Meet Blessed Carlo Acutis, God's Influencer

Yahoo

18-04-2025

LAKE PLACID — The canonization of the Blessed Carlos Acutis on April 27 marks the first Millennial Saint to be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.
BIO INFO
Blessed Carlo Acutis
May 3, 1991 – Oct. 12, 2006
Beatification: Oct. 10, 2020
Canonization: April 27, 2025
Carlo was born in London, where his parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, were working. Fifteen days after his birth, he received the Sacrament of Baptism in the presence of his paternal and maternal grandparents, his aunt Adriana and his great-grandmother Adriana in the Church of Our Lady of Dolours, according to carloacutis.com
Called 'God's Influencer' and 'the Patron Saint of the Internet, Carlo's devotion to the Eucharist inspired him to create a website to track Eucharistic Miracles.
'Divine Mercy Sunday is the next day,' the Rev. Bryan Stitt of St. Mary's Church in Canton said.
'Those are some of the holiest days of the year, so why are we doing something else in the midst of it.
'We're about to have the canonization of the first Millennial Saint. It's kind of a big deal. He was born in 1991. That's really young. He was only 15 years old when he died. He was a real Italian kid that had a great love for the Lord and changed a lot of people's lives doing things that kids do. He liked working with computers, and he figured out how to create a website. He loved the Eucharist very much. He loved that the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Jesus. That's at every Mass. Sometimes, there is an outward manifestation of the miracle that happened, so he started tracking those.
'There are these old, dusty tomes that have all these things in them, but he made a website because he's like this is amazing and everybody should know about this. So he created a website so that people could keep track of Eucharistic Miracles where there is this physical manifestation of the reality of what's going on in the Holy Eucharist.'
Carlo's website is: https://www.miracolieucaristici.org.
'It's a way to hear more about the stories, where it happened, when it happened, who was involved, what was the outward manifestation, what was the obvious miracle,' Stitt said.
'Some of them happened a decade ago down in Baltimore, and some happened a millennial ago. It's hard to keep track of all of those things. It's more of an archive, but in a very accessible way.
A tracker of miracles, some called him 'Miracle Hunter.'
'He loved playing video games, which sounds normal but he realized that he shouldn't play them too much,' Stitt said.
'He limited himself to an hour a week because he wanted to have time to do other good things such as prayer and generosity. His family was not pious. They weren't really church goers. So often people are just like of course he was this way because his mom and dad were like this. That wasn't the case entirely. So often is the case with Italian kids, they brought him to make his first Holy Communion because that's what everybody does. After he made his first Holy Communion, he tried to get to Mass every day. That's amazing.'
There are many great pictures of Carlo on his website from a babe in his christening gown to a teen wearing black sunglasses.
'As one lady said to me, a tough business lady, she looked at the picture and she teared up, 'This looks like my kid,'' Stitt said.
'He's so approachable. He is buried in Assisi, the town of St. Francis. You can go to his tomb. He's dressed like any Italian kid – a polo shirt and athletic jacket.'
SAINTHOOD
To become a saint means to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, which declares officially and infallibly that someone is in heaven.
'To be a saint is what we all want to be we all want to go to heaven,' Stitt said.
'This is someone we know who is in heaven because of his heroic charity, sanctity, and wisdom. You have to have those three to be a saint. His writings for a 15 year old, he was a smart kid. To be canonized as a saint you got to have a couple of miracles. They are intense. The doctors have to say this person is really seriously dying and there has to be documentation of that, and then there has to be some intervention where there's not medical intervention. There's some sort of connection to Carlo or whoever the possible saint is, and then there is a clear and dramatic change in his (patient's) medical status. What the official miracles are, the church takes that really seriously. Is it really a miracle or is it just a nice story? We can take it seriously that somebody without a shadow of doubt this is something medicine cannot explain.'
Carlo was diagnosed on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2006 with M3 acute leukemia at the De Marchi Clinic in Milan. The next day, he was transferred to San Gerardo Hospital in Monza. On Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006, Carlo requested to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and Holy Communion, certain that he would shortly die.
The next day, he fell into a coma from a brain hemorrhage brought on by the M3 acute leukemia. Doctors declared him dead at 5 p.m. when all his brain activity ceases. On Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6:45 a.m. Carlo's heart stopped.
This is the time of his legal death.
His funeral was Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006 at Santa Maria Segreta Church. In January 2007, his body was transferred from Ternengo Cemetery in Piedmont to a cemetery in Assisi.
'He asked to be buried in Assisi because he had such a devotion to St. Francis,' Stitt said.
'At some point everyone that is canonized as a saint, there is someone who promotes his cause. They knew he was a holy boy. They start doing interviews and start reading anything that he wrote and then they start, with the Bishop's permission, start promoting a devotion to him asking for his intercession. That's when things really get into gear if there's a miracle that happens with a connection to him that's when everybody sits up and takes notice.'
On Oct. 12, 2012, the cause for Carlo's Beautification and Canonization was officially opened and he became a Servant of God.
'His cause was opened,' Stitt said.
'You don't get voted into heaven. You remember when Pope John Paul died at his funeral all the people were chanting, 'Santo Subito, Santo Subito,' which means a saint immediately. But, they didn't do it. We have to take the process seriously. The church needs to make sure there's no skeletons in the closet. It's an intense process for someone to be canonized. That this young kid is being canonized, it's got a lot of the kids in the school and in my parish to pay attention to Carlo Acutis. They just connect with him. He's so approachable. He's not wearing long black robes or long gray robes. He's wearing a red polo shirt and blue jeans. Oh, that looks like somebody I would hang out with.'
Carlo's lifespan was short, and so was his canonization process.
'It doesn't even seem fair sometimes,' Stitt said.
'How come this is happening for him so fast? We don't know. In the end, it's the miracle that drives things more than anything else. The deal breaker was is there a miracle that can be measurable and documented.
'Sometimes, these miracles happen really fast. God only knows. From the church's side, the miracle is the also the fact that the church will give special attention sometimes when this is the saint that we need. I think the Holy Spirit works like that. This young kid has already been called the Patron Saint of the Internet. How many saints had ever used the computer before? There aren't too many. Maybe the good Lord decided we needed a Patron Saint of the Internet.'
Though the miracles and prayers are really important, Carlo is the hook.
'Someone that is that approachable and that relevant today,' Stitt said.