“Christ enlisted special servants to do His earthly work and build the church." ~ Ephesians 4:11-12
By some accounts, Carlo Acutis was a normal teenager. He
loved playing his PlayStation, enjoyed pizza, talked a lot, and was a bit
of a class clown. An animal lover, he enjoyed many pets and frequently brought
home stray animals.
Acutis was born to
wealthy Italian parents in London in 1991, but the family moved to northern
Italy shortly after his birth. Studying at a Jesuit school, he embraced the
motto: “Dio, non io.” (God, before me!). Carlos became a devout Catholic who
received his First Communion at age 7. He attended mass every day and loved
praying the rosary.
Even at an early age, the
young boy had a knack for consoling others, whether helping friends whose
parents were going through a divorce, peers bullied by other pupils, or
girls being harassed. His soft approach to resolving conflicts provided warmth,
understanding, and patience.
As he grew into his teens, he became fascinated with the Internet.
Showing wisdom beyond his years, the boy taught himself to program and built
websites with a spiritual focus. His most creative project was a global catalog
of Eucharistic miracles and the documented appearances of the Virgin Mary
throughout history.
Tragically, he developed
acute promyelocytic leukemia in 2006 and died less than two weeks later at the
age of 15. Some of the city's poorest residents who Acutis had helped, came to
pay their respects at his funeral. His body lies in an open tomb in Assisi,
wearing blue jeans and sneakers.
The call for Acutis to
be canonized (proclaimed a Saint), began not long after his death.
First, Acutis was
beatified in October 2020, after the Vatican officially recognized his
intercession from Heaven in 2013 to save the life of a Brazilian child who suffered
from a deadly pancreatic condition. The Vatican said the 3-year-old was completely
healed after praying to Acutis and coming into contact with a relic of his clothing.
Pope Francis
recognized a second posthumous miracle attributed to Carlo’s intervention in 2024. It involved the healing of a 21-year-old Costa Rican girl who wasn’t
likely to survive a serious head injury from a bicycle accident in 2022. The
girl was discharged from the ICU 10 days after her mother’s pilgrimage to
Carlo’s tomb.
Pope Francis’
recognition of the second miracle made it possible for the deceased 15-year-old
Italian web designer, popularly dubbed “the Patron Saint of the Internet,” to
become the Catholic Church's first millennial generation saint this year during
the church's jubilee year.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Carlo’s short
life, a model for young people, and a message of love for all. Give us the
honor of calling him “Saint,” for his work with his peers and the poor, whom he
loved and helped. Amen
