The great role played by Blessed Anna Sperczyńska, Carlo Acutis’s Polish nanny, in planting the seed of faith in him. A true witness of God.

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From whom did Saint Carlo Acutis learn the faith if his family was not observant?

It is the question many asked themselves after the release of the book “The Secret of My Son” (Piemme 2021), written by his mother Antonia Salzano.

 

Carlo Acutis and the non-practicing family

Although culturally Catholic, like most Italians Carlo’s parents also rarely crossed the threshold of the church and the word “faith” was not practiced at home except on special occasions.

Carlo’s mother has recounted that she went to church only three times in her life, before being drawn in by her son: «My first Mass was for First Communion, the second for Confirmation and the third for my wedding».

Yet Carlo grew up with an incredible devotion and it was he, very young, who converted his own parents.

It was precisely because of the son’s curiosity, his daily prayer and attendance at Mass that the mother came to conversion. She enrolled in a theology course in Milan and began to attend the parish.

From childhood he showed great pity for the poor, he could not pass in front of a church without pausing for a short prayer and in the Parks of Milan he sometimes picked flowers to lay at the feet of the Virgin. Antonia Salzano spoke of «a natural disposition» for faith.

 

The role of the Polish nanny in Carlo Acutis

But an important role was also played by his nanny, a young and humble Polish woman named Blessed Anna Sperczyńska, hired by the Acutis family to take care of Carlo. The woman lived in the Acutis home from 1993 to 1996, the years when Carlo was between two and five years old.

The mother remembers that «Beata was one of the first people to speak to Carlo about God» and it was she who instilled in him the love for Jesus in the Eucharist, taking him regularly to Mass.

She herself, raised in a small Polish village, experienced Sunday Mass from childhood as the central event of the week. She also taught Carlo the foundations of faith, charity towards the poorest and the first prayers.

Blessed herself has recounted that the first spiritual act Carlo pronounced was not in Italian, but in Polish: «Aniele Boży, stróżu mój», that is “Angel of God, my guardian”. She repeated it often, enunciating the syllables like a nursery rhyme.

Like all Poles the young nanny was also devoted to the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, and it was always she who introduced Carlo to the Rosary as a dialogue with Mary. .

There was also an episode in which Beata was mocked by some of Carlo’s peers during a birthday party because of the rosary she wore around her neck, the young boy defended her with candor saying to them that instead it was «the most beautiful necklace in the world».

The former nanny also recalls Carlo’s «insistent and continuous questions» about faith and the Church. And she saw in him the natural disposition toward the Lord that she had not created, but which she knew how to accompany and cultivate with tenderness.

 

Faith is transmitted thanks to credible witnesses

Today that the Church has raised Carlo Acutis to sainthood, Beata says she simply feels like a “instrument” of a larger story.

After so many years, her words remind that it is in the silence of everyday life that faith is built. And this has been passed down for centuries and survives in history through true witnesses of Christ. Without great solemn speeches.

This is what Carlo Acutis experienced thanks to his Polish nanny, who today lives in New York and works as an executive in an international company.