Two weeks ago, on Sun. Sept. 7, Pope Leo canonized two new Saints of the Church: St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis! What is interesting about these Saints, is that they did not live hundreds of years ago, but both lived within the last century.  Neither of them were monks or priests or martyrs.  Both were young laymen of the church, who died of sickness at a young age.  But in their short lives were shining examples of the faith. I wrote about Pier Giorgio Frassati last week.

Carlo Acutis was born in Italy 1991 (only a year younger than Fr. Kevin!), and in his short life, he was a great light of Christ to many around him.  His parents, while raised Catholic, were not very faithful churchgoers.  But at the prompting of their young son they started attending Mass with greater regularity.  Carlo had a deep, deep love for Christ and the Eucharist.  He would repeat passionately that in the Blessed Sacrament, Christ was present in the same way he was 2000 years ago during the time of the Apostles.  He would say “Jerusalem is right on our doorstep!”  And he would refer to the Eucharist as his “highway to heaven” and was convinced that “by standing before the Eucharistic Christ, we become holy.”  But he quickly realized that many of his Catholic friends did NOT believe this, that Jesus was really truly present in the Eucharist.  And so he sought to change their minds and hearts in the way he knew how: through computers!

Carlo was also a computer wiz.  His mother even bought him university-level textbooks on computer programming when he was only 8 years old.  He later combined his love for the Eucharist and for computer programming by developing his own website, where he catalogued every Eucharistic Miracle he could find…that is, different miraculous events confirming the Church’s faith that Christ is really, truly present in the Eucharist – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity (in the mystery we have come to describe as Transubstantiation).

He was also humble, joyful and deeply loved by everyone around him, family, friends, and even poor strangers!  He did what he could to help the poor and homeless, by taking them blankets, food, etc.  He died at age 15 from leukemia and his funeral was packed!

And if you want to learn more about Carlo himself, you can visit this website about him: https://www.carloacutis-en.org/.

AND you can also listen to this news story which includes and interview with his mother https://soundcloud.com/cnanewsroom/ep-23-i-raised-a-saint (Podcast – Ep. 23, “I raised a Saint”)

You can also visit his website which he made that lists HUNDREDS of well-documented Eucharistic Miracles.  (Others have added to the website since his death).  You can visit and read about them here: http://www.miracolieucaristici.org/en/Liste/list.html

Peace,

-Fr. Kevin

PS: A reminder to try and attend one of the Journey in Faith Regional meetings (The following meetings are in ENGLISH):

Thurs. Sept. 25 – Mason City (Holy Family) – 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Sat. Sept. 27 – Mason City (Holy Family) –  9:00am – 12:00pm

Mon. Sept. 29 – Iowa Falls (St. Mark’s) – 6:00pm – 9:00pm