{"id":56642,"date":"2025-09-11T05:35:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T05:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/56642\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T05:35:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T05:35:14","slug":"1000-piece-st-carlo-acutis-mosaic-used-to-convict-the-universal-call-to-holiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/56642\/","title":{"rendered":"1,000-piece St. Carlo Acutis mosaic used to \u2018convict the universal call to holiness\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n \"Tessa
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

By Tessa Gervasini<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 9, 2025 \/
\n 10:00 am<\/p>\n

As the faithful continue to celebrate the canonization of St. Carlo Acutis, a 1,000-piece mosaic portrait of the new saint made of toy soldiers, Pok\u00e9mon, shoelaces, and other surprises hangs in Rome.<\/p>\n

After artist Johnny Vrba <\/a>heard about Acutis, he was inspired to create a portrait<\/a> of the saint out of recognizable items that visually tell his story. Vrba has now crafted and presented two portraits of Acutis to help young Catholics learn about the first millennial saint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery figure, every toy, every single thing that is glued on the piece has a meaning and a purpose,\u201d Vrba told CNA. \u201cIt\u2019s all on there for a reason. Every single one of them is numbered, just like Scripture says: \u2018He hasn\u2019t just counted them, because he\u2019s numbered us. He\u2019s numbered the hairs on our heads.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JohnnyJohnny Vrba with his Carlo Acutis portrait in Assisi, Italy. Credit: Photo courtesy of Johnny Vrba<\/p>\n

Discovering \u2018an ordinary, but extraordinary, saint\u2019<\/p>\n

Vrba was raised Catholic but didn\u2019t completely commit to his faith until an unexpected trip established his relationship with Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2020, Vrba was on a study abroad trip sailing to Shanghai, China, when the COVID-19 virus broke out. \u201cThe voyage did not go as planned, but during that uncertain time I actually met the Lord for the first time in a really powerful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the experience, Vrba got involved in missionary work, was in school, and created a bit of art on the side. He had always enjoyed painting and building small toys and thought: \u201cI wonder if there\u2019s a way to combine drawing, painting, and this sculptural component.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vrba put faith and art together to create a couple portraits of Jesus with the Crown of Thorns. One is made of wine corks to represent Jesus\u2019 miracle in Cana, and the other is crafted of toy soldiers. <\/strong>Then a friend of Vrba\u2019s told him about Acutis, inspiring the next steps for the young artist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d never heard of Carlo Acutis. He was totally under my radar,\u201d Vrba said. \u201cThen I researched him and thought: \u2018He has some very similar things to my own story and synchronicities.\u2019 Like bringing his parents to the faith and bringing them to Mass. Then being into technology and filming and animals, like his dogs and cats. He\u2019s just such an ordinary, but extraordinary, saint.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe St. Carlo Acutis mosaic in the making. Credit: Photo courtesy of Johnny Vrba<\/p>\n

\u201cI started dreaming about what a piece could look like,\u201d Vrba said. He decided his next sculpture would be an image Acutis made of toys, because \u201cCarlo would have played with video game controllers, and played Pok\u00e9mon and Mario.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The First Millennial Saint\u2019<\/p>\n

Creating the mosaic was no simple task. Vrba had to track down thousands of quality soldiers and toys, paint them, and meticulously glue each one in place. The result was the 45-pound mosaic called \u201cThe First Millennial Saint.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery toy has a meaning and a purpose,\u201d Vrba said. Many of the soldiers are turned facing a figure of the crucifixion to represent \u201cthe culture of death.\u201d They are \u201cflaccid, boring, colored, gray, white, and black figures that are all pointing at the cross \u2014 pointing at Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also colorful soldiers that are \u201coutward-facing, evangelizing, and filled with the joy of the Gospel.\u201d The 163 colorful figures represent Christians who are fighting against the culture of death and also the 163 Eucharistic miracles Acutis documented on his website.<\/p>\n

(Story continues below)<\/b><\/p>\n

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The sculpture also has dozens of hidden \u201cEaster eggs\u201d that viewers might just miss, including a dolphin and various Pok\u00e9mon characters hinting at Acutis\u2019 favorite animal and favorite game. The background is even a soccer field to represent his love for the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople really gravitate towards the computer desk setup. It has a saxophone, the Bible, a world map, a little soda, and his dogs and cats around him where he would have worked at his little station. It blends right in with the piece, you would never even know, but when you turn your head sideways you can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen both of the miracles are incorporated,\u201d Vrba said. The miracle of Mattheus, a young boy from Brazil who was healed from a birth defect that caused him difficulty eating is represented with small steak and french fry figurines, because it was the first meal he was able to consume after his mother asked Acutis to intercede for her son.<\/p>\n

The sculpture includes a bicycle to represent the miracle that saved Valeria Valverde, a young Costa Rican woman who suffered a serious head injury from a bike accident in Florence. The toy bike is \u201cplaced on Carlo\u2019s head where she cracked her head and suffered brain hemorrhaging.\u201d After her mother prayed at Acutis\u2019 tomb, she made a complete recovery.<\/p>\n

\"ArtistArtist Johnny Vrba presents the commissioned Carlo Acutis piece to kids at St. Carlo Acutis Parish in Chicago. Credit: Photo courtesy of Chicago Catholic
\n A mission of more than just art<\/p>\n

Vrba created the original mosaic for Acutis\u2019 mother, which he planned to give to her during a meeting at Acutis\u2019 canonization in April. After it was postponed due to Pope Francis\u2019 death, the meeting was unfortunately canceled. Since the piece had already traveled to Italy, Vrba decided to take it to the church where Acutis is buried in Assisi.<\/p>\n

The sculpture traveled around the city where Vrba showed it to pilgrims and placed it in spots Acutis once stood himself. After gaining traction on its journey, it was acquired by and placed in the Vatican\u2019s youth center.<\/p>\n

While in Assisi, Vrba also met a number of parishioners of St. Carlo Acutis Parish in Chicago \u2014 the only church in the United States named after Acutis. One parishioner commissioned a replica of the piece that Vrba created with even more details than the original.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inspired by Acutis\u2019 quote \u201cWe are all born originals, but many of us die photocopies,\u201d Vrba ensures each work of art, even replicas, are different. \u201cI want to make every piece unique, because every person is unique. Die as an original, not as a photocopy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vrba presented the original during the Jubilee of Youth and the replica to kids at St. Carlo Acutis Parish. When kids see the sculpture Vrba loves that they realize \u201ceach figure on the piece has a special mission, and each one of us in the Church [has] a special mission. We are made for a purpose. We are the lifeblood of the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make art that people don\u2019t just look at but look into. And it\u2019s the greatest joy in my life when kids come up to it and they\u2019re able to touch things, push buttons, and they can get their hands on it, interact with it. I love seeing them look into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vrba is currently working on four pieces that will be shown at Miami Art Week in December, including portraits of St. John Paul II and newly canonized St. Pier Giorgio Frassati. Vrba\u2019s art will be one of the very few, if not the only, religious pieces at the mostly secular show.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the goal would be to use those pieces at school parishes, stand-alone parishes, churches, and any Catholic missions to preach the lives of the saints.\u201d He added: \u201cThe mission is to speak and evangelize, and especially, convict the universal call to holiness in an artistic way \u2026 using the commonplace household items and toys that people recognize.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n \"Tessa
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Tessa Gervasini is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Tessa Gervasini Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 9, 2025 \/ 10:00 am As the faithful continue to celebrate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[595,9,10,40999,40998,25345,13,14,6,41000,11,12,15,16,41001,5,41002,7,8,107,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-56642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-carlo-acutis","12":"tag-catholic-artists","13":"tag-catholic-news","14":"tag-featured-news","15":"tag-featurednews","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-italian-saints","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-millenial-saints","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-saint-carlo-acutis","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-world","29":"tag-world-news","30":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}