This Saturday a 15 year old boy will be beatified in Assisi. I share with you some of the inspiring details of Carlo's life. If you want to find out more put his name into any search engine and you'll find so many hits. But if you like you might like to try these:
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Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome back to my podcast. This is a, a quick one in between the two Sunday Hoals because I wanted to share with you something about, uh, a boy, his young man I suppose, who is to be Beatified this coming Saturday on October the 10th. His name is Carlo AEs Carlo, c a r l o a, Cortis, a C U T I S. So from Saturday onwards, he will be blessed Carlo AEs. I first heard of him probably about 18 months ago when his cause for canonization began, and I was immediately interested because the headline in the Catholic News article that I saw said Computer Geek to Become Saint, and that was intriguing. And then I looked at his photograph and uh, he was, well, a good looking young boy, somebody who you'd probably want to get to know. And then as I read more about him and found out more about him over the coming, over the last months, he was somewhat an ordinary boy and yet he is a saint in heaven. Admittedly, he's on the first step being a blessed, and this reminds us that God is raising up saints every day of the year. There are people, both women and men, boys and girls who are coming to the end of their life in this very year, of 2020, perhaps even on this very day as you listen. And they have lived a life of holiness and sometimes a heroic virtue, and they have corresponded and cooperated with the grace that God has given them and they go to heaven. It reminds us, as we will hear in this Sunday's gospel too, that that's the destiny for all of us. And so let's hear a little bit more about Carlo AEs. I take this information from the Catholic News Agency, which has a, um, an article about him, which was published on the 1st of October. I'll put a link to that in the, uh, in the notes for the show. So Carla was a b was born on the 3rd of May in 1991 in London where his parents were working. And just a few months after his birth, his parents, Andrea a Cortes, his mother and sorry, his father, Andrea Acus and his mother, an Antonio Salano, moved to Milan in Italy As a teenager, Carlo was diagnosed with leukemia and he offered his sufferings for Pope Benedict the 16th and the church saying, I offer all the suffering I will have for the Lord, for the Pope, and for the church. And he died on October 12th, 2006 and he was buried in Assisi at his request because of his love force and Francis of Assisi. So the reason for his canon, uh, beatification route is because it's close to the day of his death On OC 12th of October, his cause for canonization began in 2013 and he was designated venerable in 2018, and he will be declared blessed this year on October the 10th. From a young age, Carlo seemed to have a special love for God, even though his parents weren't especially devout. His mother said that before Carlo, she went to mass o only for her first holy communion for her confirmation and for her wedding. But as a young child, Carlo loved to pray the rosary. And after he made his first holy communion, which he sought permission for to do because he was younger than the required age, he went to mass as often as he could after his first holy communion. And I think he was at the age of six at that time, Perhaps seven. And after his first elder communion, he made holy hours, both before and after mass. And he went to confession weekly. He asked his parents to take him on pilgrimages to the places of the saints and to the sites of Eucharistic miracles. Probably being Italian meant that there were quite a few that he would go to, and there was the fruit of Carlos's devotion in his life. His witness of faith led to a deep conversion in his mother, because according to the priest promoting his cause for Sainthood, Carlo managed to drag his relatives, his parents, to mass every day. It was not the other way around. It was not his parents bringing the little boy to mass, but it was he, he who managed to get himself to mass and to convince others to receive communion daily. He was known for defending kids at school or got picked on, especially disabled kids. And when a friend's parents were getting a divorce, Carlo made a special effort to include his friend in the Acutus family life. And he had a great love for our Lord present in the blessed sacrament. And he promoted eucharistic miracles, especially through a website that he built to promote them. And that's where the computer geek, um, label comes in. So he built this site himself and on the site he told people that the more often we receive the Eucharist, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven. And he said of holy communion that it was his highway to heaven. When Carlo got sick, his life of faith increased and he was intentional about offering up his suffering for the church, for the Pope. For people who are suffering with illness, we know he loved playing video games, which makes him a boy of the century. And his console of choice was a PlayStation, possibly a PS two. We know he only allowed himself though to play games for an hour a week as penance and as a spiritual discipline imposed on himself, even though he wanted to play much more. And he also said, time is too precious to waste on flitting, fleeting things like that. Carlo liked sports and outdoors, but he liked soccer like many Saints did. And his body has just gone on display this past week in preparation for his, uh, beatification. And while the body is not totally incorrupt, the entire body is present and he is dressed as a teenager of the 21st century wearing Nike shoes, blue jeans, a football top and polo shirt. His heart, which will now be considered a relic, will be on display in a requi in the basilica of St. Francis. And Assisi, His mother said that his family had wanted to donate his organs when he died, but they were unable to do so because he'd had leukemia, probably providential. Carlos said, I am happy to die because I have lived my life without wasting a minute on those things that do not please God. So I didn't invite you to find a bit, find out a bit more about Carlo Es and perhaps if he appeals to you, adopt him as one of your heavenly friends who can help you to have a greater devotion and love for our Lord in the blessed sacrament and a greater devotion and love for his blessed mother in the rosary. So may God bless you and may soon to be blessed Carlo AEs intercede for us as we journey towards heaven and one day may we be there in heaven with him. God bless you.