Bl. Carlo Acutis (1991-2006)

Today completes the month-long journey into the “incorrupt.” This story is befitting all who explore this topic. Here is the compelling journey of a remarkable young man, a computer whiz of today, who died at the early age of 15 in 2006, and beatified October, 2020. Here is the story of Carlo Acutis.

Carlo was a boy of our time. He was born in London to a wealthy Italian family, educated in . He was a devout Catholic who defended disabled peers at school when bullies mocked them. Outside school, he did voluntary work with the homeless and destitute. He also liked films, comic editing and playing PlayStation video games. Although he loved to travel, the town of was always his favorite. His friends always thought of him as a computer geek. He started cataloging every recorded Eucharistic miracle around the world at the age of 11 and completed the task in 2005. (miracolieucaristici.org) The computer had become a way of traveling through the streets of the world, like the first disciples of Jesus, to bring to hearts and homes the announcement of true peace, which quenches the thirst for infinity that inhabits the human heart,” said Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi at the Mass in which his tomb was opened. When he developed leukemia, he offered his suffering both for Pope Benedict XVI and for the , saying: "I offer all the suffering I will have to undergo for the Lord, for the Pope, and the Church". His wish was to be buried in Assisi, which was fulfilled.

As reported by the Rome Newsroom, Oct 2, 2020: “Photos of the soon-to-be beatified Carlo Acutis have caused some confusion online. The body of the teen computer whiz was displayed for veneration in Assisi, , Thursday. In the photos, Carlo’s body appeared to be preserved from the natural process of decay after his death in 2006, and some thought that he could be incorrupt. Bishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi clarified Oct. 1 that Carlo’s body, though intact, “was found in the normal state of transformation typical of the cadaveric condition.” Carlo’s body was arranged with dignity for its display for public veneration and a silicone reconstruction of his face used, he said.

The young man’s body “was completely integral, not intact, but integral, with all its organs. The rector for the Sanctuary of Spoliation in Assisi, where Acutis’ tomb is located, told EWTN that reconstruction work on Acutis’ face was necessary before the public viewing of the tomb. It was also decided to change the clothes with which he was buried and put on the one he used daily. For the first time in history we will see a saint dressed in jeans, tennis shoes and a sweater,” said the priest.

The miracle attributed to him and for which he will be beatified occurred in Brazil on October 12, 2010, when a child, with an irreversible disease called the annular pancreas, was cured after touching a relic of his in a chapel.

Acutis’ tomb is in Assisi’s Sanctuary of the Spoliation, where a young St. is said to have cast off his rich clothes in favor of a poor habit.

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