After a short but successful Canadian pilgrimage in eastern and central Canada, a pericardium relic of the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint, Blessed Carlo Acutis, is on its way back to Assisi, Italy. Blessed Carlo is expected to be canonized in this year’s Jubilee Year.
For the Ontario leg of the relic tour, which was led by Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO), thousands of people eager to see the relic up close came to fill the three Ontario churches hosting the relic in Toronto, Mississauga and Ottawa from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2.
According to Michael Sloan, CCO Team Leader at Toronto Metropolitan University, the largest crowd of the Ontario tour was at Ottawa’s Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica at 2,000 people on Nov. 2. Mississauga’s St. Josephine Bakhita drew more than 1,800 people on Nov. 1, and more than 1,200 people packed Toronto’s Holy Rosary Parish on Oct. 31.
The relic tour has been a gift of a personal “encounter with Jesus through the witness of (Blessed Carlo’s) life,” Sloan told The Catholic Register.
The relic, originally from the Archdiocese of Assisi in Italy, had travelled from Canada’s east coast – where it was warmly received at the first Eucharistic Congress in the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth from Oct. 17 to 20 – and arrived in central Canada on Oct. 31.
Bernadette Enriquez, originally from St. John’s, Nfld., was the designated relic keeper for Ontario and Newfoundland. She flew from St. John’s to Toronto while safeguarding the relic on that flight and on the parish tour with the help of fellow CCO members and in coordination with pastors.
Enriquez, 26, a cmpus team leader at Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO), said she saw many people from all walks of life come for the Mass, public veneration and Eucharistic adoration during the relic pilgrimage stops in Toronto.
“There was a constant flow in and out, a good mix of young families, parents picking up their kids after school dropping by. It was beautiful to see them come out and tell me it was so sacred,” Enriquez told the Register before the All Saints’ Day Mass at St. Josephine Bakhita Parish.
The scene she described was at midtown Toronto’s Holy Rosary Parish where the relic event kicked off with an Oct. 31 noon Mass, which began with the priest carrying the relic into the church.
“I was overjoyed when people shared their stories with me. There were many stories of people bursting into tears, encountering God in some way,” Enriquez said.
Some people came with heavy hearts, others were seeking answers to their prayers, she noted.
Enriquez said Blessed Carlo’s example speaks to young people.
“He led a normal life. He played the PlayStation. He ate at McDonald’s,” she said.
“I grew up with Playstation as well, and it reminds me that I can be a saint one day. I think that’s what he does for a lot of people. People see him in sneakers and jeans, rather than most saints depicted with robes so they are inspired by his witness,” she said.
Celeste White is another young Catholic inspired by Blessed Carlo.
A 15-year-old parishioner at St. Josephine Bakhita, White said she aspires to holiness because of Blessed Carlo and his love for the Eucharist.
“I think the relic, it sort of serves as an inspiration to become a saint. It’s kind of living proof of putting your faith into action,” she said.
Blessed Carlo died at 15 after a short and challenging battle with leukemia. Known as the “gamer saint” because of his PlayStation 2, Blessed Carlo taught himself computer coding to build a website documenting Eucharistic miracles around the world.
It is Blessed Carlo’s witness of faith that David Kantor hoped the boys’ troop of the Federation of North-American Explorers would experience. In the crowd, it was easy to spot Kantor and his boys’ troop of 12 explorers who were dressed in a distinctive tan uniform, complete with a handkerchief and a Stenton hat. The FNE is a Catholic lay association, similar to the Scouts. Kantor and the explorers attended the All Saints’ Day Mass, and joined the long line to see the relic.
“The Eucharist is my highway to Heaven,” is one of Blessed Carlo’s oft-repeated quotes.
Pastor Fr. Mark Villanueva emphasized in his All Saints’ Day homily that the road to Heaven can be found in one’s home parish: “As Blessed Carlo drew closer and closer to the Eucharistic Lord, he increasingly understood what it is to love. Jesus is love.”
It’s no coincidence then that the relic was from a piece of Blessed Carlo’s heart (It was a pericardium relic, meaning a protective sac enclosing the young saint’s heart.)
“For Blessed Carlo, going to Mass was his way of going closer to the heart of Jesus,” Villanueva said.
