By Donal Anthony Foley
Saint Bartolo Longo, (1841–1926), the great Rosary advocate, was canonized by Pope Leo XIV today, Sunday, October 19, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
Our Lady at Fatima described herself as the Lady of the Rosary, and certainly Bartolo can be described as a great 19th century “Herald of the Rosary,” and one who was responsible for the growth and flourishing of the Rosary Shrine at Pompeii, Italy.
At Fatima, the Blessed Virgin exhorted believers to pray the Rosary daily in order to bring peace to the world. Her Message was the impetus for the great religious and cultural revival which took place in Portugal after the apparitions.
On a lesser scale, Bartolo’s work led to the revival of a part of Italy corrupted by superstition, occultism, poverty and an abysmal ignorance of the Faith, and also a resurgence of Marian devotion and the praying of the Rosary.
Saint Bartolo was born into a devout Catholic family in Latiano, near Brindisi, in southeast Italy in 1841. He was an unlikely champion of the Rosary, since during his time at the University of Naples, he fell under the influence of the prevailing secular and anti-clerical ideologies, and fell away from the Church to the extent that he ended up as a Satanic priest.
Bartolo became involved in occult activities, including spiritualism and seances, but these practices did not bring him fulfillment or happiness, and eventually he was introduced to a devout Dominican priest, Fr Alberto Radente, who, with the help of some other people, brought him back to the Faith.
In 1872, Bartolo came to Pompeii on business. He was shocked to discover how abandoned the area was, and was also struggling with his own doubts about his Christian faith and regrets about his past life. On October 9, while out walking in the locality, he heard a voice say, “If you seek salvation, promulgate the Rosary. This is Mary’s own promise.”
Amazed and overcome, he promised to do what he could to promote the Rosary and so decided to found a Rosary Confraternity and promote Missions in the locality. The next year, a Mission succeeded in attracting many people, including the local bishop. He proposed that the populace should be ambitious and aim to build a completely new church to replace the existing dilapidated one. He went further and even prophesied that a basilica would also be raised in Pompeii, a prophecy that was later fulfilled.
To ensure that the local people would continue with the recitation of the Rosary at the end of the three-day mission, Bartolo arranged for a Marian picture to be exposed for veneration. This was of very inferior quality, but nothing else was available or affordable.
Over time a reputation for miraculous healings began to grow around the picture and the Rosary devotion, including the healing of a priest suffering from gangrene, Fr. Anthony Varone, and also that of a lady named Giovannina Muta who was ill with advanced consumption. She was cured when she saw an apparition of Our Lady as she appeared in the picture. The Blessed Virgin had gazed at her and threw her a white ribbon with the message: “The Virgin of Pompeii grants your request, Giovannina Muta.”
One cure in particular stands out, that of a young girl from Naples, Fortuna Agrelli, who was suffering from a painful, incurable disease which baffled her doctors. In February 1884, along with some of her relatives, she began a novena of rosaries for her cure.
On March 3, Our Lady appeared to the girl as Our Lady of Pompeii, sitting on a throne, with the child Jesus on her lap and holding a rosary. Fortuna marveled at the beauty of the Blessed Virgin, and asked her as “Queen of the Rosary” for her cure. Mary told her to make three novenas of the rosary to obtain all she asked for. The child was indeed cured, and soon after Mary appeared to her again saying; “Whosoever desires to obtain favors from me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary in petition and three novenas in thanksgiving.”
This is how the Rosary Novenas devotion to Mary originated. Traditionally, this has been understood to mean three novenas of praying the whole rosary, joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries, each day for 27 days in petition and 27 days in thanksgiving, for a total of 54 days.
Bartolo, along with his wife, Countess Mariana di Fusco, was responsible for guiding the shrine as it grew in importance, and was also known for his promotion of the Rosary through books and magazines. He also promoted what was known as the Fifteen Saturdays devotion of the Rosary, which involved meditating upon the fifteen traditional Mysteries of the Rosary for fifteen consecutive Saturdays.
In addition, he established a number of charitable works including an orphanage for girls, a home for the children of prisoners, and various vocational training programs for the young to give them work skills. He died at the age of 85 in 1926.
The new church was enlarged as successive popes honored it, until in 1934 Pope Pius XI ordered that a new basilica be built; this was completed under Pope Pius XII in 1939. As regards pilgrim numbers, the Rosary Shrine at Pompeii welcomes a very respectable 2 million pilgrims each year, making it one of the most popular Marian shrines in Italy.
Pope John Paul II declared Bartolo Longo Blessed on Oct. 26, 1980. His canonization today is a sign both of his personal holiness and the continuing importance of the Rosary in the life of Catholics devoted to Our Lady.
Donal Anthony Foley is the author of a number of books on Marian Apparitions, and maintains a web sites at www.theotokos.org.uk and http://glaston-chronicles.co.uk. He has also written a series of three time-travel adventure books for young people, The Glaston Chronicles, available at: www.shopfatima.com/blue-army-press
