Campion College blessed to welcome St Carlo Acutis Major Pilgrim Relic

Campion College was blessed to welcome the Major Pilgrim Relic of St Carlo Acutis to campus on 1–2 September, as part of a four-month mission taking the relic to Catholic communities across Australia.

The First-Class Major Pilgrim Relic is travelling through Australia from 25 June to 25 October 2026, following an earlier pilgrimage through New Zealand. Carried worldwide under the custodianship of the Diocese of Assisi, the relic has visited Australia as the 25th country to receive it.

The relic contains a 6 × 2 cm section of St Carlo’s pericardium, the membrane that surrounds and protects the heart. Its significance is especially fitting for a saint whose short life was marked by an extraordinary love for Christ in the Eucharist and whose well-known description of the Eucharist as his “highway to Heaven” continues to resonate with Catholics around the world.

The Australian mission has taken the relic through dioceses and communities across the country, from Cairns and Darwin to Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and regional New South Wales. Campion College was grateful to be among the communities entrusted with hosting the relic, providing students, staff and visitors with a rare opportunity for prayer and veneration on campus.

Over two days, the relic was accompanied by the Eucharistic Miracles Exhibition associated with St Carlo, allowing visitors to discover the remarkable project he began as a young teenager to document Church-approved Eucharistic miracles from around the world. The program also included evening prayer, Eucharistic Adoration and opportunities for individual veneration, with the campus welcoming members of the wider community as well as students and staff.

For the Campion College community, the visit brought the international mission into the everyday life of the College in a particularly tangible way. Introducing an evening talk during the visit, Student Life Manager Tony Mattar reflected on the atmosphere St Carlo’s presence had brought to campus.

“It’s been a great peace on campus the last two days, and it’s almost as if we’ve had an extra student enrolled … and that’s Carlo himself.”

He also spoke of the spirit among the student body and the hope that St Carlo’s example would encourage a deeper devotion to the Eucharist.