We are living in a time that the internet and social media are the most predominant mediums in the world that they became both a blessing and a curse – a blessing because they made the world interconnected with one another from communication, trade, education, and entertainment and a curse because it became a medium to proliferate immoral materials, fraud, and fake news.
The Philippines is no exception to this fact as that we are one of the nations who spend more time on the internet for a myriad of reasons, good or otherwise, as seen with the plague of fake news that divides our nation and our Catholic faith being mocked and attacked by different anti-Catholic trolls and forces.
Seeing that this duality in cyberspace can endanger one’s faith, God raised a holy man of this generation to show the world how the faithful can evangelize in the modern world with this medium that we consume in our daily lives.
The Life of a holy young man
Blessed Carlo Acutis was born in London, Great Britain, on May 3, 1991, of Italian parents Andrea and Antonia Salzano-Acutis, who were in the city for work reasons. The mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, Mrs. Antonina Salzano, is related to St. Giulia Salazano whose mother was a descendant of St. Alphonsus Liguori. He was baptized on May 18 in the Church of Our Lady of Dolours in London. In September 1991, the family returned to Milan. On June 16, 1998, he received his First Communion, earlier than his usual age, thanks to special permission from his spiritual director and Archbishop Pasquale Macch and the Sacrament of Confirmation, on May 24, 2003.
Like any typical teenagers of his age, he enjoyed different activities that any child of his age would normally do like watching cartoons like “Pokemon” and play video games, yet he make it a point to do them in moderation so he won’t be distracted to his duties. At the age of fourteen, he went to the Liceo Classico at the Istituto Leone XIII in Milan, where he fully developed his personality. With a student of computer engineering, he began to edit and take care of the website of the Milanese parish of Santa Maria Segreta and other webistes like those of Leo XIII Institute and for the Pontifical Academy Cultorum Martyrum. Although his studies were particularly demanding, he spontaneously decided to devote part of his time also to the preparation of children for Confirmation, teaching Catechism in the Parish of Santa Maria Segreta.
One of Carlo’s peculiarities was that he loved to spend most of his vacations in Assisi in a family home. Here, in addition to having fun with his friends, he learned about St. Francis. From him he learned respect for creation and dedication to the poorest and acted on it. The fulcrum of Carlo’s spirituality was his daily encounter with the Lord in the Eucharist. He often said, “The Eucharist is my highway to Heaven!”. This is the synthesis of his spirituality and the center of his entire existence spent in friendship with God.
After his First Communion in 1998, Carlo began to attend Mass every day with the permission of his spiritual director, Don Ilio Carrai. In imitation of the shepherd children of Fatima, he offered small sacrifices for those who did not love the Lord Jesus present in the Eucharist. When, due to school commitments, she could not go to Mass, he took spiritual Communion. In this way, he carried out a precious work of apostolate among his schoolmates and friends, explaining to them the Eucharistic mystery using the accounts of the most important Eucharistic miracles that have occurred over the centuries.
One of the most notable of them is the conversion of Mr. Rajesh Mohur, a Hindu, who was working for the Acutis’ family where he asked him to regularly accompany him to Church and his work of mercy. Carlo would explained to him the Catholic faith with sweetness and he in turn was edified with the youth’s faith that led to his conversion in 1999.
In his life, Blessed Carlo Acutis was aware of the need to evangelize through means of the medium, that with his ability to design computer programs to form websites that give information about the Faith. His goal was that of true missionaries, “to reach as many people as possible to make them know the beauty and joy of friendship with Jesus.” And so with that goal, the Blessed created the following websites: miracolieucaristici.org which focuses on promoting Eucharistic Miracles and the graces attributed through the Eucharist, including words from Saints, and themarianapparitions.org which promotes the Appeals of Our Lady, including her various apparitions around the world.
As an apostle of the Eucharist, the he also designed and produced an international exhibition on “Eucharistic Miracles”. This is an ample photographic review with historical descriptions, presenting some of the main Eucharistic miracles (about 136 panels ) that have occurred over the centuries in various countries of the world and have been recognized by the Church.
Carlo also cultivated a great devotion to Our Lady that he recited the Rosary daily. He consecrated himself to Mary several times to renew his affection for her and to implore her support.
In October 2016 he fell ill with leukemia type M3 considered the most aggressive form, at first mistaken for flu. He was hospitalized at the De Marchi Clinic in Milan, then given the worsening of the situation, he was transferred to the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza, where there is a specialized center for the type of leukemia that had affected him. A few days before his hospitalization, he offered his life to the Lord for the Pope, for the Church, to go straight to Heaven.
In that hospital, a priest administered to him the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Some of the nurses and doctors who followed Carlo in those moments remember him with great affection and edification. His died on October 12. The news of his death spread immediately thanks to his classmates. Once the body was brought back home, it was a continuous influx of people who went to say their last goodbye. The funeral was celebrated in the church of Santa Maria Segreta, on October 14, 2006. The body of Carlo was buried in the family tomb in Ternengo (Biella), then in February 2007 his mortal remains were moved to the municipal cemetery of Assisi to satisfy his desire to remain in the city of St. Francis.
His glorification
Since his death, his fame of holiness and signs has only increased in every Continent. On July 5, 2018, Pope Francis declared him Venerable. On April 5-6, 2019, Carlo’s mortal remains were transferred to the Shrine of the Spoliation, the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, in Assisi.
He was beatified at Assisi on October 10, 2020 after the miracle involving the healing of a Brazilian child with a rare pancreatic disorder was approved. Another miracle is being awaited so that Blessed Carlo would be canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church.
On May 23, 2024, Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, The Holy See Press Office announced that the Holy Father Pope Francis, promulgated decrees one of which is the Decree on the Miracle attributed to Bl. Carlo Acutis, which will now set his much-awaited canonization.
During an audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, on May 23, 2024, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of Decrees regarding miracles attributed to several beatus, including Blessed Carlo Acutis. Carlo Acutis, a lay faithful born on May 3, 1991, in London and died on October 12, 2006, in Monza, will be canonized following the confirmation of a miracle involving the healing of an 11-year-old girl from Costa Rica. She sustained a severe head injury in Florence, Italy, on July 2, 2022. After emergency surgery, her condition was critical, but prayers to Blessed Carlo led to her remarkable recovery. She began breathing independently six days after her mother prayed at Carlo’s tomb in Assisi and was soon discharged from intensive care and rehabilitation.
The devotion in the Philippines
The devotion to Blessed Carlo Acutis began like a mustard seed with a handful of Filipino youth learned about his life and became his devotees that would later form the Blessed Carlo Acutis Friends of Blessed Carlo Acutis Philippines in 2020. One of it’s founding members and devotee, Bro. Christoffer Denzell Aquino, SHMI, commissioned an image of Blessed Carlo Acutis for the movement with the approval of the Salzano – Acutis family. The creation of the image started late February when the news of the beatification broke out as an ex voto. The image would tour around the country to spread the message of the importance of Eucharist in our faith, just like what Blessed Carlo did in his lifetime, and to propagate the devotion to the millennial holy man.
The image was carved by Mr. Felman Bagalso of Paete, Laguna and once the image was completed, they were amazed with the striking resemblance of the face of the image to that of the beatus himself. The image was blessed on October 10, 2020, the day of the beatification of Blessed Carlo Acutis at the historic St. James the Great Parish in Paete, Laguna.
Photos of the image went viral which received both praise from the faithful and cyber bashing and mockery from Anti-Catholic trolls (a typical move by those so called “Christians” I may say whenever there is a major Catholic feast and events). The popularity of the image became immediate that the numerous orders of an image of Blessed Carlo Acutis came from different parts of the world and he and his family became his devotees because of the beatus’ love for the Holy Eucharist in the modern age.
The image began touring the country dubbed as “Byahe ni Kuya Carlo”, despite the restrictions imposed during the current pandemic, and the image draw devotees of all ages. Later on, a relic of the Beatus was sent to the country to tour with the image. In keeping with the legacy of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the Eucharistic Miracles panel that he curated was also included in the tour to remind and teach the faithful the meaning and importance of the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
At present the image is kept at a chapel in Bulacan province for veneration of the faithful.
On April 19, 2021, His Excellency, Most Rev. Dennis Cabanada Villarojo, D.D., Ph.D., Bishop of Malolos, granted the petition of the Biyahe ni Kuya Carlo Movement of the Friends of Blessed Carlo Acutis Philippines for him to be the movement’s Bishop Promoter in the Philippines.
Apart from the “Byahe ni Kuya Carlo”, other movements were also formed in 2020 to further propagate the devotion and cause of Blessed Carlo Acutis from “Tropa ni Carlo Acutis”, established by Bro. Gervin Kent Rodriguez in Laguna for the Diocese of San Pablo (Laguna). Other images of the beatus can also be seen and venerated at the Diocesan Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Naic, Cavite, Zamboanga Province and at the Novitiate House of the Society of St. Paul in Pampanga.
The devotion at present
The tour, called “Byahe ni Kuya Carlo” gained much traction and helped in its goal to spread the devotion to Blessed Carlo Acutis to further advance his cause for his canonization and rightly be called “The Saint of the Millennial Age”. As of this writing, numerous miracles were already reported in our country through the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis and it continued up to this day.
Our Lord would always raise his saints in times of darkness and uncertainty. For this modern social media and internet age, he chose Blessed Carlo Acutis as an example to live by in our time. The life and example of Blessed Carlo Acutis is a message from Our Lord in our modern times where the society is becoming godless, selfish and apathetic to one another just to be “popular” in the eyes of the world.
Let us all ask the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis to aid us in the world where the “Me Mentality”, modern Anti-Catholic attacks both in the cyberspace and the real world, further societal division and destruction of the family and morals are prevalent.
As we close this blogpost, we sharing the following prayers for the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis to help for the cause of his canonization:
Blessed Carlo Acutis, you are a youth like me and you are in Heaven praying for me. Teach me your secret: “the Eucharist is the Highway to Heaven!”. Jesus was your best friend And so you became everyone’s friend!
Help me too to become a saint, because there is nothing more beautiful and more exciting than that: Living by loving God and my brothers and sisters.
Amen
(From the Archdiocese of Milan)
O God, our Father thank you for giving us Carlo, a life example for the young and a message of love for everyone. You made him become enamored with Your Son Jesus, making of the Eucharist his “Highway to heaven”. You gave him Mary as a loving Mother, and with the Rosary, you made him a poet of her tenderness. Receive his prayer for us. Above all, gaze upon the poor, whom he loved and helped.
Grant for me too, by his intercession, the grace I need (mention here your request) and make our joy fulfilled, placing Carlo among the Saints of your Church, so that his smile may shine again for us in the Glory of your name. Amen.
(1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary, 1 Glory be)
Imprimatur
+ Domenico Sorrentino
Bishop of Assisi- Nocera – Umbra – Gualdo -Tadino
References:
“Beatification of Blessed Carlo Acutis Missal”, Translated by Bro. Christoffer Denzell Aquino, Santuario della Spogliazione, Assisi, Italy, October 10, 2020.
Calleja, Joseph Peter, “Blessed Carlo Acutis brings good fortune to Filipino sculptor”, Retrieved from https://www.ucanews.com/news/blessed-carlo-acutis-brings-good-fortune-to-filipino-sculptor/89922# on October 12, 2021.
Filipe, Domingues. “Carlo Acutis could become the first millennial saint. Here’s the story behind his first miracle”. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
Olea, Jerry, “From curving ice to sculpting saints: Meet the man behind the viral Blessed Carlo Acutis statue”, Retreived from https://www.pep.ph/lifestyle/extraordinary/154579/sculptor-of-viral-blessed-carlo-acutis-statue-a4113-20201025-lfrm?fbclid=IwAR3G5XgGIH4muZ2Q587cRLkhW0MzlNfOneCF4M1v-baUNSZhyRu7418gUBc on October 11, 2021.
Photos:
Aquino, Christoffer Denzell, SHMI
Eternal World Television Network
Friends of Blessed Carlo Acutis Philippines
Tolentino, Thom
Special thanks to Bro. Christoffer Denzell Aquino, SHMI for the guidance on writing this blogpost.
For inquiries on the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis, for the visitation of the pilgrim image and to share testimonies through the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis, kindly leave a message to “Byahe ni Kuya Carlo” Facebook page for more details.
+AMDG+ +AMPSPC+
Pintakasi 
I mean, for as long as he’s making youths closer to God with his devotional work, I see nothing wrong with him at all. Most people think of saints as those from long-bygone times, hence the connotation of a saintly statue wearing ornate clothes and all, and why people felt it was surreal seeing a statue of Carlo wearing clothes not unlike most of us; that only goes to show how we can all be saints, nuff said.
LikeLike