José Maria C.S. André
The Holy See confirmed a second miracle through the intercession of Carlo Acutis, which means that his canonization will come soon.
Five years ago, Pope Francis, in the apostolic exhortation “Christus vivit”, proposed him as a model to the young people and Carlo Acutis was one of the inspiring icons of the previous World Youth Day in Lisbon.
He was born in 1991 and died almost suddenly in 2006, a few days after being diagnosed with a fulminant leukaemia. He was 15 years old.
The devotion to this boy quickly spread around the world. A first miracle through his intercession led to his beatification in 2020 and a second miracle now opens the door to his canonization.
His biography is quite normal. He lived in Milan, studied like any boy his age, played soccer with friends, enjoyed sailing, drawing, traveling, playing music… His relationship with God and his peers was vibrant and healthy, and so his example is a very strong invitation to imitate him.
Like many boys who received a sound Catholic education, Carlo attended Mass every day and tried to pray before the tabernacle. He was also concerned about bringing his classmates closer to God, because he knew how important this was for them. A lot of activity, a lot of friends, a lot of communication on the internet, but, as his mother used to say, “he did all this with a great equilibrium.”
Carlo took his role as catechist seriously, with initiatives, some of which had an unexpected impact. One of them was an exhibition on miracles related to the Eucharist. With the help of his family, he worked for two-and-a-half years gathering documentation and images.
Eucharistic miracles are miracles that confirm that the Eucharist is really the Body and Blood of Jesus. We know that the Eucharist is really Jesus, because he said so himself, and since he is God, he can neither deceive himself nor deceive us. So, these miracles add nothing to the Church’s faith, yet God has often intervened with miraculous wonders to strengthen our faith. Carlo gathered documentation on miracles of this kind that took place in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Martinique, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Portugal (in Santarém in 1247), Reunion Island, Switzerland, Venezuela… And also information on the relationship of many saints with the Eucharist (including the Portuguese Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa, 1904-1955)… And also, about apparitions of Our Lady related to the Eucharist, such as the apparitions of Guadalupe in Mexico, those of Lourdes in France, those of Fátima, and many others… The exhibition of Eucharistic miracles toured thousands of parishes, has been on display in hundreds of universities, toured the five continents and was the occasion of many conversions.
Carlo did not see the end of the exhibitions on the apparitions of Our Lady; another on Heaven, Purgatory and Hell; and another on visions and apparitions of Angels and demons. The latter ones were completed by journalist Nicola Gori and also travelled around the world.
Carlo Acutis didn’t write any books, but his life had such an impact on the people who knew him that they remember some little sayings. For example, “the Rosary is the shortest stairway to heaven”; “to criticize the Church is to criticize ourselves! The Church is the dispenser of the treasures for our salvation”; “the only thing we should really fear is sin”; “why do people worry so much about the beauty of their body and not about the beauty of their soul?”; “happiness is looking at God; sadness is looking at ourselves”.
And the sentence that I find most provocative: “everyone is born original, but many die as photocopies.”
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