Crowds flock to newest Catholic saint in Assisi -- a millennial teen whose ordinariness is the draw
ASSISI, Italy (AP) — Pilgrims have been pouring into this medieval hilltop town to venerate not only two of the Catholic Church’s most celebrated saints, Francis and Clare, but its newest — Carlo Acutis, the first millennial saint, who will be canonized on April 27.
“St. Francis, St. Clare, of course, important saints who marked an epoch – but that’s far removed from today’s teens. Carlo is like the kids,” said Maria Rosario Riccio, a mother and educator who was visiting Acutis’ shrine recently with a 50-strong parish youth group from southern Italy. “He’s a near-saint of our time, who can show teens that it’s possible to love Jesus while being a regular youth.”
The group lined up to enter the Santuario della Spogliazione — a somber church, also known as Santa Maria Maggiore, marking the spot where more than 800 years ago St. Francis renounced his family’s wealth. There, they prayed by the monument where Acutis’ body is on view, wearing jeans, a sweatshirt and sneakers.
On that Saturday, hundreds filed past — a priest and his parishioners from the Azores islands, a nun from Colombia and her Passionist sisters, a family with two teens from near Venice. Some clutched rosaries, others took selfies or touched the protective glass in front of the seemingly sleeping young man, who died of leukemia at 15 in 2006 and is generating a devotion that astonishes even Assisi’s bishop.
https://apnews.com/article/italy-saint-catholic-millennial-assisi-francis-f3abea4be1c4e57adbe1633733fd671d
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