Antonia Acutis, the mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, signs holy cards as she meets the faithful following her presentation about her son at St. Patrick Cathedral in New York City last month.In the largest Gothic Catholic cathedral in the United States, an anxious crowd filled the pews of the 146-year-old St. Patrick Cathedral in Manhattan on May 29. Among the Cathedral’s 21 altars and more than 2,800 stained-glass windows, the crowd was there to welcome Antonia Salzano Acutis, mother of the soon-to-be saint Carlo Acutis, who has gained worldwide attention for his devout faith and unwavering devotion to the Eucharist.
Beneath the twin marble spires of the cathedral that rise 330 feet above street level is the main altar, which is made of Carrara marble imported from Italy. Upon this Italian marble, Italian-born Antonia Salzano Acutis began to speak. With no notes before her—no script to follow, no paper to guide her, Acutis spoke from her heart, shaped by love, faith, and grace. Every word flowed with quiet conviction. Her testimony was not recited; it was revealed—a witness born from walking closely with her son, Carlo, and even more closely with God. In her voice, you heard not performance, but presence—a soul speaking of holiness because she had seen it up close and still carries it within. And on this night, she was sharing it with thousands of Catholic men, women and teens who gathered to hear her message.
“First,” she said, “Hello, Jesus,” acknowledging the Real Presence of Jesus in the Tabernacle. When speaking of her son’s holiness, Acutis described Carlo as a boy who lived an “ordinary life in an extraordinary way.” She defined his holiness not by grand gestures, but by his deep love for the Eucharist, his kindness to others and his constant desire to put God first, saying that he made the internet a tool for evangelization.
“When he was five and a half or six,” Acutis said, “Carlo was praying the Rosary every day.” And, “By the time he was seven, he gained permission to receive his first Holy Communion early. From that day on, Carlo attended Mass every day.”
“Love God overall, and love your brothers and sisters as yourself,“ Acutis said. “Why does the Church call one holy? Because one lives the seven virtues – faith, charity, hope, prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude,” she said. Carlo lived these virtues, and Acutis challenged everyone there to do the same.
She spoke about the importance of silence, and how in that silence we can hear the voice of God. “It is very important to have continuous prayer throughout the day,” Acutis said. “It is not difficult, just start.” She explained that if we live this relationship with Jesus every day, we will see the transformation in our own lives. “Love God above all, and love your brothers and sisters as yourselves,” she reiterated. “This is the secret to sainthood.”
Blessed Carlo Acutis’ mother, Antonia, center, and Marilyn Santos, Associate Director of the Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, right, gather for a photo with friends and members of Mary, Mother of the Church Parish in Mount Joy: Kelly Ann Lynch, OSF, left, and her parents Sharon and Robert Hickey.Speaking about the Real Presence of Jesus, Acutis said, “The Eucharist is everything, it is God Himself.” She explained that Carlo’s deepest desire was to help others come to understand and believe this truth. Perhaps that is one of the reasons he created a website that documents every Church-approved Eucharistic miracle in the world.
Acutis spoke about several Eucharistic miracles, including one that occurred in 2006 in Tixtla, Mexico, when a consecrated host began to bleed. Scientific findings proved that the blood was found to be human blood, specifically type AB, the same type of blood found in other well-known Eucharistic miracles, including on the shroud of Turin. Dr. Ricardo Castañón Gómez, the scientist who led the investigation into the Tixtla Eucharistic miracle, was quoted as saying, “How is it possible that a piece of bread has transformed itself into human heart tissue, and that this tissue shows signs of suffering, of agony? This is not a phenomenon that science can explain. This is something that leads us beyond science—into faith.”
“There is nothing more important than the Eucharist,” Acutis said. “To understand the Eucharist is to understand everything.” Her son Carlo recognized the living presence of God in the Eucharist, and once – when invited to go to Jerusalem – he declined, saying, “Jerusalem is here, in every tabernacle of every church.”
In attendance that evening were three parishioners from Mary, Mother of the Church Parish in Mount Joy: Robert and Sharon Hickey and their daughter Kelly Ann Lynch, who have known Acutis for several years. Long before anyone knew about Carlo and long before his body was found incorrupt and placed into a glass coffin, Robert and Sharon visited Carlo’s grave in Assisi. Sharon recalled an important and almost prophetic message from that day, shared by her dear friend, Sister Maria Lourdes, “Just wait, she told me,” Sharon recalled, “One day this boy will be a saint.”
When Marilyn Santos of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops whisked Robert, Sharon, and Kelly Ann from their third row pew to join Acutis as she finished her presentation in New York City, family and friends were watching the live event unfold on YouTube. One friend wrote, “I see your seats have been upgraded,” while Kelly Ann’s daughter, Shannon, shared in a family group message, “They are on the altar with her [Acutis]!!!!’”
“It’s profound to think that Antonia Acutis gave birth to a son at a time when she wasn’t practicing her faith—she wasn’t going to church or receiving the sacraments,” Robert said. “Yet it was this very son, Carlo, who brought her back to the Church. And after his death, her true purpose was revealed: to evangelize, to carry his message forward, and to teach the world about the Real Presence of Jesus and the importance of recognizing God’s presence in our own lives.”
Through sharing her son’s story and his deep love for the Eucharist, Antonia Acutis has become something of an evangelist herself—spreading a message of hope, holiness and the transformative power of faith in everyday life. The crowd that night responded with resounding applause, their love for this mother-turned-messenger evident in their eyes, their tears and their desire to be near her. Many lined up to have her touch their Rosaries or sign her book, while others stood nearby in quiet reverence.
“Imagine how He loves us,” she said. “It’s something incredible.”
Carlo Acutis, who died at the age of 15 in 2006, was to be canonized by Pope Francis in April. Upon the former pope’s death, the canonization was suspended. On June 13, Pope Leo XIV is expected to choose a new date for that canonization.
(Kelly Ann Lynch, OSF, is a member of Mary, Mother of the Church Parish in Mount Joy.)
By Kelly Ann Lynch, Special to The Witness
