SNOHOMISH – Inspired by the love of the Blessed Sacrament, Lorraine Smith has arranged for the exhibit “Eucharistic Miracles of the World” to be displayed June 8-9 at her parish, St. Michael in Snohomish.

“I just felt it was something he wanted me to do,” Smith said. “I had a feeling in my heart that it was something I needed to do.” 

In the midst of planning, Smith heard the May 23 news that Blessed Carlo Acutis, who chronicled the miracles in the exhibit, will become a saint. 

“The timing is amazing,” Smith said.

Carlo Acutis was a teenager who enjoyed computers, soccer and video games, according to carloacutis.com, the website dedicated to his cause for canonization. But he also volunteered at a church-run soup kitchen, helped the poor in his neighborhood and was dedicated to the Eucharist, the website says. Carlo used his computer skills to create an online database of Eucharistic miracles around the world and, with the help of his family, created an exhibit about the miracles that premiered in 2005 during the Year of the Eucharist.

Carlo died in 2006 at age 15, after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia.

Father Michael Dion, pastor of St. Michael Parish, said people will be interested in Carlo because he is a Gen-Zer and was motivated and moved by the Eucharist. 

“I hope the interest people have in his story helps (them) move toward the source of what fed him and nourished him, which is Jesus and the Eucharist,” Father Dion said. “The Eucharist is there for all of us so that we can also become a saint like he did,” he added.

People view the “Eucharistic Miracles of the World” exhibit at St. Stephen the Martyr Parish in Renton in February. The same exhibit will be displayed at St. Michael Parish in Snohomish June 7-8. (Photo: Courtesy of Kenneth Manni)

Smith said she got the idea for the exhibit about six months ago; around March, she began looking for an available exhibit, eventually finding one through the Real Presence Association at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin. 

The exhibit of 140 panels, each 2 feet by 3 feet, will be on display in the St. Michael parish hall after the June 8 vigil Mass and after all Sunday Masses on June 9.

The Real Presence Association has a list of 70 to 80 Eucharistic miracles exhibits throughout the United States and Canada, said Patrick Brueggen, national coordinator of the Real Presence Association. They can be owned by dioceses, parishes, organizations such as the Knights of Columbus, or sometimes a family.

“It is just a tremendous amount of faith-filled, spirit-filled people out there,” Brueggen said. “We make the connection for them and kind of get out of the way.”

The Real Presence Association put Smith in contact with Kenneth and Eleanor Manni of Oak Harbor, members of St. Augustine Parish in Oak Harbor and St. Mary Parish in Anacortes. The Mannis said they have had a Eucharistic miracles display for 12 years and volunteer to display it at parishes as far away as Spokane. In February, the exhibit was shown at St. Stephen the Martyr Parish in Renton.

“We’re delighted that the Lord has called upon us to do this,” Kenneth Manni said. “It’s a great privilege. It’s stunning to see how people respond.”

A panel highlighting the Eucharistic miracle that took place in Lanciano, Italy, in the year 750 is part of the “Eucharistic Miracles of the World” exhibit being displayed at St. Michael Parish in Snohomish June 8-9. (Photo: Courtesy of www.miracolieucaristici.org)

The exhibit, coming a week after the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, chronicles Eucharistic miracles that “kind of stand in the face of scientific materialism we have around us,” Father Dion said. “This is really the body and blood of Jesus, and there are spiritual realities that are above and beyond what we see materially” in the Eucharist, he said.

Father Dion also noted that the exhibit is taking place during the National Eucharistic Revival. 

“I’m hopeful the Lord wants to speak to people throughout it in a special way,” he said.