{"id":62319,"date":"2025-10-18T21:43:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T19:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/?p=62319"},"modified":"2025-10-18T21:43:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T19:43:32","slug":"carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlo Acutis and the Polish Nanny Who Planted the Seed of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-130009\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_tata_polacca_beata.webp\" alt=\"carlo acutis polish nanny blessed\" width=\"604\" height=\"317\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><i>The great role played by <strong>Blessed Anna Sperczy\u0144ska<\/strong>, Carlo Acutis&#8217;s <strong>Polish nanny<\/strong>, in planting the seed of faith in him. A <strong>true witness<\/strong> of God.<\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">From whom did <mark><strong>Saint Carlo Acutis<\/strong><\/mark> learn the faith if his family was not observant?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is the question many asked themselves after the release of the book <i>&#8220;The Secret of My Son&#8221;<\/i> (Piemme 2021), written by his mother <strong>Antonia Salzano<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Carlo Acutis and the non-practicing family<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although culturally Catholic, like most Italians Carlo&#8217;s parents also <strong>rarely<\/strong> crossed the threshold of the church and the word \u201cfaith\u201d was not practiced at home except on special occasions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Carlo&#8217;s <strong>mother<\/strong> <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/fr.aleteia.org\/2022\/10\/11\/le-secret-de-mon-fils-carlo-acutis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has recounted<\/a><\/em><\/strong> that she went to church <strong>only three times<\/strong> in her life, before being drawn in by her son: <i>\u00abMy first Mass was for First Communion, the second for Confirmation and the third for my wedding\u00bb<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Yet Carlo grew up with <strong>an incredible devotion<\/strong> and it was he, very young, who converted his own parents.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It was precisely because of the son&#8217;s curiosity, his daily prayer and attendance at Mass that the mother came to <strong>conversion<\/strong>. She enrolled in a theology course in Milan and began to attend the parish.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">From childhood he showed great <strong>pity for the poor<\/strong>, he could not pass in front of a church without pausing for a short prayer and in the <strong>Parks of Milan<\/strong> he sometimes picked flowers to lay at the feet of the Virgin. Antonia Salzano spoke of <i>\u00aba natural disposition\u00bb<\/i> for faith.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The role of the Polish nanny in Carlo Acutis<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But an important role was also played by his nanny, a young and humble Polish woman named <mark><strong>Blessed Anna Sperczy\u0144ska<\/strong><\/mark>, hired by the Acutis family to take care of Carlo. The woman lived in the Acutis home <strong>from 1993 to 1996<\/strong>, the years when Carlo was between two and five years old.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The mother <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/fr.aleteia.org\/2025\/09\/04\/beata-la-nounou-qui-a-guide-carlo-acutis-dans-son-chemin-de-foi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">remembers<\/a><\/em><\/strong> that <i>\u00abBeata was <strong>one of the first people<\/strong> to speak to Carlo about God\u00bb<\/i> and it was she who instilled in him the love for Jesus in the Eucharist, <strong>taking him regularly to Mass<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">She herself, raised in a small Polish village, experienced <strong>Sunday Mass<\/strong> from childhood as the central event of the week. She also taught Carlo the foundations of faith, <strong>charity<\/strong> towards the poorest and the first prayers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Blessed herself <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.niedziela.pl\/artykul\/116113\/Carlo-Acutis-modlil-sie-tez-po-polsku\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has recounted<\/a><\/em><\/strong> that the first spiritual act Carlo pronounced was not in Italian, but <strong>in Polish<\/strong>: <i>\u00abAniele Bo\u017cy, str\u00f3\u017cu m\u00f3j\u00bb<\/i>, that is <i>\u201cAngel of God, my guardian\u201d<\/i>. She repeated it often, enunciating the syllables like a nursery rhyme.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Like all Poles the young nanny was also devoted to the <strong>Black Madonna of Cz\u0119stochowa<\/strong>, and it was always she who introduced Carlo to the Rosary as a dialogue with Mary. .<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There was also an episode in which <strong>Beata was mocked<\/strong> by some of Carlo&#8217;s peers during a birthday party because of the rosary she wore around her neck, the young boy <strong>defended her<\/strong> with candor saying to them that instead it was <i>\u00abthe most beautiful necklace in the world\u00bb<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The former nanny also recalls Carlo&#8217;s <i>\u00abinsistent and continuous questions\u00bb<\/i> about faith and the Church. And she saw in him the <strong>natural disposition<\/strong> toward the Lord that she had not created, but which she knew how to accompany and cultivate with tenderness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-130006\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_Beata-Anna-Sperczynska.webp\" alt=\"carlo acutis Blessed Anna Sperczynska\" width=\"586\" height=\"331\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Faith is transmitted thanks to credible witnesses<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Today that the Church has raised Carlo Acutis to sainthood, Beata says she simply feels like <strong>a &#8220;instrument&#8221;<\/strong> of a larger story.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">After so many years, her words remind that it is <strong>in the silence of everyday life<\/strong> that faith is built. And this has been passed down for centuries and survives in history through <strong>true witnesses of Christ<\/strong>. Without great solemn speeches.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is what <strong>Carlo Acutis<\/strong> experienced thanks to his Polish nanny, who today lives in <strong>New York<\/strong> and works as an executive in an international company.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-130007\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_Beata-Anna-Sperczynska2.webp\" alt=\"carlo acutis Blessed Anna Sperczynska\" width=\"576\" height=\"353\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-130008\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_Beata-Anna-Sperczynska3.webp\" alt=\"carlo acutis Blessed Anna Sperczy\u0144ska\" width=\"325\" height=\"381\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The great role played by Blessed Anna Sperczy\u0144ska, Carlo Acutis&#8217;s Polish nanny, in planting the seed of faith in him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":131,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2039,1889],"class_list":["post-62319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-blessed-anna-sperczynska","tag-carlo-acutis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Carlo Acutis and the Polish Nanny Who Planted the Seed of Faith - UCCR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The great role played by Blessed Anna Sperczy\u0144ska, Carlo Acutis&#039;s Polish nanny, in planting the seed of faith in him.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Carlo Acutis and the Polish Nanny Who Planted the Seed of Faith - UCCR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The great role played by Blessed Anna Sperczy\u0144ska, Carlo Acutis&#039;s Polish nanny, in planting the seed of faith in him.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UCCR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uccronlineng\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-18T19:43:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_tata_polacca_beata.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"webmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"webmaster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/\",\"name\":\"Carlo Acutis and the Polish Nanny Who Planted the Seed of Faith - UCCR\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_tata_polacca_beata.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-18T19:43:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/266504740f79258d3ff1428b591e842a\"},\"description\":\"The great role played by Blessed Anna Sperczy\u0144ska, Carlo Acutis's Polish nanny, in planting the seed of faith in him.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_tata_polacca_beata.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_tata_polacca_beata.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"carlo acutis polish nanny\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Carlo Acutis and the Polish Nanny Who Planted the Seed of Faith\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"UCCR\",\"description\":\"Union of Catholic Christian Rationalists\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/266504740f79258d3ff1428b591e842a\",\"name\":\"webmaster\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/author\/webmaster\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Carlo Acutis and the Polish Nanny Who Planted the Seed of Faith - UCCR","description":"The great role played by Blessed Anna Sperczy\u0144ska, Carlo Acutis's Polish nanny, in planting the seed of faith in him.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Carlo Acutis and the Polish Nanny Who Planted the Seed of Faith - UCCR","og_description":"The great role played by Blessed Anna Sperczy\u0144ska, Carlo Acutis's Polish nanny, in planting the seed of faith in him.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/","og_site_name":"UCCR","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uccronlineng\/","article_published_time":"2025-10-18T19:43:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_tata_polacca_beata.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"webmaster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"webmaster","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/","name":"Carlo Acutis and the Polish Nanny Who Planted the Seed of Faith - UCCR","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_tata_polacca_beata.webp","datePublished":"2025-10-18T19:43:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/266504740f79258d3ff1428b591e842a"},"description":"The great role played by Blessed Anna Sperczy\u0144ska, Carlo Acutis's Polish nanny, in planting the seed of faith in him.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_tata_polacca_beata.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/carlo_acutis_tata_polacca_beata.webp","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"carlo acutis polish nanny"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2025\/10\/18\/carlo-acutis-and-the-polish-nanny-who-planted-the-seed-of-faith\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Carlo Acutis and the Polish Nanny Who Planted the Seed of Faith"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/","name":"UCCR","description":"Union of Catholic Christian Rationalists","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/266504740f79258d3ff1428b591e842a","name":"webmaster","url":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/author\/webmaster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62319"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62326,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62319\/revisions\/62326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}