St. Carlo Acutis inspires love for the Eucharist in New Albany Deanery youth

Leo Horine, 7, and his brother Isaac, 5, hold an image of St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati on Sept. 7 during a watch party held at St. John Paul II Parish in Sellersburg for the canonization of the Church’s two newest saints. (Submitted photo)

By Sean Gallagher

SELLERSBURG—Leo Horine had such a love for St. Carlo Acutis that, when it was announced last fall that the Italian teenager who died in 2006 would be declared a saint this year, Leo, 6 at the time, asked his parents if he could attend the canonization ceremony.

“It was joyful,” said Leo of learning that Acutis would be canonized on his birthday—April 27. “If I was there for him for his canonization, then he’d be there for me.”

“I was out of town for work,” recalled Leo’s father Clint, who, along with his family, is a member of St. John Paul II Parish in Sellersburg. “He called me and said, ‘Dad, Blessed Carlo is going to be a saint and we should go.’ I said, ‘Where’s that going to happen at?’ He said, ‘Rome.’ He had no concept of where Rome was at.”

Seeing how much Leo loved Acutis and his Catholic faith, Clint and his wife Erin decided quickly to follow Leo’s lead and make his wished-for trip a reality.

“For him to have his favorite future saint to be canonized on his birthday—you don’t fight the Holy Spirit,” recalled Erin. “I told Clint, ‘I don’t know what we have to do, but we have to make it happen for him.’ ”

And they did. No one in the family had ever traveled outside the United States. But, with faith in God, they stepped out of their comfort zones and made arrangements for Clint and Leo to be in Rome for Acutis’ canonization.

But the canonization was delayed because of the death of Pope Francis, whose funeral took place on April 27 in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (Related story: New young saints encourage faithful to live life to the full, pope says)

Clint and Leo were there in the square for the historic liturgy. Although he wasn’t able to be present for Acutis’ canonization on Sept. 7, Leo took it in stride.

“I really wasn’t disappointed because I thought that Pope Francis would be a saint some day,” he said.

“It was a blessing for both of us,” said Clint. “It was also a life lesson for Leo that our best-laid plans are not necessarily God’s plans. It was very formative for him to get to see so many people from so many backgrounds and different languages, all celebrating the life of Pope Francis.”

Clint, Erin, Leo and their two younger sons, Isaac and Luke, had a similar experience the previous July when they attended the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis with some 50,000 Catholics from across the country.

“It gave me goose bumps,” said Erin.

“We got to the congress and saw literally thousands of young families, just like us,” recalled Clint. “We knew we were in the right spot.”

“It was nice to pray with Jesus,” said Leo. “They were carrying a monstrance. It was huge, bigger than our monstrance at our parish.”

In the days leading up to the congress and during the five-day event, Leo got to venerate a relic of Acutis and learned more about him.

“He liked the Eucharist,” said Leo, now a second-grader at St. John Paul II School in Sellersburg. “He liked Pokémon. He liked soccer. And he liked Spiderman. He was just a normal kid that was kind and liked the Eucharist.”

The congress helped Leo and his family grow in their own love of the Eucharist. After it was over, the Horines began spending an hour in their parish’s eucharistic adoration chapel on Sunday evenings.

“Leo will ask, even if it’s not on a Sunday, if we can go to the chapel,” said Clint. “It’s a reminder to me that that needs to be my true north as well. It comes naturally to him.”

When Acutis’ canonization got re-scheduled for Sept. 7, Leo was determined to watch the liturgy with as many other people as he could gather.

So, with the permission of Father Thomas Clegg, pastor at St. John Paul II, the Horine’s organized a pancake breakfast and watch party at the New Albany Deanery faith community. Leo said he wanted to watch the canonization liturgy with others “so a lot more people could see how important the Eucharist is.”

Because of the time difference between southern Indiana and Rome, the event started at 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 7. Nonetheless, 82 people from St. John Paul II and other parishes in the deanery attended the gathering.

Leo made sure that Nutella was available to be put on the pancakes “because Carlo Acutis liked it on his pancakes.”

In thanking all the people who came to watch the canonization with him, Leo told them, “We’re here for the saints today, like the saints are with us every day.”

Two days before the canonization, Leo, Clint and Erin spoke with The Criterion about the watch party.

“My goal is to bring people closer to the Eucharist,” said Leo, “and for them to see how close Carlo Acutis got to it in his very short life.”

As great of a love for the Eucharist that Leo has, he still hasn’t received it. He expects to experience his first Communion on April 25, 2026, with other second graders at St. John Paul II.

“I’ve been waiting for this my whole life,” Leo said. “I want to experience the Eucharist. The thing that I’m excited for about the Eucharist is to experience it with my classmates. I know Carlo Acutis will be there. I’m going to invite every priest that I know. Everybody can come.”

Learning about St. Carlo and his great love for the Eucharist has made Leo desire his first Communion even more.

“My heart hungers for the Eucharist,” he said.

Although Clint and Erin have done much to form the faith of their three young sons, they acknowledge the faith of Leo has been a blessing for them.

“I aspire to be as good a Catholic as Leo and my other sons are,” said Clint. “They have an unyielding faith that is so very strong.”

“We’re supposed to have faith like a child,” added Erin. “I get to see that in Leo and him bring that to so many people. It’s a little hard for adults to have that childlike faith. I’m grateful that God is bringing that out in Leo.”

For Leo, developing a love of St. Carlo Acutis relates to the ultimate goal of his life.

“I want to be a saint like him,” Leo said. “I really want to get to heaven to meet him.” †