Carlo Acutis was an English-born Italian Catholic youth and amateur computer programmer, who is best known for documenting Eucharistic miracles around the world and cataloging them onto a website, miracolieucaristici.org, which he created before his death from leukemia.
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Born in London, in 1991, Carlo and his family soon moved back to Italy, where he grew up as an ordinary only child. He loved football, Pokémon, action films, and all animals (he had four dogs, two cats, and many goldfish as pets). From early childhood, his first love was Our Lord in the Eucharist.
Neither of his parents was religious, yet from an early age Carlo never wanted to pass a church without going in to “say hello to Jesus.” As a result, his mother came back to faith, then his father. Carlo received his First Holy Communion early, at his own request, in a local convent, entering under a doorway that said “God is enough.”
Carlo’s love, appreciation and reverence for the Eucharist were exceptional. “The Eucharist is my highway to Heaven!” he would say. And, “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.”
He never missed daily Mass, even when (from the age of eleven) he began visiting Eucharistic miracles all over the world with his parents, documenting them. A “computer genius” and possible future patron saint of the internet, by age fourteen he had created a Eucharistic Miracle display that would tour the world, along with a website. He believed that if people knew that Jesus was truly in the Eucharist, they would turn to God.
Carlo knew he would die young, even predicting the cause of his death and his weight at the time. His mother said, “Carlo always had a sense that he couldn’t waste time.” He hated to be enslaved by anything, so although he loved computer games, he allowed himself to play for only one hour a week, and gave the rest of his time to good works helping children, the elderly, and the poor.
As soon as he was confirmed, age eleven, he became a catechist. He met and chatted with many migrants, standing sponsor for one when he got baptized. He was popular at school, but also befriended children who were unhappy at home, defended the disabled, and treated girls with an old-fashioned purity that challenged everyone. He would defend his Catholic faith — including his pro-life views — fearlessly in class.
Then, in early October, 2006, Carlo became ill with flu — so it was thought, until his condition deteriorated. He was admitted to hospital, receiving a terrible diagnosis: “It is a devastating leukemia.” The fifteen-year-old boy who loved to laugh had days to live. Carlo took the news calmly, immediately offering all his sufferings for the Pope, the Church, and his own direct entry into heaven (he had a horror of purgatory). “I am happy to die,” he said, “because I have lived my life without wasting a minute on those things which do not please God.”
“I would like to leave this hospital,” he told his mother, “but I know I will not do so alive. I will give you signs, though, that I am with God.” He died on October 12. Some of his last words were to a nurse who offered to wake his mother, since he was suffering. He refused: “She is very tired as well and she will only worry even more.”
Exactly four years later, on the anniversary of Carlo’s death, at the age of forty-four, his mother gave birth to the promised ‘signs’—Carlo’s twin brother and sister.
Carlo’s mother has said that God chose Carlo to be “an example for the young people of this period in history.” On Saturday the Church gains a truly inspiring new Blessed to walk alongside our young people and lead them on the highway to heaven. Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for us.
Prayer to Blessed Carlo Acutis
O God our Father, we thank you for giving us Carlo, a model of life for young people, and a message of love for all. You made him fall in love with your son Jesus, making the Eucharist his “highway to heaven.” You gave him Mary as a beloved mother, and you made him, through the Rosary, a cantor of her tenderness. Receive his prayer for us. Look above all upon the poor, whom he loved and assisted. Grant me too, through his intercession, the grace that I need
(mention your intention).
And make our joy full, raising Carlo among the saints of your Church, so that his smile shines again for us to the glory of your name. Amen.
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