Eucharistic miracles exhibit visits BMCHS chapel

An exhibit of the Eucharistic miracles compiled by Blessed Carlo Acutis was recently displayed in the Frassati Chapel at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School, one of several stops across the state to feature the work of Acutis. 

Blessed Carlo was an Italian teenager who died in 2005 after creating a website documenting Eucharistic miracles from around the world.

“What's unique about him is he is a 21st century saint, and so he understands the world that we live in more so than those saints from the 19th, 18th, 17th centuries, but also he’s a teenager,” Father Will Banowsky said. “He knew how to use the internet.”

The exhibit consists of a collection of pamphlets explaining some of the Eucharistic miracles Blessed Carlo documented.

“All this comes from a website that he built,” Father Banowsky said. “He knew enough about HTML and website internet infrastructure in the early 2000s to put together this website and put it on the web.”

Campus minister Kelly Allen said Acutis was a modern-day saint not much older than high school students today.

“As just a middle school, early high school kid, he started making a website about Eucharistic miracles because he was like, ‘I think these are cool; everyone should know about them,’ so he started making this website about them,” Allen said.

Blessed Carlo lived a normal life until the age of 15 when he was diagnosed with an untreatable leukemia. He died at 15 on Oct. 12, 2006.

“He was just the kid at school who everyone thought was a nice kid,” Allen said. “You know, he was a real caring kid, very sweet and stuff like that.”

Now, Acutis is called “blessed” after being beatified in 2020.

“He’s on his way to almost full sainthood, and he is the patron saint of the internet now,” Allen said.

Father Banowsky explained that Blessed Carlo was a good example of a normal teenager who showed that people today can achieve holiness.

“He shows you can play video games and be a blessed of the church,” Father Banowsky said. “You can build a website and be a blessed of the church. You can use technology in a positive and enlightening and enriching and educational way and be a blessed of the church.”

Following the stop at McGuinness, the exhibit will be displayed at various stops into August.

“I hope that for you and for anyone who comes here, that this can lead them deeper into their faith and deeper into a love and appreciation of encountering Christ in the Eucharist,” Father Banowsky said.

Kate Menz is a staff writer for the Chi Rhoan, the Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School student newspaper.
 
March 8 - Saint Mary Catholic Church and School, Ponca City 
March 15 - Saint Joseph Catholic Church and School, and Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church, Enid
March 22 – 10 - Holy Trinity Catholic Church and School, Okarche 
April 2 - Cristo Rey OKC Catholic School, Oklahoma City
April 5 - Sacred Heart Catholic Church and School, El Reno 
April 12 - Saint John Nepomuk Catholic Church and School, Yukon 
April 19 - Saint Eugene Catholic Church and School, Oklahoma City
April 26 - Christ the King Catholic Church and School, Oklahoma City 
May 3 - All Saints Catholic Church and School and Saint Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, Norman
May 17- Saint Teresa of Avila Catholic Church, Harrah 
Aug. 9 - Saint Matthew Catholic Church, Elk City


See related article: Blessed Carlo a modern-day model for young adults


Photo: Students at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School learn about Bl. Carlo Acutis in a traveling display at the school from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2. Photo Kate Menz.