Carlo Acutis Points Us Toward Heaven

This past month, the College of Cardinals approved the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, ensuring that he will become the first millennial saint of the Catholic Church. This was preceded by Pope Francis' recognition in June of a second miracle attributed to Acutis' intercession. With a date for the canonization Mass yet to be determined, the possibility remains for it to occur during the upcoming Jubilee Year of 2025.

The intact, though not incorrupt, body of Carlo Acutis is exhibited today in a glass case in the Shrine of the Renunciation in Assisi, Italy. The Shrine is named for Saint Francis' moment of renunciation, when he stripped off his fine garments before his father and the local bishop in a statement of detachment from the world. It's a fitting resting place for Carlo's remains due to the way he lived his life and met his death.

When he was just three years old, Carlo witnessed his grandfather receive the anointing of the sick on his deathbed. After his grandfather died, Carlo said he'd "gone to Jesus”"and asked to be taken to church to pray.

Though his parents were only nominally Catholic, Carlo satisfied his curiosity about the faith by asking questions of his devout Polish babysitter; and he grew in holiness, developing a devotion to Francis of Assisi and following in the saint's footsteps through a love for the sacraments, care for creation, and acts of kindness towards those in need.

Providing witness to many people throughout his life, Carlo eventually led his parents into a fervent practice of the faith; and he is best known today for building a website documenting Eucharistic Miracles and Marian apparitions from around the world. Carlo chose the good at every turn of his life, which makes his death at the young age of 15 seem like such a bitter loss. He and his family did not even know he was sick until a week and a half before he died. His symptoms first manifested in early October of 2006; one week later, he was diagnosed with leukemia; a few days after that, he was dead.

But even amid this devastating, Job-like turn of events, Carlo chose the good, offering up his suffering for Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church. The day before he died, Carlo came full circle in his journey of faith by following in his grandfather's footsteps and requesting the anointing of the sick.

The last words Carlo spoke to his mother were: "Mom, don't be afraid. Since Jesus became a man, death has become the passage towards life, and we don't need to flee it. Let us prepare ourselves to experience something extraordinary in the eternal life."

Though Carlo was born in England due to his parents' work, the family moved back to Italy while he was still an infant. He grew up in Milan, where he once made pilgrimages to every church in the city as an alternative to visiting the Holy Land, saying of Christ, "He is here now."

It would be fitting for Blessed Carlo Acutis to be raised to the altars in the year 2025, when pilgrims will flock to Rome for the standard plenary indulgence granted in a Jubilee Year. May Rome, and all of Italy, and especially the City of Assisi in the region of Umbria, the land of saints, come alive in celebration of this first millennial saint, who spent his life pointing the rest of us toward heaven.

This essay is a recent "Light One Candle" column by guest columnist Garan Santicola; it is one of a series of weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current events.

Background information:

The Christophers