According to the Bishop of Assisi, Monsignor Domenico Sorrentino, “the places of Francis and the body of Blessed Charles are ways to meet the Lord”.
Photo: Divulgation/Diocesi di Assisi – Nocera Umbra – Gualdo Tadino.
Newsroom(06/06/2022 16:08, Gaudium Press) The body of young Blessed Carlo Acutis will be permanently exposed in the Sanctuary of the Spogliazione (Spoil) of Assisi. The decision was announced by the Diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino (Italy).
Last Wednesday, June 1, after the evening Mass, the Bishop of Assisi, Monsignor Domenico Sorrentino, reopened the tomb of Blessed Charles Acutis. “The places of Francis and the body of Blessed Charles are ways to encounter the Lord. His images, placed at the entrance of the Sanctuary, point to Jesus,” said Bishop Sorrentino.
The prelate hopes that “This awareness will encourage all the pilgrims who come to the Shrine, impelling them to open themselves to the light of the Gospel and to make a profound experience of Faith.” The act occurred a few days after the inauguration of the ‘door of St. Francis’, brought to light after 800 years to allow the faithful to relive the gesture with which the founder of the Franciscans stripped himself of all earthly goods.
Blessed Charles Acutis
Born on May 3, 1991 in the English capital of London, Carlo Acutis moved with his family to the Italian city of Milan when he was only a few months old. As an adolescent he was diagnosed with leukemia, and dedicated his sufferings to God, the Pope, and the Church.
He was noted for his love of God, the recitation of the Holy Rosary, and his frequent access to the sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession. His Eucharistic devotion was such that he created a website to publicize the Eucharistic miracles.
On October 12, 2006, the day of Our Lady of the Pilar, he died at the age of 15, being buried in Assisi, a request he had made because of his great devotion to St. Francis.
Beatification only 14 years after his death
His cause for beatification was opened in 2013, he was declared venerable in 2018, and was beatified by Cardinal Agostino Vallini on October 10, 2020, 14 years after his death.
During Acutis’ beatification ceremony, Cardinal Vallini stressed that the young man is “a model of fortitude, alien to every form of strangeness, aware that to remain in the love of Jesus, it is necessary to live the Gospel concretely, even at the cost of going against the current.” (EPC)
Compiled by Teresa Joseph
