Andrea and Antonia Acutis, along with their children Michele and Francesca, sat in St. Peter’s Square, their applause mixing with that of 80,000 faithful who had only known their son and brother, the newly proclaimed Saint Carlo Acutis, through photographs and videos. The family, feeling “joy” and “emotion,” watched as Pope Francis canonized the young man, footage of whose life was captured on home videos by the Acutises themselves in the early 1990s.
The event was exceptional. Not only is it unnatural for parents to outlive their children, but it is also exceedingly rare for them to witness their child’s canonization, given the process’s typically lengthy timeline. The last such precedent was in 1950, with Saint Maria Goretti, whose mother, Assunta, was present for the ceremony celebrated by Pope Pius XII.
Dressed in dark attire with a black veil covering her head, Antonia Salzano, Carlo’s mother, was there today before the banner with the saint’s image displayed on the basilica’s façade. Over the years, she has helped the faithful come to know the patron saint of the internet through her testimony and by sharing images of her ever-smiling adolescent son who “carried Jesus in his heart” and “helped his neighbor.”
In the book “Il segreto di mio figlio” (My Son’s Secret), co-written with Paolo Rodari, she emphasized that Carlo “was a true and most effective influencer of God.” The account begins with the end, detailing the final days of the young saint, who died at 15 in 2006 from fulminant leukemia. Ahead of the canonization, initially scheduled for April but postponed to September following the death of Pope Benedict XVI, Salzano confided, “God, who took Carlo to Heaven so many years ago, gives me back today Saint Carlo Acutis, a new son whom not only I, but the entire holy Church with me, will pray to.”
However, today in St. Peter’s Square, the mother was not alone. With her were Carlo’s father, Andrea Acutis, and the twins, Michele and Francesca, born after Carlo’s passing—a brother they never knew. Salzano had described their birth as “a miracle he announced to me in a dream.” During the liturgy, Michele was entrusted with the first reading, delivered in perfect English, while the parents, accompanied by both children, presented the offertory gifts.
“Carlo was chosen by God as his instrument,” his mother observed in a pre-canonization interview. “Countless people have returned to the faith, have started going to Mass again. How he managed to touch so many hearts is an unfathomable mystery. I myself am the first convert,” she admitted.
When asked today what advice the first millennial saint, known for his passion for IT, would give to young people, mother Antonia had no doubts: “Turn off your cell phone and go back to looking each other in the eyes.”
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