From worshippers in city parishes to those from remote Indigenous communities, tens of thousands of Catholics around Australia are participating in four months of religious ceremonies dating back to the ancient catacombs of Rome, where the faithful venerated the relics of early martyrs and popes. Source: The Australian.
But the saint at the centre of the current devotions is no ancient character but the Catholic Church’s first millennial saint, Carlo Acutis, who was born in 1991 and died of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) in 2006. He was canonised by Pope Leo in September last year.
In Sydney, where the saint’s relic tour began late last month, Archbishop Anthony Fisher said St Carlo Acutis, an e-generation teenager, was at ease with computers and coding, at which he showed prodigious skill at a young age and might easily have slipped into conformity with the culture of his time.
“He is known as ‘the first millennial saint’, ‘patron of the internet’, ‘God’s influencer’ and ‘the saint in sneakers’,’’ Archbishop Fisher said.
From Sydney, the tour, which involves an exhibition, Masses and prayer sessions, moved to Armidale, Lismore, Brisbane and Cairns.
The exhibition has drawn strong interest in Alice Springs and Darwin, where students from Nungalinya College, an ecumenical Aboriginal school, attended.
The relics, concealed behind glass in a small reliquary, will move from Broome to Geraldton in Western Australia this week. From there the tour, of 19 dioceses and 53 cities and towns, will move to Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Campion College at Parramatta in Sydney and to several Ukrainian, Melkite and Maronite communities in Sydney and Melbourne before finishing in Sydney in October.
Attendees at the devotions do not worship Carlo; that is reserved for God. But they venerate his memory, and if they want to, ask for his intercession.
The schedule of the tour is at: https://www.stcarloaustralia.com.
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‘Millennial saint’ Carlo Acutis’s relic tour draws thousands in Australia (By Tess LIvinstone, The Australian)
