Monday 12th October marked a relatively new saint’s day in the calendar of the Catholic Church: the Feast of St Carlo Acutis, an English-born Italian computer programmer who became widely venerated as “the first millennial saint.” Only 15 years old when he died of leukaemia, his beatification in 2020 by Pope Francis and his interest in using digital communication to teach others led to Acutis being popularly dubbed “the patron saint of the Internet.” He was canonised by Pope Leo XIV on September 7, 2025.

Our local Catholic parish, St Carlo Acutis (including the churches of St Peter and Paul, St Michael’s in Penn, and St Bernadette’s in Wombourne), organised many events in the build-up to the feast day, which they celebrated on Sunday 11th (https://www.carloacutis.co.uk/parishnews). One of those was 40 hours of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament across the three churches. St Carlo was noted for many things in his short life; perhaps the most significant was his love of and devotion to the Eucharist, whether in going to Mass or by spending time in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. In support of this, and to show our own love and devotion to Carlo, St Edmund’s extended their regular Friday “Holy Hour” and invited students and staff to the chapel between the hours of 8 am and 4 pm to spend time in prayer before the Lord. All who visited were given the opportunity to experience the beauty of this quiet and reflective form of prayer, and to offer their own prayers for their own intentions. Many thanks to the 128 people who came to the chapel last Friday. I hope it was a rewarding experience, especially if it was the first time you’ve been to Adoration. This Friday we will be back to our normal hour (12:45-1:45 pm), and all are always welcome, even if it’s just for one minute. It will be the best minute you spend that day! As Carlo used to say:

If we go out in the sun we get a suntan… but when we get in front of Jesus in the Eucharist, we become saints.”