Carlo Acutis was only 15-years-old when he died of leukemia in 1996. His mother has described him as “a normal boy in many ways” but “very obedient” and “very special.” He took his faith more seriously than most of his peers — with a particularly deep devotion to the Eucharist — and he had a talent for using modern technology (as most young people today do). He combined those qualities by developing a website (www.miracolieucharistici.org) which documents Eucharistic miracles from around the world.
Carlo was beatified late last year, after a miracle was attributed to his intercession. The miracle involved a four-year-old boy from Brazil, who was healed of an “annular pancreas” — a severe birth defect. Blessed Carlo Acutis reminds us that youth is not an obstacle to sanctity. The culture in which we live conveys the message to young people that they are doomed to be slaves to their passions and their base instincts.
Our young people deserve better. They deserve to know that sanctity is possible at any age and in every age, including ours. They deserve to know about — and to be inspired by — holy youth like Blessed Carlo. In this regard, this coming Sunday, October 24, St. Mark’s Church in Jamestown will host the International Exhibition of Carlo Acutis’s “Miracles of the Eucharist.” We encourage parents to attend it along with their children, who will find inspiration and hope in someone from their generation who lived a genuinely holy and virtuous life, and will hopefully soon be declared a saint.
