Relic of young saint touring local parishes, including St. Edward’s this week

By Olivia Bradbury/Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

From October 24 to October 30, a relic of Carlo Acutis, the soon-to-be first “millennial” saint, will be available for veneration at various Roman Catholic parishes in Newfoundland, including St. Edward’s Church in Manuels, CBS, where it will be on display October 26.

The pastor of St. Edward’s Parish, Fr. James Fleming explained there is a process to canonization, which is the term of recognizing a dead person as a saint.

“When someone has lived a life that’s of exceptional holiness or people recognize the exceptional character of their life, after about five years the local church can petition to open up a cause to look into their canonization,” said Fleming.

If the Vatican grants permission, the local church assembles all the information it can about the person’s life.

“They gather up all their writings, information about their life, interviews, etcetera,” Fleming said.

During this time, the individual is referred to as a Servant of God. After their virtue has been declared by the Pope they are referred to as the Venerable. The next step of the process happens when miracles — in other words, seemingly supernatural phenomenon — occur that can be attributed to someone praying for the individual’s help.

“Usually, it’s a really prominent medical cure where there’s no other possibilities,” Fleming said. “And so, it can be investigated and deemed that, medically, there’s no explanation for this and it must have been, perhaps, supernatural powers.”

Miracles are investigated first by local bishops where they occurred, and then Rome strikes a committee to investigate it. After the first miracle is approved, the individual receives the title of Blessed. After a second miracle, they can be canonized as a saint.

The soon-to-be first “millennial” saint whose relic is coming to Newfoundland belongs to Blessed Carlo Acutis.

Acutis was born in London in 1991 but grew up in Italy where his family was from. From a young age Acutis was said to have a strong love for the Catholic faith, particularly for the Eucharist, the bread and wine given during communion that is meant to represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

“In the church, it is our Catholic belief that the bread and wine that are brought forward and prayed over by the priest, even though the appearance of bread and wine remain, that it actually becomes the body and blood of Jesus,” said Fleming.

Acutis’ parents were not practicing Catholics when his devoutness began. They had been baptized, had their first communion, and were married in the church, but were not regular church goers. Acutis brought his family back to the faith, as well as some of his friends. He prayed the rosary and wanted to go to daily mass. He was generous to the poor who were around the church and his home and would bring them food when he went to mass. He also cared about children who were disabled or disadvantaged in any way. At the same time, though, Acutis had many typical adolescent interests.

“He was a regular teenager in many ways which I think is what really touches people,” Fleming said.

Acutis played soccer and video games and had circles of friends. He also had a knack for computers, teaching himself computer programming.

Towards the latter half of his life, Acutis made a website where he catalogued Eucharistic miracles, which Fleming described as “visible, tangible miracles that happen either with the Eucharist itself or because of the Eucharist.” For example, there have been reported instances of the bread turning into human flesh or dripping blood. Though these Eucharistic miracles can be found far back in the history of the church, some reports are from as recent as the 1990s or early 2000s. Fleming said some of the recent incidents have even been investigated scientifically “to determine, in a really inexplicable manner, that somehow this has become human heart tissue and human blood.”

Acutis was captivated by Eucharistic miracles, and felt they could draw people back to belief in the “real presence of Christ,” that the bread and wine truly become Christ’s body and blood.

“God seems, over the centuries, every once in a while, to give us this encouragement in our faith to make some sort of visible sign that this is really not just bread and wine anymore but really His body and blood,” said Fleming.

Acutis died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15. While he was sick, he said he wanted to offer up his sufferings to Pope Benedict XVI and the church.

“He had a real, even heroic, way of embracing his sufferings at a young age,” said Fleming.

Years later, after he was declared a Blessed, Acutis’ body was exhumed and placed in an Assisi church. His above-ground tomb has glass walls through which Acutis can be viewed. Fleming visited a couple of years ago and prayed at his tomb. He said that Acutis is dressed in his typical attire: sneakers, jeans, and hoodie. As his body has undergone a natural decomposition, a wax mask covers Acutis’ face and resembles what he looked like during life.

It is not uncommon for a relic to be obtained after someone is declared a saint. There are three classes of relics: first class is a piece of the saint’s body; second class is a belonging that was close to the saint; third class is an item the saint touched during life. The relic from Carlo Acutis is a first class relic: a small piece of his pericardium, the sac that encloses the heart.

“I think that’s kind of touching,” said Fleming, noting how people typically associate the heart with devotion and love. “His love for God was so profound and his love for the Eucharist was so profound that it’s fitting that we have a little piece of his heart to venerate.”

A relic tour allows people to venerate Acutis’ remains more easily. “The saint, in a very tangible way, comes to us instead of us having to go to them,” said Fleming.

The tour will start at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in St. John’s and make its way to different parishes, including St. Therea’s in Mundy Pond, St. Kevin’s in the Goulds, Our Lady Queen of Families in Mount Pearl, and Divine Mercy Parish in the east end of St. John’s. Each parish will have it for a day.

“We wanted to keep it really simple so people can come and go as they please,” said Fleming “especially people who might not be connected with the church or have been away for a long time, instead of having a really formalized liturgy or service.”

The public veneration will begin around 11 a.m. Fleming will give a brief talk about Acutis’ life. The relic will be in the main body of the church, and people can pray to and venerate it as they desire.

“Ultimately we’re praying for God’s help, but we turn to the saints to help pray for us,” said Fleming, explaining that in Catholicism saints are thought to be very close to God.

In the parish hall there will be a display about Eucharistic miracles. Fleming hopes that in a small room they will also have a video about Acutis and his life. There will also be light refreshments.

The public veneration at St. Edward’s will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and again in the evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. There will be people present to answer questions, including Fleming himself.

“It’s open to all people to come. Anyone who’d like to just come and learn a little bit about Blessed Carlo, venerate the relic, or learn about the Eucharistic miracles, or just come in for a cup of coffee,” said Fleming, who hopes the event and Blessed Carlo Acutis himself can be an example to young people that “holiness is possible and a real deep relationship with God is possible even at a young age.”