Local parish to host relic of Bl. Carlo Acutis, an inspiration for Catholic students everywhere

Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Roseland welcomes all to venerate a relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis, the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church, and to learn about 100 Eucharistic Miracles. 

March 4 –5, the church will host a first-class relic of the first millennial cause for sainthood and an International Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles of the World created by Acutis before his death in 2006. The "Mary, Mercy, and Miracles" weekend begins on Saturday at 8:45 a.m. with a Mass, followed by the rosary, confession, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and mediation. 

According to organizer Marie Liddy, a parishioner at neighboring St. Aloysius Church in Caldwell, the exhibit is "a spiritual revival which seeks to collaborate with parishes and others... to educate and spread devotion to Our Lord Jesus Christ truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament."  

OLBSC parishioners and Spiritual Concerns Committee members Judith Holtz and Mary Murray, who know Liddy through a local Rosary Support Group, proposed the idea for hosting the "Mary, Mercy, and Miracles" event to Msgr. Christopher Hynes, the church pastor. He agreed to the event, stating it would benefit his parish community.  

"We thought that our parish would benefit from the ‘Mary, Mercy, and Miracles’ exhibit so that our parishioners could come to a fuller understanding of the Eucharist through the faith formation that this exhibition offers," said Msgr. Hynes. 

Acutis possessed a strong devotion to Mary, the Eucharist, and a passion for computer programming and gaming, according to the National Catholic Register. After succumbing to leukemia in October 2006, news of Acutis and his faith spread throughout the world and people began to venerate him. In 2020, the Vatican recognized Acutis’ first miracle: the curing of a 4-year-old Brazilian boy named Mattheus in 2013. The boy was healed from a serious birth defect called an annular pancreas after he and his mother asked Acutis to intercede asking the Lord to grant a miracle of healing. The family attended a prayer service on Oct. 12, 2013, where Mattheus touched a picture of Acutis. According to Mattheus’ mother, as told by the Catholic News Agency, the boy announced that he was cured on his way home from the prayer service. When he returned home afterward, he could eat a full meal without getting sick and was later declared cured by doctors. 
 

Bl. Carlo Acutis, 1991-2006, is the first millennial to be beatified by the Catholic Church (Carlo Acutis Association)

Liddy explained that the exhibit combines Eucharistic adoration, Mass, rosary, and the International Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles created and designed by the Blessed Carlo Acutis, who was beatified by the Catholic Church in 2020. , who was beatified by the Catholic Church in 2020.  

Acutis is now one step away from canonization as a saint. 

Through his legacy, Acutis shares a blueprint for how young people can navigate the modern world as living witnesses to their faith. 

"Even as a young child, Carlo would ask his parents to visit churches as they passed by them," said Liddy. "Young people are hungry for real connection and real friendships. Visiting the exhibition of Eucharistic miracles, seeing the scientific evidence for themselves, and then giving the Lord at least 20 minutes in Adoration will open a whole new reality in their lives. God will speak to the heart. They should ask Carlo to intercede for them." 

The first-class relic was obtained from Cinzia Masciotti, Secretary of the Foundation of Religion in Assisi, Italy. It is "Ex Corpore," meaning "of the body," Liddy said, not expanding on what the relic is. A first-class relic is a piece of the actual body of the person, such as a piece of bone or hair. 

The Blessed Carlo Acutis Catholic College in Australia, which will be taking in its first intake of K-12 students in 2024, has modeled its campus and curriculum after the life and teachings of Blessed Acutis, according to Catholic News Agency.  

Bishop Columba Macbeth-Green, of Wilcannia-Frobes Diocese, where the school is being built, said Acutis was an obvious patron for the school.  

"He is a young man with [a] devotion to the Holy Eucharist, which is the center of our school, and up with the internet, with the things young people today are dealing with — how to be a saintly person in today’s world," Bishop Macbeth-Green said. 

The infusion of faith with technology that Blessed Acutis emulated in his own life as well as his faithful devotion to Christ through the Eucharist sets an example for students around the globe of how they can live like saints in the modern age, according to Bishop David M. O’Connell of the Diocese of Trenton during a homily he gave to Catholic school students in Oct. 2022. He said that Acutis "inspires us to see that holiness is possible for young people, normal kids like you of a similar age... for all of us!" 

Visitors can venerate the relic of Blessed Acutis and tour the Eucharistic Miracles exhibit at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Roseland, on March 4-5. The exhibition will take place in the lower room of the church between 9:15 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. on Saturday, and between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. The church also will be collecting food for Mercy House throughout the weekend. For more information visit the OLBS website. 

"We will be praying this weekend that this little first seed will blossom for our communities, God willing," Liddy said. "Please come and pray with us."