The canonization of Carlo Acutis left us with an image that went beyond the cameras: the face of his mother, Antonia. In this article, Friar Alfonso Dávila invites us to contemplate that look from an Augustinian perspective, recalling St. Monica and reflecting on how Carlo lived holiness with simplicity, coherence and Eucharistic love.
Antonia, your son is a saint! Many publications have said so in these days. It is not my intention to repeat what has already been written. But I think it is worthwhile to stop here.
Let us focus our gaze on that. What the cameras of the Vatican Television Center also focused on during the canonization of Carlo Acutis: the face of his mother.
What a great moment. And how important that it does not pass by.
A mother’s gaze
I would like us to stop for a while and think about this: a mother’s gaze. In Antonia’s. In that of so many others. And that we do it from an Augustinian point of view, because there is something that touches the deepest part of the human heart.
Thinking of Antonia made me think of my own mother. How would she have experienced it? I talked about it over lunch with the friars in my community. One said: “She had the face of a mother in an ordination”. Maybe so… but I thought of another face: St. Monica’s..
Antonia and Monica
She also accompanied her son – St. Augustine – on his way to God. She did so in tears, for years, waiting for his conversion.
You, Antonia, did it in silence. Praying with Carlo, observing how something grew inside him that surpassed you. You saw him take his faith seriously, let himself be transformed.
And I also thought of other mothers. Those of my confirmation children. Mothers who, upon seeing their children finish their Christian initiation, have that face that mixes joy, relief, faith fulfilled. A face that says: “Thank you, Lord, the promise we made on the day of their baptism has been fulfilled”.
An original teenager
Carlo was not an exceptional boy because of his genius. He was exceptional because of his simplicity, his coherence. He was a normal teenager: with a T-shirt, computer, friends. But with an unusual clarity for his age. He said it to his friends and he says it to us now:
“All people are born as originals, but many die as photocopies.”
Carlo didn’t want to copy anyone. He wanted to be him. And he knew that, for that, he had to live seriously. Let himself be converted. Like St. Augustine, he understood that conversion is not a threat, but an opportunity. A path to beauty. It was not enough for him to “comply”. He wanted to love.
And from the Eucharist, his great treasure, he lived with joy, served with creativity, evangelized with naturalness.
Holiness without measure of time
He died at the age of fifteen. Very young. But, as we know, holiness is not measured in years, but in the depth of the love lived..
And just a few days ago, the Church added him to the great list of saints. To the list of witnesses. Of those who tell us:
“Hey, you can do it too. Cheer up. Don’t be afraid. Being a saint is part of your life.”
Carlo and Agustín, Mónica and Antonia
Carlo and Agustín. Monica and Antonia. They did not live in the same era, but they shared the essential: that the human heart is made for God. And that outside of Him, everything falls short.