Antonia Salzano watched her son Carlo die at the age of 15 from a sudden and aggressive leukemia. Today, he would have been 34 years old. She is one of the few mothers in history who will witness her son officially be recognized as a saint in her lifetime.
ANTONIA SALZANO
Mother of Carlo Acutis
It’s an important moment, also because Carlo is having great success all over the world—his intercession, his help. Every day there’s news of miracles, so we are very happy. But above all, it’s a point of arrival because it’s clear that the Church is also expressing itself here in recognition of the global devotion and all the faithful he has around the world.
In Assisi, Antonia can pray before him in a different way. Since 2020, his body has been kept here in a glass display. He’s dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt, with a black rosary entwined in his hands. There, Carlo Acutis looks as if he is sleeping – it's as if those 19 years never passed.
However, for Antonia, going to see him is not a necessity. She insists that his true presence is felt every day in the Eucharist—the sacrament that Carlo used to say was his “highway to Heaven.”
ANTONIA SALZANO
Mother of Carlo Acutis
I go to the sanctuary from time to time. But during Mass, I have the entire heavenly court with me—I have God, the Virgin Mary, the martyr saints… When I attend Mass, I feel Carlo’s presence there. I don’t see his body, which it is a body that will be resurrected—this I already know. But I don’t feel the need to go because I carry Carlo in my heart.
What is perhaps most surprising is Carlo's normality—a boy passionate about computers, living an ordinary life like any other, who found found God in everyday.
CA
Trans. CRT
