Yet what is certain is that a first-class relic of Blessed Carlo will be arriving in Ontario, in time for All Saints’ Day, says Fr. Peter Turrone, pastor of midtown Toronto’s Holy Rosary Church, one of the three Ontario parishes scheduled to host the relic.
On Oct. 31, “Relic Tour 2024” launches in Toronto, a three-day collaboration between Catholic Christian Outreach, Throneway music ministry and parishes in the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall.
The tour wraps up in Ottawa on Nov. 2 and is open to everyone.
Known as “God’s influencer,” Blessed Carlo Acutis taught himself computer coding and created a website dedicated to cataloguing every Eucharistic miracle around the world. While he played video games, he limited his gaming to about one hour a week, his mother has said. He had a devotion to the Rosary and went to Mass and Confession as often as he could.
The young teen would be taken by leukemia at age 15.
Blessed Carlo’s devotees, who know his love for the Eucharist, would say that it’s not a coincidence that it is a pericardium relic, meaning a piece of the sac protecting the heart of the soon-to-be saint, that will be venerated at Holy Rosary and St. Josephine Bakhita Church in Mississauga, before making its way to Ottawa’s Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica.
Turrone said Blessed Carlo shows us that the path to holiness is not by what we do but by how we love.
“He is a young man who will be the first millennial saint, who was incredibly ordinary, and yet all the saints were extraordinary for their love for God and their neighbour,” he said.
Blessed Carol’s mother told EWTN in an interview last year: “He used to say, ‘There are queues in front of a concert, in front of a football match, but I don’t see these queues in front of the Blessed Sacrament’ ... So, for him the Eucharist was the centre of his life.”
His dream of long queues for Eucharistic Adoration will likely be realized with this Ontario relic tour.
Turrone said he brings a statue of Blessed Carlo whenever he visits students at Holy Rosary Catholic School next door to his church. He asks students the difference between Blessed Carlo and the saints on the church’s stained glass windows.
“He’s wearing regular clothes and the people up there are wearing robes,” was one student’s response.
Turrone said Blessed Carlo’s appeal is timeless and for Catholics of any age.
“He shows us that sanctity is possible for everyone. When you see a saint wearing a polo shirt, jeans and sneakers, he seems very close to us,” he said.
Chris Kannampuzha, coordinator of Throneway music ministry is gearing up for the relic stop at St. Josephine Bakhita Parish. He hopes youth will be drawn to the Eucharist like Blessed Carlo was.
“We want that relationship element (to the Eucharist) to be a big part of the night,” said Kannampuzha.
The Greater Toronto Area-based Throneway youth ministry is an outreach of Jesus Youth Canada. It seeks to build a culture of worship through the arts.
“It was really cool once we were first approached because Blessed Carlo Acutis is kind of like a role model, an icon especially for youth,” said keyboardist Kannampuzha.
He said he Blessed Carlo’s relatability to youth is that “he’s going to be a saint who plays PlayStation. That’s a cool thing for kids to hear.”
Tour DetailsBorn in 1991 in London, England, Blessed Carlo’s family soon moved to Milan, Italy. He was diagnosed with incurable leukemia at 15 and he died in 2006. He was beatified by Pope Francis on Oct. 10, 2020.
The Vatican has not yet announced the date of his canonization, although some anticipate it will be in 2025 which has been declared by the Pope as a Jubilee Year for the Catholic Church.
The tour of his relics has been dubbed the Ontario “Relic Tour 2004,” and will feature local Masses, hours of veneration, Eucharistic Adoration and youth events.
The relic will be making its way from the first Eucharistic Congress in the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, which ran from Oct. 17 to 21.
The relic’s first Toronto stop will be at Holy Rosary Church (354 St. Clair Ave. W.) on Oct. 31, with a noon Mass, holy hour, public veneration, 7 p.m. All Saints’ Day Mass and evening reflection and veneration. On Nov. 1, the relic travels to St. Josephine Bakhita Parish in Mississauga (3200 Thomas St.). It will be available for public veneration from noon to 6 p.m., followed by a youth ministry event, then a 7 p.m. Mass with music by Throneway ministry.
The Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall, NET Canada and Catholic Christian Outreach will be hosting a Young Adults’ Social on Nov. 1. It will feature video games, worship and community at Café des Tours in the basement of Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica in Ottawa.
On Nov. 2, the relic will arrive at the cathedral at noon for public veneration, followed by 4:30 p.m. Mass, veneration and adoration until 9:30 p.m.