Assisi, Italy – “The Apostle of the Eucharist.” This is the title given to Carlo Acutis, who was beatified three years ago on October 10, 2020, in Assisi.
Today, Carlo is remembered worldwide as a testament to holiness, for making the ordinary extraordinary. Throughout his life, he demonstrated an intense love for the celebration of the Eucharist, creating a website that collected information on Eucharistic miracles from around the world with the aim of spreading Eucharistic devotion and faith among young people by means of the internet.
Antonia Salzano, the mother of Bl. Carlo Acutis explains her son’s saintly witness in this way, “Even the little things in life, from everyday life, obviously being a boy of our times, he experienced what all young people of his generation experienced, so computers, video games, soccer matches, school, friends—everything that is normal to us—but certainly, he truly understood that everything that is ordinary in the world he was able to turn into something extraordinary.”
Carlo’s passion was the world of information technology. He was fascinated with the potential good it could bring. He decided to create a web-based resource where people could learn about the faith. Today, it’s an apostolate that his family and members of the Association of Friends of Carlo Acutis continue to carry forward.
Carlo’s mother speaks of the talents of her son, “he was very good at filming, making films, and also using the computer. What’s more is that Pope Francis in Christus vivit, which is the closing document of the Synod on Young People, wanted to dedicate a chapter to Carlo, in which he practically presents Carlo to all young people all over the world as a model for how he was able to use the media.”
Pope Francis spoke of the dangers of the digital world and encouraged the example of Carlo, saying, “It is true that the digital world can expose you to the risk of self-absorption, isolation, and empty pleasure. But don’t forget that there are young people also there who show creativity and even genius. That was the case with the Venerable Carlo Acutis.”
Carlo’s mother, speaking about the different exhibitions created by her saintly son, “especially the one on our Lady, [and the one] on Eucharistic miracles,” believes, “due to extraordinary coincidences, above all due to, in our opinion, the will of the Lord, they then spread throughout the world.”
Carlo’s work is now available in 17 languages, and anyone can find the Eucharistic miracles exhibit online and can even download the panels in high quality for free to print and place them in their parishes. His mother says, “The exhibition on Eucharistic miracles was something that kept him busy.” Carlo was involved in his local parish life as well, even from the young age of 11. She describes, “he began to be an assistant catechist in the parish because he had asked to be a catechist helper, and then sometimes he was able to teach the catechism by himself because he was a very prepared boy, very ahead of those who were his age.”
After his first communion at seven years old, Carlo never missed an opportunity to receive the Eucharist because it was his source of strength in order to live life with integrity. His deep faith and his special relationship with the Eucharist helped even his mother to find her own path back to the Church.
She explains, “Carlo, I always say, was a little savior for me. Because usually in families, it is the family that passes on [the faith]; in my case, it was the opposite.” She says she saw him be like a father, “an authoritative figure, I did not see him so much as a son, that is, I felt him, yes a son, but I also saw him as something more, because Carlo had this authority that was given to him, precisely by his closeness to Jesus; we could perceive that.”
She believes that Carlo, interceding from Heaven, continues to show others the path to the Church through the Eucharist.
(This article was edited by Jacob Stein)
