Two years after his beatification, which took place on October 10, 2020, we remember Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 at just 15 years old, and let us learn the secret of his holiness.
Who was Carlo Acutis?
Carlo was a perfectly ordinary boy, with the passions and dreams of any teenager, and a great enthusiast of computers.
The exceptional nature of his life lies in his relationship, a very special friendship, with Jesus! He received his First Communion at just 7 years old and placed Jesus at the center of his days, allowing Him to light his path: at school, he was attentive to the shyer or more withdrawn classmates; he greeted everyone with an open, warm smile; he used his savings to help people living on the streets and made an effort to bring them a hot meal… Every day, he lived what he considered the most important appointment of the day: praying the Rosary and, as far as his commitments as a boy allowed, attending daily Mass.
We could say that what enabled Carlo to live each moment of his life joyfully was his love for the Eucharist, which Carlo called his «highway to heaven».
Carlo's illness, his “wake-up call”
In October 2006, Carlo developed M3-type leukemia, then considered the most aggressive form, which was initially mistaken for influenza. Carlo was admitted to the De Marchi Clinic in Milan; then, as his condition worsened, he was transferred to San Gerardo Hospital in Monza, where there was a specialized center for the type of leukemia that had affected him.
When told of his illness, he calmly remarked: «The Lord has given me a wake-up call!».
A few days before his hospitalization, he offered his life to the Lord for the Pope, for the Church, and to go straight to Paradise.
Some of the nurses and doctors who cared for Carlo during those moments remember him with great affection and as an inspiration. Brain death occurred on October 11, 2006, and his heart stopped beating at 6:45 a.m. on October 12.
Carlo Acutis's kit for holiness
Carlo was also committed to educating children as a catechist and had developed his own personal kit for holiness:
1. Attend Mass and receive Communion every day.
2. Spend some time in Eucharistic adoration before the tabernacle, where Jesus is truly present.
3. Pray the Rosary every day.
4. Read a passage from Sacred Scripture every day.
5. Go to confession every week, including for venial sins.
6. Frequently make resolutions and small sacrifices for the Lord and the Madonna to help others.
7. Ask the guardian angel for help, who must become your best friend.
What is the miracle that made it possible to declare Carlo blessed?
The miracle that allowed the beatification process to be completed was the healing of Matheus, a 6-year-old Brazilian boy suffering from a rare congenital anatomical anomaly of the pancreas. During a Mass on October 12, 2013, the boy touched a relic of Carlo (a piece of his bloodstained pajamas that he had slept in shortly before dying), and his condition, which had seemed desperate, began to improve: the disease had disappeared, and his pancreas had returned to normal.
Why is Carlo Acutis buried in Assisi?
Carlo had a particular love for Assisi, which is why his parents had buried him in the Assisi cemetery. In April 2019, his remains were transferred to the Sanctuary of the Stripping in Assisi. The body was placed in a large glass case in the right aisle of the church.
«Francis and Carlo, now inseparably united. Together, singers of life and goodness. Together, inspiring young people and witnesses to the Gospel. Truly, something new is blossoming on the horizon of a humanity marked by an epochal crisis.» This was the powerful message delivered by the archbishop of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino, Domenico Sorrentino, during the Assisi ceremony for the burial of the body of the young venerable Carlo Acutis inside the Sanctuary of the Stripping.
A blessed young man in a sweatshirt and tennis shoes
Fabio Bolzetta, president of the Association of Italian Catholic Webmasters, reflected as follows in Avvenire (October 7, 2020) on the image of Carlo’s body: «A boy in a sweatshirt and tennis shoes. This is how one of our era’s blesseds rests. The image of Carlo Acutis, visible during the exhibition preceding the beatification ceremony, captivated those who paid their respects at the Sanctuary of the Stripping. And his story projected the figure of a fifteen-year-old boy into the firmament of holiness, seeming to herald the next generations of venerable people, blesseds, and everyday saints whom we should perhaps get used to […] The footprints of his sneakers met Francis’s sandals in his Assisi. Here we were invited to take part in the beatification ceremony of the first blessed in the history of the Church to have created a website. He dedicated it to those miracles that, on earth, burst into human life and for which he himself, from heaven, eventually interceded. As he journeyed toward the summit of his earthly life, he offered all the suffering of his illness to the Lord, the Pope, and the Church».
Discover our entire extensive collection about Blessed Carlo Acutis
