After a long delay, St. Carlo Acutis was canonized today, September 7th. St. Carlo’s life and sainthood apply to this generation and hopefully many more to come. He is easier to connect to than some other saints because he is from our time.
On May 3rd, 1991, the same year that the World Wide Web was launched, St. Carlo was raised in Assisi, Italy. Because of this, St. Carlo felt a strong connection to St. Francis of Assisi. Carlo was inspired by the saints, just as he now inspires us. St. Carlo loved to hike in the Apennine Mountains with his four dogs, to dress up as his favorite characters from cartoons (like Transformers, Pokémon, the Smurfs, and Spiderman), and at age six he collected spring flowers to bring to the Virgin Mary. As much as St. Carlo liked to do other fun things, such as being out in nature and dressing up as his favorite characters, St. Carlo loved to game. In the year 2000, he received his first computer and taught himself how to code.
St. Carlo created a website that focused on Eucharistic miracles. One of the many Eucharistic miracles happened in Lanciano, Italy in 750AD when a priest doubted that the Eucharist was really the Body and Blood of Christ. During the consecration, the Host’s appearance transformed into real flesh and blood. Tests done on the host in the 1970s revealed that it is real flesh and blood. St. Carlo did not create the website because he wanted attention for himself. Instead, he knew how wonderful it felt to be a witness and wanted to help adults and children to convert and become Catholic. The Eucharist was also very important to St. Carlo, and he wanted to share it with others.
On October 2nd, 2006, St. Carlo had just started his second year of high school when he had to stay home because of a sickness. His pediatrician concluded that he had mumps. St. Carlo moved to the guest room so that he could watch TV during his sickness. Though the pediatrician told his parents not to worry, he did not have mumps. St. Carlo actually had promyelocytic leukemia. By October 7th, St. Carlo could not get out of bed and his family informed the nuns at the church where he had received his first Communion that he was very sick. He was taken to the hospital. On October 11th, he fell into a coma and he was declared dead on October 12th. After living a strong and faithful life and using the internet for good, St. Carlo passed away. The family asked that his funeral be full of prayers and not flowers. He was remembered as a boy who lived very simply and loved life.
It is said that, after his death, a woman who came from Rome prayed to St. Carlo asking him to pray for her so that she could have children. A few days later, she found out she was pregnant. Another woman with cancer had not started any medicine for it. She came and asked for St. Carlo to pray for her and was cured. Most recently, a young woman who fell off of a bicycle and had serious head trauma partially recovered on the same day that her family asked for St. Carlo’s intercession. Her recovery continued.
In addition to the miracles associated with him, St. Carlo shines a new light on the internet. Even though there can be a lot of bad things on the internet, St. Carlo shows that we can make the internet a place of worship and mission work. Simply by making a website and using his programming skills, St. Carlo developed online friendships and his relationships helped his friends to appreciate the gifts of the Catholic faith. He also created a safe place for people who want to learn about Eucharistic miracles to go to and not have to worry about misinformation or inappropriate subjects. While some websites are designed to drag you in and keep you there (and not all of them have true or even good information) St. Carlo reminds us that we can create a nice place for people to find things that they are looking for. Technology does not have to be an instrument of evil. It can be an instrument for good.
It is important to have a saint from our own time because younger generations will be able to connect more with him. For kids like me, it can be hard to understand how saints lived, especially because we have temptations now that they did not have. To have a saint from our time period who died at around our own age, means that it is easier to realize how real our faith is and that it is not just a fairytale. I personally feel that it is so much easier to connect when you know that St. Carlo may also have faced every struggle that you have. Addiction to video gaming? Well, he was a gamer. He probably had the same temptations at one point. Slightly too much candy? Let’s be real, that is so hard to resist! These are just a few of the things that kids my age and St. Carlo Acutis might have in common and probably do. There is also something incredibly special about looking at a picture of a saint and noticing that they look and dress similarly to you – with exercise clothes and sneakers. Even dressing up like a superhero.
For me, it is a lot easier to wrap my mind around how real it is to be a saint when you just look at a picture of someone who is about your age and became a saint. It is also pretty cool to have a way to learn about God through a more modern soul. It provides hope and comfort that, even though I have so many struggles and we hear about all these saints who sound so perfect in our minds, there was an ordinary kid and he became a saint. We can, too.
Prayer for St. Acutis
Adapted from a prayer in Carlo Acutis – A Saint in Sneakers
Oh Father,
Who has given us the ardent testimony
Of the young St. Carlo Acutis
Who made the Eucharist the core of his life
And the strength of his daily commitments
So that everybody may love you above all else,
Thank you for counting him among the Saints in your Church.
Confirm my faith,
Nurture my hope,
Strengthen my charity,
In the image of young Carlo and ultimately Yourself,
Who, growing in these virtues,
Now lives with you.
Grant me the grace that I need…
I trust in you, Father,
And your beloved son Jesus,
In the Virgin Mary, our dearest mother,
And in the intervention of our St. Carlo Acutis.
Note: The information in this article was taken from St. Carlos’s website, the Vatican News website, and the books Blessed Carlo Acutis – A Saint in Sneakers and My Son Carlo.
Image: “Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Catholic Church (England and Wales)
Hana is a seventh-grade poet and nature lover whose poem, "I Feel Distant," was featured at a visit with Poet Laureate, Ada Limon. Her poem, "Twig," was included in an anthology that will be published by Literary Cleveland and the North East Ohio Regional Sewer District. It was featured in a subterranean reading and podcast recording. Hana participates in a summer poetry camp each year. She is the founder of the Eco Club at her school, the co-founder of an upcycling business, a black belt, a member of her school writing club, guinea pig mom, and a singer in her Church choir. Hana loves to combine her passions and create glimpses of the natural world she adores through her writing.
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