While more than 1 million people enjoyed Aleteia's TikTok video about the dreamlike moment lived by Carlo's mom as her son became a canonized saint, it led to a lot of questions.
"Please excuse my ignorance, but a serious question. What did this boy do to be acknowledged a saint?" one person asked.
"Please tell me what he accomplished in his life to get sainthood," another said.
While our TikTok users were quick to help out these questioners, it is a valid question, particularly for those who had their first encounter with St. Carlo through that video (here it is on Instagram). He was only 15! His mom and dad were at his canonization (and his little brother and sister)! He died only a few years ago in 2006. And he's a saint??
"What makes him so special?" The answer, remarkably, shows us a parallel between him and what he loved so dearly: the Eucharist.
Holiness is an imitation of the Divine.
Holiness, becoming like God, is something that all Christians are called to (Matthew 5:48).
The saints in Heaven are role models for us pilgrims still on earth. They give us hope that we truly can imitate God in this lifetime.
While there's no quick summary of the many ways that Carlo imitated God, we can point out two specific points.
Evangelizing spirit
St. Carlo’s renown spread throughout the world because of the creation of his website documenting and showcasing Eucharistic miracles. He had a missionary spirit, and he wanted to share with the whole world this incredible truth: that Christ not only became Incarnate, but that He becomes truly present in the Eucharist. That wafer on the altar is Jesus Himself, condescending to nourish Christians for their pilgrim journey towards holiness.
What was most remarkable, however, about this evangelizing spirit of St. Carlo was not the farthest reach of his work, but it was what this spirit transformed in his own home.
It was through St. Carlo’s witness that his own mother, Antonia Salzano, returned to the Church and found her faith. She explained in the synopsis of her memoir,
“Like a lighthouse on a dark night, he [Carlo] pierced and illuminated the darkness that held me prisoner and showed me a path in the key of eternity.”
St. Carlo’s dedication to spreading the truth about the Catholic faith, specifically about Eucharistic miracles, converted hearts across the world, but most importantly, brought his own mother back to the Church.
Exemplary virtue
St. Carlo’s evangelization, particularly through his website, perhaps would not have been a proof of personal virtue though.
But in fact, he was an exemplar of virtue in his daily life. He had a deep love of the poor, going out of his way to help anyone in need. He fueled every day through a routine of daily Mass and the Rosary, and he regularly attended Eucharistic adoration to be in the physical presence of his Savior. Everything he did in his ordinary life, he did with the aim of pleasing and imitating Jesus.
This doesn't take away from the fact that he was a regular millennial kid. He also played video games, enjoyed his pets, and had great friends. But God was his priority.
How he lived is how he died
His most profound imitation of Christ came through his joy in the midst of intense suffering.
Carlo was diagnosed with, and ultimately died from, acute leukemia at the age of 15. He didn't complain about his pain or his discomfort, and he understood that it was through death that he would finally be reunited with Christ, whom he loved and pursued so ardently.
"Witnessing the death of my son I actually thought to myself: 'This is a saint.' He never complained, he was always smiling ... Carlo truly experienced his death as an encounter with the Beloved," his mother, Antonia, recalled.
St. Carlo’s entire life was an imitation of Christ, but how he faced his final days made his holiness starkly apparent.
The Greatest Commandment
St. Carlo’s mother has a beautiful definition of holiness, “Being holy means loving God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves; it means putting God first and nourishing ourselves with the Eucharist, nourishing ourselves from the Source, which is Christ, love, who helps us in this.”
St. Carlo’s life appears ordinary on athe surface — he played video games and sports like so many teenagers today — but the truth is that his holiness made his life extraordinary.
To imitate Christ amidst the distractions of the modern world and in the face of acute suffering is heroic and worthy of recognition. It was through St. Carlo’s evangelizing spirit and exemplary virtue that he imitated Christ, reminding the world that a seemingly ordinary exterior might hold a deeper, truly extraordinary interior.
You can find out a lot more about Carlo at our dedicated page, here.
And, if you are not following Aleteia on TikTok or Instagram, we'd love to have you! (We're about to hit a milestone on Instagram!)
