New song and video pay tribute to Carlo Acutis and the Eucharist

On April 27th, during the Vatican’s Jubilee of Teenagers, Pope Francis will canonize Blessed Carlo Acutis.

Carlo, who died of leukemia in 2005, was a computer geek who loved video games. More than that, though, Carlo loved the Eucharist; and he used his technological skill to create a website which catalogued Eucharistic miracles and Marian apparitions.

Just in time for the canonization, composer and songwriter Stephen Becker, founder of the Los Angeles-based sophisti-pop group Le Concorde, has produced a new song and video about Eucharistic miracles and Blessed Carlo Acutis. Titled “Corpus Christi,” the first single from Le Concorde’s upcoming album “Second Mansions” is a song about the Eucharistic miracles painstakingly documented by Carlo Acutis.

Stephen Becker talked recently about the song, the video, and the saintly teen who inspired both. “I became interested in Carlo,” he explained, “first of all, because I was interested in Eucharistic miracles. I had made a profound reversion to my Catholic faith. I’m a consummate researcher, I have an academic background–so I was becoming emboldened as far as asking some difficult questions. It’s like I was being rewarded by God!”

Becker’s reversion to faith came only after serious study. “I was always a truth seeker,” he explained. “I spent a lot of my life overturning every stone, looking for truth spiritually. Even though it was right in front of me the entire time! I asked myself, ‘Dare I stare harder at the reality of the Resurrection?’ It was a conclusion that I could try to ignore, but which I could not escape.”

Becker began going to church again. The quest for truth, which had led him to embrace the Catholic Faith, led to answers, sometimes in something very small. “At one point,” he confided, “I was in a mysteriously long cab ride across L.A. in the rain. As I was getting out, the cab driver asked, ‘Have you ever heard of Padre Pio?’ At that time, it seemed like a clue–and I was like a detective. I looked into it.”

Before delving into his serious study of faith, Stephen Becker had never heard of the reality of Eucharistic miracles. “That’s a little embarrassing!” he admitted. “We celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi–and yet no one in my Catholic elementary school or my RCIA class had ever said anything about this!”

His research led him to discover Carlo Acutis, and he developed an admiration for the holy young man. “You know,” Becker said, “he was skilled at building websites, at a time when building a nice-looking site was not at all easy! He built his famous website, which catalogued the Eucharistic miracles across the ages in a beautiful way. But even before I saw his actual website, I saw a touring exhibit that came to the Los Angeles area. The exhibit featured enormous panel printouts of pages from Carlo’s website.”

With the story of Carlo Acutis as his inspiration, Stephen Becker composed the song “Corpus Christi.” The song leads the listener from Orvieto, where a noted Eucharistic miracle occurred, to sites around the globe. Not a typical hymn, it’s a rock extravaganza with a strong rhythm section. Becker himself (performing as Le Concorde) plays the synthesizers, with the performance rounded out by his drummer Ash Sloan (who played with singer/songwriter Seal, Trevor Horn, and Tori Amos), bass player Vinzenz Benjamin (ABC, Paul Young) and keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (known for his performances with Beck, Morrisey, and Jellyfish).

Becker’s music video for “Corpus Christi” is created in a unique, 1980s style that Carlo Acutis would have appreciated. The video is a cartoon crafted in blocky, pixelated graphics that were popularized by arcade video games and 8-bit consoles. It depicts the future saint sitting at his computer, researching Orvieto and Assisi, then climbing a long ladder toward heaven, where Jesus waits to embrace him. Hidden throughout the video are what Becker calls “little Easter eggs”—subtle references to Carlo Acutis’ world, like video games he played, the soccer team he cheered, a poster from Assisi, and even Carlo’s dog.

Stephen Becker expressed his candid admiration for the soon-to-be-saint. “I’ve been reading his biography, written by his mother,” Stephen said. “The level of theological insights he had to offer is so profound – they are at such a high level!”

Becker offers two important points about Carlo Acutis: First, that miracles and wonders are sometimes attributed to an individual, but they are gifts freely given by God, and it’s the Holy Spirit working through them. Secondly, Becker added that in the eyes of the Church, it’s not the miracles that make Carlo holy, but rather his heroic virtue.

The video, Becker explained, is really for everybody, both Catholic and non-Catholic–he didn’t have a specific audience in mind when he created it. He added, “I only make what I’m guided, inspired to create as an artist.” Music, he believed, is a source of transcendence and healing and liberation, and we all need that! Becker reports that so far, secular audiences seem to be embracing it.

He predicted, though, that the video will be especially popular with a youthful audience, since there’s so much enthusiasm today for retro gaming. And it would mean a lot to him, Becker confided, if the video could serve to increase people’s excitement about Carlo’s canonization and encourage people to find out more about him.

The song “Corpus Christi” can be accessed through all major streaming platforms. The video tribute to Blessed Carlo Acutis is now available on YouTube or at Stephen Becker’s website, leconcordemusic.com. Becker promises that listeners who sign up for free to receive updates at the website can get “cool bonuses.”