Bishop Kemme meets with new postulator for the canonization cause of Fr. Kapaun

 

 

Bishop Carl A. Kemme came back with more than memories from a recent trip to Rome to meet with the new postulator for the cause of canonization for Fr. Emil Kapaun.
He brought back three first-class relics of Blessed Carlo Acutis given to him by the postulator, who is also the postulator for Blessed Carlo Acutis. A postulator is a person who presents a case for canonization or beatification.

“I have been drawn to his life and his wonderful legacy in the church,” Bishop Kemme says in a videotaped message about the relics. The recording is available at YouTube.com/DioceseOfWichita.

Bishop visits burial site

The bishop said during his trip to Italy he visited Assisi where Bl. Carlo is buried and was able to venerate him.

“He only lived to be 15 years of age, but in that short spirit of time, he distinguished himself as a very, very, holy man in love the Eucharist,” Bishop Kemme said. “He said one time the Eucharist is my highway to heaven.”

Bl. Acutis is an inspiration for the youth and a saint for the millennium, the bishop said.

“I have been really inspired by his life in the things he said by his devotion to the Eucharist,” he said. “It was an honor for me to venerate his tomb, and then to receive…three relics of his hair.”

Bishop Kemme said documentation accompanied the three first class relics along with some holy cards and second-class relics.

A first class relic is a body part such as bone, blood, or flesh. Second class relics are possessions that a person owned, and third class relics are objects that have been touched to a first or second class relic or the person has touched.

Bishop promotes veneration

Bishop Kemme said he hopes the faithful will take time to learn about Bl. Acutis. “I hope you’ll be as inspired as I am by his life, his love for God, his love for Jesus and the Holy Eucharist, and his inspiring example for young people in today’s world.”

Carlo Acutis was born May 3, 1991, in London, where his parents were working. Just a few months later, his parents, Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, moved to Milan.
As a teenager, Carlo was diagnosed with leukemia. He offered his sufferings for Pope Benedict XVI and for the church, saying ““I offer all the suffering I will have to suffer for the Lord, for the pope, and the church. He died on Oct. 12, 2006, and was buried in Assisi, at his request, because of his love for St. Francis of Assisi.

His cause for canonization began in 2013. He was designated “venerable” in 2018, and was designated “blessed” October 10, 2020.