Blessed Carlo Acutis Feast Day: October 12 Born: May 3, 1991 Died: October 12, 2006 at age 15 Beatified: October 10, 2020

Patron: Youth, students Carlo Acutis was born in London, England on May 3, 1991 to affluent Italian parents Andrea and Antonia. The family moved back to while Carlo was still a baby. The parents were not particularly pious, nor did they attend Mass regularly. So, it surprised his mother when they would pass by a church and Carlo insisted on dropping in to greet Jesus. She said, “I was perplexed by his devotion. He was so small and so sure. I understood that it was his thing, but that he was also calling me... I followed him.” Carlo attended a local grade school and then a Jesuit high school. He showed extraordinary care for others. He defended his disabled peers who were bullied, comforted friends whose parents were divorcing, and brought sleeping bags and food to the needy. A Hindu friend converted to Christianity saying, “I was baptized Christian because it was he who so affected me with his profound faith, his charity, and his purity. I have always considered it out of the ordinary because a boy so young, so handsome, and so rich, normally prefers to have a different life.” His friends say that Carlo was from a very normal family, “Carlo wasn’t born a saint, but he worked hard at it. Chastity for him was a result of a friendship with Christ. He understood and that’s what he told whoever he met, that to be faithful friends of Christ, one must meet certain demands.” He went to Mass every Sunday, recited the daily, and attended confession weekly. He had a special devotion to Jesus in the . He stated that “If we get in front of the sun we get sun tans…when we get in front of Jesus in the Eucharist we become saints.” He asked his parents to take him to all of the places where Eucharistic miracles have occurred; a feat he could not complete because of ill health. He was a genius with computers and loved film and comic editing, computer programming, and creating websites. He admired and followed the example of Blessed Giacomo Alberione’s to use the internet to evangelize and spread the Gospel. Carlo said, “All people are born original, but many die as photocopies.” Carlo is best known for creating an on-line virtual museum of the 136 Eucharistic miracles that have occurred throughout the world. He started this project when he was 11 years old believing, “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of Heaven.” It took him two and a half years to complete the project. His virtual museum website is: www.miracolieucaristici.org. Carlo knew that he would die young. “Our aim has to be the infinite and not the finite. The infinite is our homeland. We have always been expected in Heaven.” He first became sick in early October 2006. Upon entering the hospital, he told his mother that he would not be leaving. He was diagnosed with leukemia. He stated, “I offer what I will have to suffer to the Lord for the Pope and for the Church, to skip Purgatory and go straight to Heaven.” He assured his mother that he would send signs from Heaven. “Mom, don’t be afraid, because with the Incarnation of Jesus, death became life, and there’s no need to escape: in eternal life, something extraordinary awaits us.” He asked to be buried in so he could be close to Francis, his favorite saint. Carlo died October 12, 2006 at age 15 with a radiant smile on his face. At his funeral were many friends, admirers and poor people. His family received thousands of letters after his death. His website on Eucharistic miracles reached all over the globe including Russia, Latin America and China. The investigation into his life of holiness revealed that in 2013, a boy from Brazil was cured of rare pancreatic cancer through the intercession of Carlo, the first miracle. The of Carlo Acutis takes place on October 10th 2020.