Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., and Catholic school students from around the Diocese will commemorate the feast of Blessed Carlos Acutis during an Oct. 12 Mass in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold.
The feast day coincides with the Diocese’s Catholic Schools Mass, an annual event in which the Bishop celebrates Mass for students, along with their teachers, principals and family members. Last year, Bishop O’Connell placed all Catholic schools and young people in the Diocese under the patronage of Blessed Carlo, a faith-filled teenager who died in 2006 at the age of 15. Blessed Carlo was beatified by Pope Francis in 2020.
The Oct. 12 Mass is not open to the public but will be livestreamed on the diocesan Youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/trentondiocese. The Mass will begin with a procession at 10:15 a.m. in which students will carry flags or banners representing their respective schools. Also participating in the procession will be two participants from St. Mary Academy, Manahawkin, who will carry a portrait and relic of Blessed Carlo in commemoration of his feast day.
Soon after his appointment as Bishop of Trenton in 2010, Bishop O’Connell has made it a priority to host the annual Mass for Catholic Schools, giving the young people an experience to visit the diocesan Cathedral (St. Mary of the Assumption, Trenton) or the Co-Cathedral and attend Mass with him.