Martin Gleeson tells the story of Blessed Carlo Acutis

 

Carlo Acutis was born in London to rich Italian parents on May 3rd, 1991. He was baptised in the Church of Our Lady of Dolours, in Chelsea on May 18th. His grandparents acted as godparents. A few months later, the family moved back to Milan, in northern Italy. As both his parents had professional jobs, Carlo was cared for by a number of nannies, the first one of which was Irish.
He attended elite primary, middle and high schools in Milan. He lived in the centre of the city where there were many homeless people. In the evenings Carlo brought hot drinks to those who slept in doorways, and he used his own money to provide them with sleeping bags and blankets.

He often did voluntary work in a soup kitchen run by the Capuchins and Mother Mary’s Missionaries of Charity. He said that he saw the face of Jesus in poor people.
He was known for standing up for kids who were being bullied at school, especially kids with disabilities.
He always objected to other boys who made rude gestures to girls.

In high school, Carlo defended Catholic teaching and his schoolmates remembered him giving an impassioned defence of the protection of life during a discussion about abortion.
After he received his First Holy Communion at the age of seven, he attended Mass every day and did the adoration of the Eucharist before and after Mass.
Even though his parents Andrea and Antonia were not very devout Catholics, Carlo had a great devotion to the Eucharist and often brought his parents to Mass and Communion.
He often told his mother, “There are queues for pop concerts and football games. There should be queues for the Blessed Sacrament.”

For his summer holidays, Carlo was usually sent to his grandparents in Centola which is near the sea. After spending his days at the beach, Carlo then went to the local parish church. There he joined a group of older women in saying the Rosary.

When Carlo was young, his family had a male au pair, Rajesh Mohur, who was a Hindu. Carlo taught Rajesh how to say the Rosary and eventually converted him to Catholicism.
Carlo loved films and playing video games like Pokémon, Nintendo Game Boy, and Super Mario.
When his granny gave him several video games for his birthday, he gave them to the Capuchin Friars to donate to kids who had no games.
When he was eleven years old, Carlo began to investigate the Eucharistic miracles that had occurred throughout history.
As the Eucharist became the centre of his life, he wished he could travel to where these miracles had taken place. This was impossible for a schoolboy, so he decided to document these miracles on a website which he created.

He catalogued over 150 miracles and listed them country by country. For each miracle he designed a web page that included maps, videos, and virtual museums.
Carlo’s website, www.miracolieucharistici.org is now being used for religious instruction in many parishes around the world.
He also documented the 25 approved Marian apparitions like those in Lourdes, Fatima and Knock.

He liked travelling and he made several pilgrimages to the town of Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis. This was where he felt happiest. When he was 14, his parish priest asked him to create a webpage for the parish of Santa Segreta in Milan which he did with little effort. Carlo loved football and was a supporter of AC Milan. However, he never saw them play football as his life was tragically cut short.
On Oct. 1st, 2006, Carlo developed an inflammation of the throat and was diagnosed with Leukaemia. He offered his suffering for Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church. In hospital he fell into a coma and experienced a cerebral haemorrhage.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own