Who is Bl Carlo Acutis?
Despite what one might think of a young candidate for sainthood, Carlo was an absolutely normal boy, just like most of his peers, but with an exceptionally special harmony, thanks to his deep friendship with Jesus.
In addition to his main duties as a student and son, he found time to teach catechism to children preparing for their First Holy Communion and Confirmation; volunteer at the soup kitchens run by the Capuchins and the Missionaries of Charity; help the poor in his neighbourhood; assist children struggling with their homework; engage in online evangelism; play the saxophone; play football; design computer programs; enjoy video games; watch detective movies; and make home videos with his dogs and cats.
“Being always united with Jesus, this is my life plan,” he wrote when he was only seven years old. And from then on, he remained faithful to this plan until his departure for Heaven on 11-12 October, 2006, at San Gerardo Hospital in Monza.
From a young age, Carlo always showed a great attraction towards Heaven. Due to his uncommon maturity in matters of faith and his great love for the Blessed Sacrament, Carlo received his First Holy Communion at just seven years old. From that moment on, he never missed his daily appointment with Holy Mass and a period of Eucharistic Adoration either before or after Mass, as well as his daily Rosary.
Carlo wrote that “when you stand in front of the sun, you get tanned… but when you stand before Jesus in the Eucharist, you become a saint.” For Carlo, “the Eucharist is [his] highway to Heaven,” and the most powerful means to quickly become a saint.
His famous saying goes: “Everyone is born an original, but many die as photocopies.” To avoid dying as a photocopy, Carlo drew from the source of the Sacraments, which for him were the most powerful means to grow in virtues, effective signs of God’s infinite mercy towards us. Thanks to the Eucharist, Carlo heroically strengthened the virtue of fortitude, which gave him the courage common to all saints, to always go against the tide and oppose the false idols that the world constantly offers us.
The Eucharist also fuelled in him a strong desire to constantly tune in to the Lord’s voice and live always in His presence. By doing so, Carlo managed to bring this lifestyle learned from the school of the Eucharist to everything he did: being in the classroom, at the pizzeria with friends, or on the square playing soccer, or using the computer, all became lived Gospel.
Carlo managed in an extraordinary way, despite living an ordinary life like many others, to dedicate his life, moment by moment, to the highest purpose to which all men are called: eternal beatitude with God.
Carlo, “the lover of God,” lived this strong divine presence in his earthly life and sought in every way to generously share it with others. Even now, he continues to intercede so that everyone can put God first in their lives and say like Carlo: “Not I, but God”; “Not self-love but the glory of God”; “Sadness is looking at oneself, happiness is looking at God.”
Sanctification is not a process of addition but of subtraction. Less me to leave room for God.
Bl Carlo Acutis
The Reliquary Shrine at Corpus Christi
In May 2021, His Eminence, Vincent Cardinal Nichols gifted Corpus Christi a first class relic of Bl Carlo, containing a piece of Bl Carlo’s hair. To enable this relic to be venerated, a unique reliquary was commissioned from Ferdinand Stuflesser in Italy. The money for the Shrine was donated by people from all over the world, and was raised within a week of launching the appeal. The names of all the donors are inscribed inside the Shrine and sit behind the relic.
The design is of a Gothic arch, in keeping with the rest of the church, redolent in detail of the Cathedral in Milan, the city where Blessed Carlo lived and died, with Carlo almost reaching out of the arch, and painted in traditional colours in the manner of a della Robbia sculpture. In his hands, Carlo holds a stylized laptop from the screen of which emanates a gilded ciborium in homage to his website on Eucharistic miracles. This serves as an important reminder to us all that the miracles that Carlo documented online are not some virtual or artificial creations, but instead real and true divine interventions which help to confirm our faith in the real presence of the Body and Blood of the Lord in the Eucharist. The closed ciborium design, in particular, keeps the Blessed Sacrament protected from profanation, highlighting the Blessed’s awe of this Sacrament.
The shrine is mounted in an arch in the Lady Chapel. The reasoning for this is twofold: Placing Blessed Carlo near the Sanctuary – looking through the arches into the Sanctuary to the Tabernacle itself – and within the Lady Chapel is central to Carlo’s faith. He referred to the Virgin Mary as “the only woman in my life” and that “by standing before the Eucharistic Christ, we become holy”. This placement, then, is significant for a Blessed who said, “Sadness is looking at ourselves; happiness is looking towards God.” The entire Shrine draws us out from technology, away from phones and laptops which have become all too pervasive in today’s society, as Bl Carlo himself directs us to move our gaze to the Tabernacle, where his eyes are pointing too.
This afternoon is a very lovely moment as I have the privilege of being able to present to Fr Pat from Fulham Road and Fr Alan from the Corpus Christi Shrine, these relics of Blessed Carlo. Each of these churches is very beautiful, and each of them is worthy of a visit for its beauty, but even more so for the importance that each stands for of these two crucial sacraments in the life of the disciple of Jesus, and the life of the Catholic: Baptism and Eucharist. And we hope and pray that the example of this young man, who was baptised at Fulham Road, and who lived his life in the close embrace of Jesus in the Eucharist, will help us all to have the right priorities in life.
His Eminence, Vincent Cardinal Nichols
© Mazur/cbcew.org.uk
Visit of Antonia Salzano – Mother of Bl Carlo Acutis
On Thursday 1st June 2023, we were delighted to welcome Antonia Salzano, mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis to Corpus Christi for the June Sodality of the Blessed Sacrament Mass. Follow a sung Mass on the Feast of Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, Antonia spoke to us about Bl Carlo, his life, his devotion to Our Lady and the Eucharist, and what Carlo has to teach us today. After this, there was the opportunity to venerate a relic of Bl Carlo.
The church was heaving, with people sitting on the floor in the aisles, and standing out into the street, watching the Mass inside the church from the live stream on their phones. A recording of the Mass, and Antonia’s talk is below: