12/10/2020
HAPPY FEAST DAY, BLESSED CARLO!
โThere will be saints and apostles among children!โ said Saint John Paul II in 1994 during a catechesis on the apostolate of the laity. He recalled the extraordinary importance of the prayer of children for the Holy Father, for the Church, and for the salvation of the entire world.
The beatification of Carlo Acutis, the 15-year old who gave his life for Jesus in the Eucharistic, means we can say with certainty that the prophecy of the great pope, himself now a saint, has begun to be fulfilled. And the heart of the Church is celebrating, not only because of beloved Carlo, but because it understands that he is โonly the firstโ of a group of holy children who are at work to make faith and hope reflourish in the Church of the present and the future.
๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ธ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐
Not too long ago, it seems, Carlo Acutis was born in London on May 3, 1991. His parents, Andrea and Antonia, were there on business. They returned home in September to Milan.
"Madame, your son is special!" Carlo's mother often heard this remark from the parish priest, teachers, classmates, and even the porter of their building on Via Ariosto, where they moved in 1994.
The boy's exceptional qualities were due to a very special friendship. Out of nowhere it seemed, as Carlo's family did not assiduously attend church, Carlo developed a great friendship with Jesus.
Carlo's mother, Antonia Acutis, recalls how little Carlo could not pass in front of a church without asking to go in and greet Jesus. She was surprised to discover her son reading saint biographies and the Bible, and even more surprised when her son began asking questions of such depth and profundity that she was unable to answer:
I was perplexed by his devotion. He was so small and so sure. I understood that it was his thing, but that he was also calling me. So I began my journey of rapprochement with faith. I followed him."
At the age of seven and quite on his own, Charles asked to receive First Holy Communion. After questioning the precocious boy, Monsignor Pasquale Macchi guaranteed his maturity and level of Christian formation. However, he made a single recommendation: the celebration should take place in a place free from distractions. As such, on June 16, 1998, Carlo received the Eucharist in silence of the Bernaga monastery, near Lecco.
โAs a little boy, especially after his First Communion, he never missed his daily appointment with the Holy Mass and the Rosary, followed by a moment of Eucharistic adoration,โ recalls Carlo's mother.
๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ด ๐๐ด๐ฒ
Carlo first attended school with the Marcelline Sisters. He received his secondary education at the hands of the Jesuits at the Leo XIII Classical Lyceum. The Classical Lyceum is the oldest form of public secondary school in Italy, as well as the most rigorous. The Liceo classico was for a time the only path to university-level studies.
Carlo thrived in this environment, becoming a young, affectionate and brilliant young man.
Ever since boyhood and especially following that First Communion, Carlo's life revolved around a fixed point: daily Mass. "The Eucharist," he said, "is my highway to Heaven." He also frequently received the Sacrament of Reconciliation. As an adolescent, he added to his spiritual regimen a Daily Rosary and Eucharistic Adoration.
He spoke thus of Eucharistic Adoration: "If we get in front of the sun, we get sun tans ... but when we get in front of Jesus in the Eucharist, we become Saints."
But how does even a Saint survive high school these days? And with holiness intact?
๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐ผ๐น?
Carlo was convinced that he would not grow old. "I will die young," he often repeated. This is perhaps why he filled his days with such a whirlwind of activity, teaching the boys from the catechism, feeding the poor at the Caritas cafeteria, and spending time with the children of the oratory.
While still achieving excellent grades in high school and between all his charity work, Carlo still found time to play the saxophone, play football, design computer programs, and, like any other red-blooded teenager, play video games.
He was naturally inclined toward computer science and was even considered brilliant by practicing engineers who encountered his technical intuition and savvy. Carlo's interests ranged from computer programming to editing films, from creating websites to writing periodicals.
His classmates looked to him, not only for advice or help, but also because of his way of putting people at ease. Carlo seemed to have a way with people from all backgrounds.
Carlo's friendly face was a common sight in his neighborhood. He befriended everybody, including the gatekeepers, janitors, and other domestic servants that worked in his neighborhood. These workers were often non-Europeans with Muslim and Hindu backgrounds. Carlo told everybody about his love for Christ, and people couldn't help but listen and share in his joy. One such domestic worker was Rajesh, a Hindu and Brahmin. A friendship developed between Rajesh and Carlo. The friendship was of such a profound nature that Rajesh converted to Catholicism.
This is what Rajesh had to say about his friend, Carlo:
He told me that I would have been happier if I had approached Jesus. I was baptized Christian because it was he who so affected me with his profound faith, his charity, and his purity. I have always considered it out of the ordinary because a boy so young, so handsome, and so rich, normally prefers to have a different life.
Speaking of Carlo's affluence, he was careful never to waste money. He was known to donate sleeping bags to the homeless on his way to Mass in Santa Maria Segreta. He also donated to the Capuchins of Viale Piave for the service of meals to the homeless.
Carlo never hid what made him most happy ...
Carlo was always inviting his friends to go with him to Mass. For his friends to become reconciled to God, this was the source of his joy. Carlo wrote the following in his journal:
Sadness is the gaze turned towards oneself, happiness is the gaze turned towards God. Conversion is nothing but moving the gaze from the bottom to the top. A simple movement of the eyes is enough.
โWith the intensity of his spiritual life, Carlo fully and generously lived his fifteen years of life, leaving a profound impact on those who knew him. He was an expert with computers, he read books on computer engineering and left everyone in awe, but he put his gift at the service of others and used it to help his friends,โ Carlos mother said.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฒ๐
๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐
Holiness was its true goal, but not just for him alone. To all, he gave his toolkit for sainthood: daily Mass, Communion, Rosary, Scripture, Eucharistic adoration, weekly Confession, and the willingness to give up something for others. Charles also regularly offered up his sacrifices and prayed for the reparation of sins and offenses committed against the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which he felt alive and throbbing in the consecrated Host.
Carlo often prayed for the Pope, then John Paul II, and with a degree of passion that astonished his parish priest. Those who met the young man were left with an indelible impression that Jesus is, as ever was, the only one who can satisfy the heart of man.
It is impossible to talk about Carlo without mentioning his strong devotion to the Blessed Mother. He was fascinated by the apparitions in Lourdes and Fatima, and often spoke about Saint Bernadette Soubirous and the Little Shepherds of Fatima. Our Lady's messages of conversion, penance, and prayer - all this was lived concretely in his daily life. In a world hardened against the great truths of the Faith, Carlo shook consciences and invited us to look toward Heaven. In the family, in the school, in the midst of society, Carlo was a witness to eternity.
To quote Carlo: "Our aim has to be the infinite and not the finite. The Infinite is our homeland. We have always been expected in Heaven."
๐ ๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ
Carlo created several notable websites, one dedicated to young saints. He had a keen interest in those who were able to achieve holiness quickly. The website even included included a section where one could discover how many friends they had in heaven. Such an affable young man, he found friends even in Heaven.
Carlo demonstrated an amazing zeal and maturity for missionary work given his age, possibly due to another of his great friends in Heaven ...
Carlo's efforts were that of a true missionary: to reach as many people as possible and to introduce them to the beauty and joy of friendship with Jesus. Carlo took as his model St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, who committed himself to bring the Gospel to every corner of the globe even to the point of martyrdom.
Carlo was inspired by the works of fellow Italian Blessed James Alberione, who was himself also inspired by the Apostle Paul. Blessed James was the Founder of the Paulines and the Daughters of St. Paul. Both Blessed James and the religious societies he founded are recognized for putting new forms of media at the service of the Gospel.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐
Carlo maintained his curiosity without succumbing to mainstream interests: "All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies." To move towards this destination and not โdie as photocopies,โ Carlo said that our compass has to be the Word of God. The Eucharist was his true north. Carlo put the Sacrament of the Eucharist at the center of his life and he called it "my highway to heaven."
In 2002, Carlo accompanied his parents to listen to a priest friend speak at a presentation of the Little Eucharistic Catechism. He was fascinated by what he learned.
๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ผ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ ...
He would create an exhibition on Eucharistic miracles. He said, "They must be able to see." Carlo wanted people to understand that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist by showing the moments throughout history when the Eucharist visibly became flesh and blood.
This was the confluence of all of Carlo's great loves: He wanted people to encounter the Eucharist and be reconciled to God by renewing the Miracle of the True Prescence. Carlo wanted to show people that the Eucharist truly is his great friend, Jesus.
Carlo immediately set to work by documenting the Eucharist miracles himself. He began dragging his parents across Europe to gather photographs of the miracles, themselves.
After two and a half years, the exhibition was ready. He had cataloged all the Eucharistic miracles in world history. Immediately, dioceses across the world began requesting the exhibit (www.miracolieucaristici.org).
Carlo had researched over โ136 Eucharistic miracles that occurred over the centuries in different countries around the world, and have been acknowledged by the Churchโ and collected them into a virtual museum. He created not only a website to house this virtual museum, but panel presentations, as well, that have traveled around the world.
According to the introductory panel, โIn the United States alone, thanks to assistance from the Knights of Columbus, The Cardinal Newman Society and The Real Presence Association, with the support of Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, it has been hosted in thousands of parishes and more than 100 universities.โ
Carlo's exhibit soon crisscrossed the globe. It would reach all the places that he would never get to visit in life.
๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ต ๐ง๐ผ๐ผ ๐ฆ๐ผ๐ผ๐ป
In early October 2006, Carlo fell ill. He had just completed a video, a labor of love, with the students of the Leo XIII high school. A few days later, he was being wheeled into the hospital of San Gerardo in Monza, Italy, a hospital founded by Saint Gerard, himself.
Carlo soon received his diagnosis ...
Crossing the threshold of the hospital, Carlo said to his mother: "From here I do not go out anymore!"
The diagnosis was acute promyelocytic leukemia. A few days earlier, Carlo told his parents: "I offer what I will have to suffer to the Lord for the Pope and for the Church, to skip Purgatory and go straight to Heaven."
Shortly after receiving his diagnosis, Carlo died on October 12, 2006. He died with a radiant smile on his face and offering his life for the Pope and for the Church.
He was buried in Assisi, the city of Saint Francis. On the day of his funeral, the church and the churchyard was flooded with his many friends and admirers. His mother describes the scene: "I have never seen people like this before." People filled the grieving mother's ears with stories about what Carlo had done, stories she had never heard.
What was so special about Carlo Acutis? The Impact of a Life
Having already reached so many through his international exhibit and internet ministry, Carlo's death had an immediate impact. Thousands of letters and emails reached the family.
Carlo's exhibit of Eucharistic miracles has reached the ends of the earth many times over, presented in Russia, Latin America, and even China. In the United States, thanks to the help of the Knights of Columbus, it has been hosted by thousands of parishes and hundreds of universities.
What was so special about Carlo?
He welcomed and loved Jesus as a friend, while still living deeply immersed in the world of today, mastering computer programming, film editing, website creation, and even editing comics by the age of 15. Despite being immersed in media so fraught with temptation, the Gospel thrived at his touch and to such an extent that he will probably become the Patron of the Internet.
Carlo remains an inspiration, especially to teenagers who struggle to be both holy and โnormal,โ while remaining unique as an individual.
Carlo wrote that "We are all born as originals, but many die as photocopies." He survived the Xerox machine of modernity and the internet and actually thrived within it. In doing so, he showed each of us the path forward, giving us a means to navigate: Our Compass, he said, has to be the Word of God, which we have to keep constantly before us. Also, "Our Goal must be the infinite, not the finite. The Infinite is our homeland. We have always been expected in Heaven."
Just after five years of canonical norms, the Diocese of Milan immediately started the process of beatification. On Thursday, November 24, 2016, Cardinal Angelo Scola closed the diocesesan phase in the canonization process.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต
On February 21, 2020, Pope Francis received Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of the Saints. During the audience, the Supreme Pontiff authorised the same Congregation to promulgate the decree regarding โthe miracle, attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Carlo Acutis, layman; born on May 3, 1991 in London (England) and died October 12, 2006 in Monza (Italy).โ The Mass of Beatification for Carlo will be celebrated in the spring.
โA great joy for this particular Church that saw him walk in the footsteps of Saint Francis towards holiness. A great joy for the Ambrosian Church that was his home and accompanied him in his encounter with Christ. A great joy for the many people who are already devoted to Carlo throughout the world. A great joy above all for young people who find in Carlo a model of life.โ So reads a statement by Bishop Domenico Sorrentino of the Diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino. He continues: โAt the sanctuary of the Spogliation (where his remains are located), together with Francis of Assisi who here in this same place stripped himself of everything for Christ in this same place, Carlo is already attracting thousands of young people and devotees from all over the world. I hope that his beatification can make him even more a point of reference, encouraging people to holiness. Holiness is a vocation for everyone, even for young people.โ
๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ผโ๐ ๐ ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ
The story of the miracle that will permit Carlo Acutis to be raised to the altars is told directly by Father Marcelo Tenorio, parish priest of San Sebastiano in Brazil, the church where it took place.
โAbout ten years ago,โ Father Marcelo says, โI learnt Carlo through my godson, Rodrigo Luna. We immediately began to work to spread his story as much as possible, creating the Brazilian apostolate, โCarlo Acutis, the Angel of Youth.โ In a short time many people were impressed by his life, and so Carlo began to be better known and loved here in Brazil. We have also made a bond with his family, and so each year we go to Assisi on pilgrimage to pray at dear Carloโs tomb. We have often received news of healings and miracles from every corner of the country.โ
The priest tells how, during one of his pilgrimages, he gave Carloโs father an image of Our Lady of Aparecida, so that it could be placed in his sonโs room in Milan. โI asked the Blessed Mother that the miracle for his beatification would take place here in Brazil,โ Father Marcelo explains. โI believed that placing her image in Carloโs room would assure this. And what a surprise! Not only did the miracle happen in Brazil, it happened right here in our parish of San Sebastiano.
Here is the story of the miracle. The Brazilian priest explains: โOn October 12, 2010, in our parish, at the moment of benediction with the relic of Carlo Acutis in the chapel of Our Lady of Aparecida, a child came forward, accompanied by his grandfather, who suffered from annular pancreas, a very serious congenital disease that is deadly. The disease made the boy continually vomit, and so he became weaker and weaker โ his body rejected everything he ate, even liquids. He came to church with a towel because his condition was obviously very serious. This affliction made him grow weaker and weaker, and the little boy was surely going to die.โ
When they got in line to receive the blessing, the boy asked his grandfather what sort of grace he should ask for. โAsk to stop vomiting,โ his grandfather immediately replied. And so he did. When it was his turn, the boy touched the reliquary holding Carloโs relic and said in a firm voice: โTo stop vomiting!โ And from that moment on he has never vomited again. Following this, in February 2011, the boyโs family had him undergo new medical tests which demonstrate his complete healing.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฎ๐บ๐บ๐ฎ ๐๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป๐ถ๐ฎ
Needless to say, Carloโs parents are overjoyed. Living alongside their very special son day by day, they were able to sense his holiness. Carloโs holiness found its exceptional foundation in Jesus in the Eucharistic and a vibrant love for the Blessed Mother, as we have already shared in an interview with Carloโs mother Antonia. It is enough to recall that Carlo always repeated that the Holy Eucharist was his โhighway to heavenโ and the Blessed Mother was โthe only woman of his life.โ And so itโs also no coincidence that the miracle for his beatification came about as a result of the Mother of Godโs personal intercession.
On this occasion of the news of his beatification, Mamma Antonia has revealed to everyone a secret of Carloโs holy story: โWhen my son was already on the point of death, one night I saw Saint Francis in a dream, and he told me that Carlo would be โhigh up in the Church.โ She continued, โAt that moment, I did not understand what this meant. I only saw the image of this Church with Carlo there, raised high. Only later was I able to truly comprehend that dream: Saint Francis was indicating to me that the Lord would not take Carlo to be with him. But along with this, there was also a great design of Mercy: Today Carlo is doing good to so many people, above all to so many young people all over the world.โ Carlo is so loved and followed because his path was at its heart a radical path walked in simplicity and truth: he made Christ and His Sacraments, the only true source of sanctification, the center of his life.
He was beatified on 10 October 2020 in the Papal Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi with thousands of young people in attendance.
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Sources:
1. https://newdailycompass.com/.../carlo-acutis-will-be...
2. https://www.thescottsmithblog.com/.../blessed-biographies...
