Carlo Acutis’ mother tells what it is like to be the mother of a saint and gives advice to those who have lost a child

Antonia Salzano, the mother of San Carlo Acutis who was present with the rest of her family at her son’s canonization on September 7, tells what it is like to be the mother of a saint and gives valuable advice to other mothers who, like her, have gone through the painful experience of the death of a child.

In the recent history of the Church, Antonia shares having this opportunity to be at the canonization of a son with Assunta Carlini Goretti, the mother of Saint Maria Goretti, who saw how this martyr of purity was declared a saint on June 24, 1950.

What is it like to be the mother of a saint?

“Naturally it is a privilege, but also a duty, because first I have to sanctify myself too, because the call is also for me. I have to set an example,” says Antonia in an interview with EWTN News.

The mother of the teenager who died in 2006, due to fulminant leukemia, highlights that being a mother of San Carlo Acutis is also “a call to help others, because people are in darkness. Many people have not found God.”

“If I can give advice, give a good word to help souls, I do it with great pleasure, with a lot of love, because I think that the most important thing is to find God in our life and live in the light of God,” highlights the mother of the so-called “Cyberapostle of the Eucharist”, who created a virtual exhibition on Eucharistic miracles in the world.

“The saints are light that serve to help us do the same,” he emphasizes.

Advice from the mother of San Carlo Acutis to other mothers who have suffered the death of a child

“The important thing is to understand that what matters is to love God, our neighbor. This is the most important thing. If you lose your child, it is not that you have lost him for eternity. It is not goodbye. It is to find yourself in another more beautiful life, with God, with the light of God,” says Carlo Acutis’ mother, who saw her son leave when he was only 15 years old.

“Carlo said that death is the passage to true life. Whoever is afraid of death is because they do not have trust in God, they do not have faith in God. Because if we have trust in God, we cannot be afraid of death,” he continued.

The only thing we have to be afraid of, Antonia warned, “is sin, because this can separate us forever from God. Death is finally the encounter with the loved one, the encounter with the most beautiful thing in the universe, with God.”

Movie Holiness Kit

About the movieHoliness Kit: The Path to God by Carlo Acutis”, which can already be seen in cinemas in most Latin American countries, Antonia commented that in the film you can see “it is the testament of my son Carlo, because it is a very simple way to be able to realize this, this holiness, which is the call that all Catholics have, all Christians.”

“For me it is truly a great gift, because it is an opportunity, especially for young people, to learn and understand why Carlo prayed the Rosary, went to mass every day, made confession every week, prayed, read the Holy Scripture. These are all Carlo’s ‘secrets’. It is a gift for the Church, a gift for everyone.”

“Carlo started going to Mass every day when he was seven years old. He wrote on that occasion, ‘always be united with Jesus, this is my life program,'” Antonia recalled.

“The encounter with Jesus was the most important thing of his day. Naturally this did not prevent Carlo from having a normal life, like all young people, studies, sports, all his friends, but for Carlo the centrality was the encounter with Jesus really present in the Blessed Sacrament.”