by Dr Madeline Beveridge (Pastoral Projects Leader), photos by Zac Parnell (Diocesan Youth Ministry Coordinator) and Joe Pereira
The Diocese of Lismore recently welcomed a First-Class Pilgrim Relic of St Carlo Acutis, the young Italian teenager who was canonised in 2025 and is loved around the world as a modern witness to the Eucharist. The Relic travelled across the Diocese from Tuesday 7 to Thursday 9 July, visiting St Carthage’s Parish in Lismore, St Mary’s Parish in Casino and St Agnes’ Parish in Port Macquarie, with each community given the chance to venerate it through Mass, Adoration and catechesis.
At St Carthage’s, Parish Administrator Fr Bing reflected in his homily on one of Carlo’s best known sayings, urging those gathered to take it to heart:
“We were born as originals but live our life as photocopies. God did not create us to imitate the world but to reflect Christ.”
Fr Bing spoke of this as an invitation to spend time with the Lord in the same way St Carlo did, quietly and daily. Kate Hobbs, President of Friends of St Carlo Acutis Australia, drew on St Carlo’s own image of Confession: a hot air balloon that cannot rise until its weights are removed. For St Carlo, Confession meant letting go of what weighed him down so his life could rise toward God. Kate’s reflection pointed to the simplicity of Carlo’s spirituality – a faith nurtured from early childhood and shaped every aspect of his life.
Although St Carlo was born into a family that did not practice the faith, he developed a deep love for Jesus in the Eucharist from an early age. He attended Mass daily, prayed the Rosary, and as a teenager taught himself computer programming to create a website documenting Eucharistic Miracles from around the world. Through ordinary acts of kindness and an unwavering faith, he became a powerful witness that holiness is possible in everyday life.
At fifteen, Carlo was diagnosed with leukaemia and died just days later, telling his mother, “I won’t come out of here [hospital] alive, but I’m not afraid to die. I haven’t wasted my life because I know I have been serving God.” His parents chose to offer his pericardium as a relic, a lasting reminder of St Carlo’s immense heart for Jesus.
For many who came to venerate the relic in Lismore, Carlo’s youth is part of what makes his witness so powerful. Alice, one of those present, reflected:
“Being of a similar generation, he’s inspiring, and his closeness to Jesus and thirst for the Eucharist inspire me. It was beautiful today to sit in silence and prayer.”
In Port Macquarie, Fr Paul reflected on how fitting it was for the relic to visit St Agnes’ Parish, home to a young saint whose own witness echoes Carlo’s:
“I believe the relics of St Carlo felt right at home when they visited St Agnes parish, Port Macquarie. Our Patron is St Agnes, a 12-year-old girl who was put to death for refusing to give up her faith which she treasured with all her heart. St Carlo is a 15-year-old boy who also treasured his faith just as much, right up until his death. So, it has been a wonderful experience have the relics with us so that we could reflect on both these children’s lives and pray that we too may treasure and live our faith to the full just as Agnes and Carlo did.”
The encounter with the relic left a lasting impression across the Diocese, inspiring parishioners to take up the same invitation Carlo lived so simply: to draw close to Jesus in the Eucharist and discover, as Carlo did, that holiness begins in the ordinary moments of everyday life.
