What to know about Carlo Acutis, the new saint of the Catholic Church

Carlo Acutis will become the first holy millennium of the Catholic church during a mass of solemn canonization on April 27 on Saint-Pierre square. But crowds of pilgrims already flock to the church in Assisi, Italy, where his body wearing sneakers, jeans and a sweatshirt is in a sanctuary.

Here is more on the teenager who generates an unusual devotion.

Who was Carlo Acutis?

Carlo Acutis was born on May 3, 1991 in London from a rich Italian family and grew up in Milan. His early trip of faith took off after receiving the first communion at the age of 7, and he regularly attended daily mass, prayed to the rosary and participated in the Eucharistic worship.

Although he loved regular hobbies for his age – hiking, video and joking games with friends – he also taught catechism in a local parish and put awareness of the homeless.

Acutis used its computer skills to create an online exhibition on more than 100 Eucharistic miracles recognized by the church over several centuries, focused on the real presence of Christ that Catholics believe in bread and wine consecrated.

In October 2006, at 15, he fell ill. Ten days later, he died of acute leukemia in a hospital in northern Italy. His body was then transferred to a seat cemetery as Acutis had asked, because of his devotion to the medieval saint of the hometown, Saint-François.

Why is it about to become a saint?

Its path to holiness – the canonization process – began more than 10 years ago at the initiative of a group of priests and friends, and officially took off shortly after Pope Francis began his papacy in 2013.

Acutis was appointed “venerable” in 2018 after the church recognized its virtuous life, and its body was taken to a sanctuary of Santuario della Spogliazione d’Assise, a major site linked to the life of Saint-François.

It was then declared “blessed” in 2020 after the Vatican dicastery which studies the process of holiness recognized a miraculous healing by the intercession of acutis – a child in Brazil who recovered in a “scientifically inexplicable” manner.

Last year, the church opened its way to holiness by attributing a second miracle to it – the complete healing of a Costaorian student in Italy from a major head trauma in a bicycle accident after his mother prayed to the tomb of Acutis.

The canonization mass of Acutis will take place on Sunday April 27 at 10:30 am in front of the Vatican Saint-Pierre basilica, in collaboration with the celebration of the jubilee of the holy year for adolescents.

How popular is it popular, the first holy millennium?

The Reverend Domenico Sorrentino, the bishop of Assi, said that in the past year, a million pilgrims went to the acutis sanctuary in this city of medieval hill in the center of Italy.

Images of acutis, generally representing it with a backpack and largely smiling, are in stores throughout the city, from pocket cards to statuettes. A religious souvenir store near the Vatican has recently shown a statue of acutis of size close to one of the Kolkata Mother Teresa in its window.

For many pilgrims, the print is the relativity of acutis in adolescence of that time.

“It is incredible this saint, a young person – we can offer it to our people to imitate because everyone can be a saint,” said Reverend Jacinto Bento, a Portuguese priest who led a group of 30 pilgrims from the Jubilee of the Nitrogen Islands to Assis earlier this month.

The same day, Tomaso Barbon de Treviso, in northern Italy, visited the sanctuary with his wife and three children, two of which.

“It looks like one of our children,” said Barbon about Acutis. “A special prayer for him is really welcome.”

___

The coverage of the Associated Press Religion receives support thanks to the collaboration of the AP with the conversation in the United States, with the financing of Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content.