12 October
Memorial

Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991-2006)

Born 3 May 1991, London, United Kingdom
Died 12 October 2006 (aged 15), Monza, Italy
Resting place Santa Maria Maggiore (Sanctuary of the Spoliation)
Beatified 10 October 2020, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi, Italy, by Cardinal Agostino Vallini (on behalf of Pope Francis)
Major shrine Santa Maria Maggiore (Sanctuary of the Spoliation), Assisi, Italy
Patronage
Youth, Computer programmers

Carlo Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London, England. When he was four months old, his family moved back to Milan, Italy. Even as a child, Carlo had a great love for the Holy Eucharist, the Blessed Mother, and the saints.

Carlo wanted to strengthen the faith of people around the world by promoting the miracles of Christ through the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist. Since he had extensive knowledge of computers, he created a website with all the approved Eucharistic miracles.

Carlo started this project when he was 11, and he finished it the year before he died. Since this time, his website has become a traveling exhibition that has been to five continents.

Carlo died from leukemia in 2006 at age 15. He was beatified in 2020, making him the first “Millennial” to be named Blessed by the Church. As a young man who played video games, watched movies, and spent time with his friends, he is proof that holiness is attainable for everyone.

“He really is a model of young people evangelising their elders”

Two parishes in the Diocese of Westminster have each been presented with a relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis. On 21st May 2021, Cardinal Vincent and Bishop Nicholas welcomed Fr Pat Ryall, Parish Priest at Our Lady of Dolours Servite Church, Fulham Road and Fr Alan Robinson, Rector of the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament, Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, to Archbishop’s House to receive the relics and share a moment of prayer.

‘He’s someone that we can refer to, point to, as an example. A wonderful example of how young people can have this incredible relationship with the Lord if they’re prepared to make that effort, to actually offer themselves to him.

‘I think Carlo would be very happy in Corpus Christi, it’s very much about his life. It’s about our Lord in the Eucharist. And I hope, I pray, that through his intercession and his encouragement that it will be a home for many more young people. Young people often think they’re invincible, they’re going to live forever. And Carlo is this example of saying: that’s not necessarily true. But the one thing that will continue forever is our relationship with the Lord, in the Eucharist, both in this world and then with our Lord when our earthly life comes to its end.’

Speaking about the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis, Bishop Nicholas Hudson said:

‘I think his beatification is of significance, particularly for the young people of our diocese, because Carlo was only 16 when he died, and he really is a model of young people evangelising their elders. By his mother’s own admission, her son really evangelised her … meanwhile, he was also evangelising his friends as well.

‘He had an intuition that he would die young and I think in some ways, as well as teaching young people how they can evangelise their elders, he taught all of us as well how to die. When he was just approaching the end of his days, he decided he would offer all his suffering for the Pope, for Jesus himself, and for his Church.’

Relic image Source: DIOCESE OF WESTMINSTER

Pope: ‘Blessed Carlo Acutis a witness of Christ for younger generations’

Following the beatification of Carlo Acutis on 10th October 2020, Pope Francis invited young people to look to the late Italian teenager as a model of holiness.

Blessed Carlo Acutis was beatified in the Italian town of Assisi during Mass celebrated by Cardinal Agostino Vallini.

Pope Francis recalled the 15-year-old Italian teenager as

“a young man in love with the Eucharist.” “He did not rest in comfortable immobility,” said the Pope.

“He grasped the needs of his time, because he saw the face of Christ in the weakest.”

Blessed Carlo Acutis’ example, he added, shows young people that “true happiness is found in putting God in the first place and serving Him in our brothers and sisters.”

Source: Vatican News

Cardinal Becciu: Carlo Acutis, a life offered for Jesus, the Church

Carlo Acutis was born in London in 2006 to Italian parents. As a young boy, he moved with them to Milan, where he lived before succumbing to leukemia at the age of 15. The computer genius was beatified in Assisi, Perugia in October 2020 after a Brazilian boy was cured from a rare disease due to his intercession.

He loved playing soccer, video games, Pokémon, action films, and all animals (he had four dogs, two cats and many goldfish as pets); and had a sweet tooth. Carlo couldn’t say “no” to Nutella or to ice cream. Putting on weight made him understand the need for self control. It was one of the many struggles Carlo had to overcome – to learn how to master the art of self control, to master the virtue of temperance, starting by the simple things. He used to say,

“What’s the use of winning 1,000 battles if you can’t beat your own passions?”

A boy of exemplary faith

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, described Carlo Acutis’ exemplary faith as an example for young people, and for all of us. “He was a little boy when he fell in love with the Eucharist, then he also turned his devotion to Our Lady”. The Cardinal went on to say that he used his talents to spread the faith. “He created a computer project on the themes of faith; he had a site on Eucharistic miracles. So, he lived his faith to the fullest”.

Cardinal Becciu said the words of this young man are also striking. “He said,

‘I want to offer all my sufferings for the Lord, for the Pope, and for the Church. I don’t want to do purgatory; I want to go straight to Heaven’.

At 15! A little boy who talks like that strikes us and I think it encourages everyone not to joke with our faith, but to take it seriously”.

Zeal for the Lord

Speaking to Vatican News, Carlos’s mother Antonia Salzano said — he was “considered a computer genius because he knew logarithms, he knew how to make programs and read university texts on these topics. But what did he do? He didn’t use these media to chat, have fun, or anything like that. His zeal for the Lord and his love for the knowledge of Jesus prompted him to make use his talents to create a website on Eucharistic miracles and an exhibit on the same subject that has traveled around the world”. She said that Carlo “knew that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, but he realized that people need help to get closer to the Lord and especially to understand the importance of the sacraments”.

“Being originals and not photocopies”

Carlo’s motto reflects the life of a normal teenager who strived to be the best version of himself, living the ordinary in an extraordinary way. He used his first savings to buy a sleeping bag for a homeless man he often saw on the way to Mass. He could have bought himself another video game for his game console collection. He loved to play video games. Instead, he chose to be generous. This was not an isolated instance. His funeral was packed with many of the city’s poor residents that Carlo had helped, demonstrating that the generosity he had extended to the homeless man on his way to Mass had been offered to many other people as well.

When he was gifted a diary, he decided to use it to track his progress: “good marks” if he behaved well and “bad marks” if he did not meet his expectations. This is how he tracked his progress. In that same notebook he jotted down,

“Sadness is looking at oneself, happiness is looking at God. Conversion is nothing but a movement of the eyes”.

Natural jokester

He was a “natural jokester” as his mother, Antonia Salzano, once commented in an interview. His classmates would burst out in laughter at his remarks, and so would the teachers. Since he realized it could annoy and disrupt others, he made an effort to change in that regard as well. Making life pleasant for those around him through little acts was a constant in his life. He did not like the cleaning staff picking up after him, even if they were paid for that. So he set the alarm clock a few minutes earlier to tidy up his room and make the bed. Rajesh, a Hindu who cleaned at Carlo’s house, was impressed that someone “as handsome, young and rich” decided to live a simple life. “He captivated me with his deep faith, charity and purity,” he remarked. Through Carlo’s example, Raejsh decided to be baptized in the Catholic Church.

Carlo lived so simply he argued with his parents when they wanted to buy him a second pair of shoes.

Cleanliness

Purity was very important in Carlo’s life.

“Each person reflects the light of God”, was something he commonly said.

It hurt him when his classmates did not live according to Christian morals. He would encourage them to do so, trying to help them understand that the human body is a gift from God and that sexuality had to be lived as God had intended. “The dignity of each human being was so great, that Carlo saw sexuality as something very special, as it was collaborating with God’s creation,” his mother recalled.

Our new Blessed also enjoyed putting on his diving goggles and playing “fetch trash from the bottom of the sea”. When he took the dogs out for a walk, he always picked up whatever garbage he came across. It was his way of improving his corner of the world.

Passion for the Eucharist

Carlo’s true passion was the Eucharist: “his highway to heaven”. From early childhood, his first love was Our Lord in the Eucharist.

Neither of his parents were religious, yet from an early age Carlo never wanted to pass a church without going in to “say hello to Jesus.” This led to his mother’s conversion. A woman who had only gone “three times to Mass in her life” was conquered in the end by the boy’s affection for Jesus. She enrolled herself in a theology course so she could answer all the questions of her young son.

At the age of 11, Carlo began to investigate the Eucharistic miracles that have occurred in history. He used all his computer knowledge and talents to create a website that traced that history. It comprises 160 panels and can be downloaded by clicking here and that have also made the rounds of more than 10,000 parishes in the world.

Carlo could not understand why stadiums were full of people and churches were empty. He would repeatedly say, “They have to see, they have to understand.”

Early Death

In Summer 2006, Carlo asked his mother: “Do you think I should become a priest?” She answered: “You will see it by yourself, God will reveal it to you.” At the beginning of that school year he did not feel well. It seemed like a normal flu. But when he didn’t get better, his parents took him to hospital. “I’m not getting out of here,” he said when he entered the building.

Shortly after, he was diagnosed with one of the worst types of leukemia – Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML or M3). Carlo was 15 then and his reaction was striking. Antonia (Carlo’s mum) recounted, “Carlo, when they told him that he had leukemia — that it was a disease that he could die of — he smiled and said, ‘The Lord gave me a beautiful alarm clock.’ As if to say, my time has arrived. Then he said, ‘I’m not coming out of this alive. But mom, I will give you many signs. Don’t worry.’”

The teenager bore the pains of his sickness with a beautiful end in mind.

His mom recounts, “He had asked the Lord,