Relic of Vatican's new saint linked to hundreds of miracles on display at Sunderland church

A body part from the Vatican’s most recent saint who has been linked with “hundreds of miracles” has gone display at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Sunderland and has already been visited by pilgrims from across the British Isles.

St Carlo Acutis was born in London in 1991 before moving to Italy as a toddler. Tragically, he died in October 2006 at the age of just 15 after a short battle with leukaemia.

Despite his short life, Carlo had a massive impact on people in his home city of Milan and was canonised as the church’s latest saint in 2025.

Sunderland parish priest, Father Marc Lyden-Smith, who has created a shrine at the church around the saint’s eyelash, said: “Carlo used to take his dog for walks around Milan, and unbeknown to his parents he would befriend homeless people, including refugees and asylum seekers and give them money.

“As well as being the Saint of the Young, he’s also know as the Patron Saint of the Internet, as he created webpages about the work of the church and miracles.

“He died several days after being diagnosed with leukaemia, but it’s reported doctors, many of whom were atheists, said he displayed a holiness. The impact he had only became apparent when there were thousands of people lining the streets outside of the church at his funeral.”

To be canonised as a saint, the Vatican needs evidence of a person being connected to at least two miracles.

Father Marc said: “Following his death, Carlo has been linked to hundreds of miracles, but there are two in particular which the Vatican referenced. The first was in South America, where there was a church with a relic of one of his eyelashes.

“A child who’d been diagnosed with stomach disease and sent home to die, visited the church with his parent, who said a prayer next to the relic. After leaving the church, the child who hadn’t been able to eat, suddenly asked for a hamburger and his stomach disease was diagnosed as gone.

“The second is when the mother of seriously ill girl went to Carlo’s tomb in Assisi to pray for her. After she left, her husband called to say the girl had sat up in bed and later doctors diagnosed her illness had disappeared.

“I recently took some pilgrims to see Carlo’s tomb, and another miracle is that his body hasn’t suffered from decomposition - he looks like he’s asleep.”

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It appears the presence of Saint Carlo’s eyelash is already having a healing affect on people visiting his Sunderland shrine.

Father Marc said: “We’ve had people from across the country come to see the relic and pray. One lady who has bad arthritis said when she prayed, all her pain disappeared. We’ve also had people with addiction come to pray, who’ve said it has helped them tackle their addictions.

“It’s not common to have a saint’s relic in your city and hopefully Sunderland can become a place of miracles.”

Father Marc explained the eyelash relic was gifted to him by the Diocese of Assisi after his involvement in helping facilitate a tour of Carlo’s heart to venues across the region.

Pilgrims are welcome to visit the relic on Tuesday and Thursday mornings as well as after mass on Saturday evenings at 6pm and Sunday mornings at 9.30am.