian Kolbe.
The church also has windows depicting the Nativity of Christ and Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead.
Saints are depicted in what was likely their daily attire, so most are shown wearing religious habits. Symbolism, such as saints in religious orders, is also incorporated in the stained glass.
St. Carlo Acutis’ image is quite different from the others.
Father Shikina said he wasn’t concerned about the young boy’s attire not matching images of saints in traditional garb.
“We want people to know that you don’t have to look a certain way in order to be a saint,” the pastor explained.
“He’s relatable to the youth of today, where they could see him wearing blue jeans and carrying a laptop,” Father Shikina said of St. Carlo. “I think that might only inspire them to realize that they, too, can be saints, even if they seem like they’re just living normal lives.”
The youth are not the only individuals who appreciate the image of the modern-day saint.
“I’m receiving comments from even the older generation of how they love the stained-glass window of St. Carlo Acutis,” Father Shikina noted.
Each window features a yellow-tinted background. The church’s pastor said he was “concerned that people would miss the sunlight because, a lot of times, people would comment about how they love the sunlight.”
As a precaution, “we decided to make (the background) yellow. It looks sort of like the sun is behind them,” he explained of the saint images. “When the sun comes in, it’s still giving this yellow glow in the church.”