>>160481, >>160482, >>160483, >>160484, >>160485, >>160486, >>160487, >>160488, >>160489, >>160490, >>160491, >>160492, >>160493, >>160494, >>160495, >>160496, >>160497
☩ JMT ☩ @SecretFire79ST. CARLO ACUTIS - While it can sometimes seem as if saints are a thing of the bygone era, or that they do not have modern interests and talents like ours, St. Carlo Acutis shows us that saints can be “normal” teenagers with extraordinary faith, even in the Internet age!
St. Carlo Acutis was born on May 3, 1991 in London to non-religious parents. However, much of his family was Catholic, and he was baptized a few weeks after his birth. Shortly after, he moved with his family to Milan, where his parents would work for family businesses. Since his parents worked, Carlo was often entrusted to the care of nannies or daycare centers. From a young age, he demonstrated an interest in Catholicism, and one of his babysitters would answer the questions he had about her faith.
From this young age, Carlo began showing extraordinary signs of devotion to Christ. When he was three years old, his grandfather died and appeared to him in a dream asking for prayers. Shortly after, Acutis put on his coat while his grandmother was watching him and asked to be taken to church so he could pray for his grandfather, who according to Carlo “had gone to see Jesus.”
Carlo’s mystifying faithfulness extended to ordinary situations, too. One time at daycare, some other children were bullying him. Thinking he was being too nice to them, a nanny tried to teach Carlo to set some boundaries so that the other children would not steal his toys. Carlo replied that “Jesus would not be happy if I lost my temper.”
After spending summer days at the beach, Carlo would join the older women of his local parish to pray the rosary. On walks to school, he would take time to learn the names of people working along the road and greet them personally every morning, from then on.
After his first communion at age seven, Acutis would frequently attend Mass to receive the Eucharist, & regularly went to Eucharistic Adoration. His faith & his incessant questions eventually brought his mother back to the faith. The Acutis household employed a Brahmin immigrant named Rajesh Mohur, whom Carlo befriended and later inspired to get baptized, too. Mohur’s friend & mother also converted after hearing Acutis speak about the faith.
As a teenager, Carlo loved reading and computer science & he taught himself to code & play the saxophone. He enjoyed playing video games such as Halo, Super Mario & Pokemon but according to his mother, he exercised great discipline & only allowed himself to play video games for one hour each week in order to avoid addiction. At 12 years old, he became a catechist & began sharing his faith with his peers. He also showed interest in the lives of the saints, especially Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, Francisco and Jacinta Marto & Dominic Savio, and he was said to have a special devotion to both his guardian angel & St. Michael Archangel.
When Carlo was 14, his parish priest asked him to create a webpage for his parish in Milan. Then, a priest at his high school asked him to create a website to promote volunteering. For his work on the website, Carlo won a national competition called Sarai volontario, which translates to “You will be a volunteer.”
18