When I was a boy, the Saint offered as a model to us was Saint Domenico Sávio, one of the students of the great Torinese priest Saint John Bosco. But today, the Saint all the young people are talking about is the young London-born Italian, Carlo Acutis, who has just been beatified. A few days ago, his body was exhumed and found to be in a remarkable state of preservation, although he passed away more than ten years ago. Good heavens, these things still happen: the bodies of the Saints still defying nature, as if it still were the early centuries. The Roman martyrs could not be burned with fire, because the fire refused to touch them. Wild animals, ravenous with hunger, could not approach them. Soldiers had to be sent to stab them to death.
So, who was Carlo Acutis? If you've watched the little video above, I'll still say a few things. First of all: the Church is young, and Carlo is proof of that. The old stories of the Saints live again in his life. As an infant, he had an extraordinary devotion to Christ and the Blessed Virgin. He prayed the daily rosary from the age of seven and soon began to keep a journal for a regular examination of conscience. He became involved in the charitable works of his parish church. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and one of his last acts was building a website to collect and compile accounts of Eucharistic miracles. He died of leukemia at age fifteen, but he has been building the Church ever since. I find this story inspirational.
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