Two exceptionally young individuals, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, who devoted their short lives to Christ’s love and charity, have already inspired millions of young people worldwide. Tomorrow, in St. Peter’s Square, these two blessed souls will be officially declared saints by Pope Leo XIV.

But what exactly does “saint” mean in the Catholic tradition? Contrary to popular belief, a saint is not a flawless being. Instead, saints are ordinary people who overcame their weaknesses and lived wholeheartedly for God and others.

Take Carlo Acutis, for instance – a 15-year-old Milanese who died in 2006 of a sudden leukemia. He is recognized as the first millennial saint. Passionate about technology, he harnessed the web as a tool for evangelization, creating a virtual exhibit of Eucharistic miracles that has since been displayed in thousands of churches worldwide. He thus earned the title “patron of the Internet.”

Carlo’s spiritual legacy is both profound and refreshingly simple. He attended Mass every day before school – living by his motto, “The Eucharist is my highway to heaven” – never missed the rosary, and consistently demonstrated charity toward the poor, using pocket money from his well-to-do parents to support them. He even involved his family’s Indian domestic worker in distributing blankets and groceries; that worker later converted to Catholicism.

Yet Carlo was also a typical teenager who loved having fun. He enjoyed joking around with friends, playing soccer and video games, and interacting with animals and nature.

On the other side, there’s Pier Giorgio Frassati, a cheerful Torinese whose unshakeable Catholic faith led him to die of polio at the age of 24 in 1925, possibly contracted while visiting impoverished families. He too came from an affluent background – his father founded the newspaper La Stampa, while his mother was a talented painter.

Pier Giorgio loved his friends deeply and found his spiritual elevation in the mountains. He founded a group called the “Misfit Friends” (Tipi loschi), through which he shared excursions, laughter, pranks, and prayer. He was intellectually curious and creative – fond of theater, music, art, and literature – yet he studied mining engineering with a heartfelt intention: “to serve Christ among the miners.”

Though their families weren’t especially devout, Carlo and Pier Giorgio left behind a legacy of hidden service that surprised even them – hundreds of people they helped quietly mourned them after their deaths. Their canonizations follow remarkably scrutinized investigations: Carlo is linked to the mystical healing of a Brazilian boy with pancreatic malformation and a Costa Rican student who survived a severe head injury; Frassati is connected to the inexplicable recovery of a young man who emerged from a coma.

Pope Leo XIV’s decision to canonize them together is anything but coincidental. It’s a powerful message: holiness transcends age and era – it’s a universal calling. Acutis and Frassati embody the “saints next door,” individuals who lived their faith with authenticity and commitment in everyday life.