A significant religious artifact connected to the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint is set to arrive in central Ohio this week.
The Catholic Diocese of Columbus announced that a first-class relic of St. Carlo Acutis will tour local parishes from Feb. 13 through Feb. 18. The tour is part of a wider procession through Ohio, with the relic traveling from the Diocese of Toledo and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati before reaching Columbus on Friday.
The relic is a fragment of the saint’s pericardium, the membrane surrounding the heart. In the Catholic tradition, a first-class relic is a physical part of a saint’s body, such as bone or flesh, or fragments of the cross from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of the Diocese of Columbus highlighted the spiritual significance of the visit, particularly for young believers.
“It’s very exciting to have the pericardium relic of St. Carlo Acutis in our diocese,” Fernandes said. “The example he set for the youth of our faith is palpable, and the relic itself represents the heart that St. Carlo had for Jesus and the Eucharist, but also the heart that Jesus has for all of those in His flock.”
Born in 1991, Acutis is widely known as the first millennial saint. Before dying of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 16, he developed a website cataloging Eucharistic miracles, blending modern technology with deep religious devotion. He was canonized recently on Sept. 7, 2025.
The diocese has identified specific opportunities for the public to view and venerate the relic, including stops at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Westerville on Monday, Feb. 16, and the St. Thomas More Newman Center on the Ohio State University campus on Wednesday, Feb. 18, which coincides with Ash Wednesday.
A full schedule of the relic’s tour stops and further details on its history are available at columbuscatholic.org.
The Diocese of Columbus oversees nearly 500,000 Catholics across 23 counties in central Ohio.
date: 2026-02-12 09:58:00