dominican saints

Bartolo Longo, Apostle of the Rosary, Dominican Tertiary and Founder of the Marian City of New Pompeii, was born in a southern Italian town called, Latiano (Brindisi), on February the 10th, 1841 to Dr. Bartolomeo Longo and Antonina Luparelli. His parents were well-to-do, which enabled him to receive a fine education. As they were devout Catholics, most especially his mother, he and his siblings grew up with a deep love for Mary.

The rosary was implanted in Bartolo’s heart at a young age, as his family prayed the rosary together every evening, meditating on the Life of Jesus and Mary. From his earliest years, one could see the characteristics which would catapult him into greatness. He was charismatic. He excelled in everything he endeavored. He fared well in his studies. Exposed to music at an early age, he loved to play the piano and the flute, even becoming the conductor of the school band.

But his parents’ influence would not be always with him. The time came when he would enter the Naples University, once made illustrious by two Doctors of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Alphonsus, both Neapolitans. As is true in many universities down through the ages, Bartolo Longo was bombarded by deadly liberal, atheistic, anti-Christian, heretical courses, especially in a philosophy class given by a fallen-away priest.

Subsequently, Bartolo fell into this trap and began his sad walk away from the Catholic Church. He was so completely taken in by his professor and all the hate he was spewing against the Faith, Bartolo Longo too began to rant and rave against the Church.

The ex-priest took away his anchor of faith, and in this void he found another. Only this one would help him to sink into the mire of decadence. Falling in with students who were deeply involved with the occult, he too began to delve into mysticism with his fellow cultists, attending séances. Bartolo Longo got so involved, not being a half-measure kind of person, he was ordained a priest in a satanic cult.

As his cult attacked the Church, Her priests, bishops and religious, as well as the Holy Rites of the Church, he too piped in; and with all the charisma and training he had received preparing him for a career in law, he was able to convince others to stray away from Jesus and Holy Mother Church.

God waited patiently, but not allowing him to continue harming his soul and that of others, due to the unceasing prayer through night and day of his mother for his soul. God allowed Bartolo Longo to fast so severely, seeking for the “ultimate truth,” he dangerously jeopardized his health. These extreme fasts and austerities were imposed by his cultic regimen. Not only his physical health was in grave danger, but his mental as well. He soon found himself sinking further and further into a deep depression. His exposure to the horrible rituals and practices he witnessed in the cult, so devastated him he suffered a mental breakdown.

But these dark times would only last for a short period, as Jesus could not resist Bartolo’s mother’s pleas. Still away from Mother Church, he was close to despair, when he heard a voice resembling his deceased father calling to him: “Return to God! Return to God!”

The day finally came in Naples, when in 1864, Bartolo finally concluded his education, receiving a diploma to practice law, which he did in Naples until 1871.

All the rosaries said, all the supplications by his mother, Our Lady stepped in and sent him to Professor Vincente Pepe, a good friend who taught near Naples.

When Bartolo shared his experiences and the rituals of the cult, the professor became so repulsed and enraged, his outburst stunned Bartolo. Desperately crying out for help, Bartolo admitted he was deeply troubled.

Vincente introduced Bartolo to a Dominican priest, well versed in the theology and philosophy of .St. Thomas Aquinas – Father Alberto Radente.

By the grace of God and the intercession of Mother Mary, this dear priest would serve as confessor and spiritual director, as well as friend to Bartolo. Father Radente helped him to relinquish all ties with the satanic cult, once and for all. He prepared him to receive the Sacraments by giving Bartolo an extensive course in the Faith. Jesus said, “This kind can be cast out in no way except by prayer and fasting” and Father Radente took that a seriously as one could.

God sent Bartolo a prayer warrior in Father Radente. He prayed and fasted for his young spiritual son. One has to wonder if he knew how great would be the task this young man would undertake for the glory and honor of Jesus and Mary and succeed.
Father taught him the history of the Order, founded by St. Dominic and confirmed by Pope Honorius III in 1216. He shared what it meant to be a member of the Dominican Order. He quoted Pope Honorius, who declared, the Dominicans would be “Champions of the Faith and True Light of the world.”

On March 25th, 1871, Bartolo Longo was professed a secular Third Order Dominican by Father Radente; at which time he was given the name, “Brother Rosary,” because of his great love for the rosary and Mother Mary.

Grieving over the harm he had done as part of the satanic cult, Bartolo went about trying to repair the horrific damage to the souls of those he had encountered and convinced to lead that diabolical life. Bartolo Longo even visited a séance and raising a medal of Mother Mary, cried out, “I renounce spiritism because it is nothing but a maze of error and falsehood.”

Remembering where he was first exposed to this dangerous, deadly thinking, he went to the universities! He joined the young people at parties and mingled with them in cafes, sharing how he had been duped into leaving all that was dear to him – Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. As brilliantly as he had led unsuspecting students away from the Truth, he now led them back home to Jesus and the Catholic Church.

They were enthralled by his words and testimony, and many conversions came about. But he wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to do more, to touch more souls for Jesus and Mary. Father Radente advised him: “If you are looking for salvation, propagate the rosary. It is the promise of Mary. He who propagates the rosary shall be saved.”

In 1872, he went to the valley of Pompeii near Mt. Vesuvius to settle legal problems related to the properties of the Countess Marianna De Fusco. There he was appalled at the religious ignorance and laxity of the people and prayed to Our Lady for her intervention. Batolo Longo was once quoted: “With boldness of desperation I lifted my face and hands to the heavenly Virgin and cried: If it be true that you promised St. Dominic that whoever spreads the Rosary will be saved, I will be saved, because I will not leave Pompeii until I have spread your rosary.” Bartolo quickly became involved in charitable apostolates with several priests and also worked with the wealthy Countess Marianna De Fusco. Because Bartolo and Marianna worked together so much, gossip developed that they were romantically involved. To prevent their good work from being tainted by this talk, the two married in April of 1885, but lived together celibately in keeping with private vows they both took.

The young lawyer’s first attempt to teach the mysteries of the rosary failed, as we should never forget the great works of God often begin with failure. Bartolo persuaded people of the area to help him clean out a dilapidated church that was abandoned. Then he invited the people to join him one evening to pray the rosary. Only a few curious children came. Despite the fact that the intrepid disciple of the rosary visited every hut and farm house to distribute rosaries, medals, and encouragement, his apostolate met with meager success. The people loved and respected Bartolo, but they neither understood, nor cared to learn about the rosary.

Bartolo then sponsored a festival on the Feast of the Holy Rosary in 1873, He distributed pictures of Our Lady and hundreds of rosaries in preparation of the feast. His first effort failed. It rained, and the preacher spoke in classical Italian instead of the local dialect which the people understood. He tried the next year; he wasn’t much more successful, but he had taught some of the people to pray the rosary. The third year, he invited the Redemptorist Fathers to hold a two-week mission. In preparation, he fully restored the little church. When the bishop preached a ten day rosary mission, the entire village joined the Rosary Confraternity. It was, in fact, the bishop who envisioned a large church and pilgrimage place in the future. The prelate urged the building of a rosary chapel and authorized a public drive for funds. One penny a month was asked of the faithful. Money poured in from all sides.

Bartolo began the project by first hunting for a picture of Our Lady of the Rosary. The only one he could afford was an oleograph (imitation of an oil painting) on paper, but, church law required sacred images to be painted in oils on canvas or wood. He was told about a painting of Our Lady of the Rosary being kept in a convent that had been purchased in a junk shop for 3,40 Lire. The picture was donated by a nun of that convent and foretold Bartolo: “This picture will work miracles.”

Longo described it himself: “Not only was it worm-eaten, but the face of the Madonna was that of a coarse, rough country-woman … a piece of canvas was missing just above her head … her mantle was cracked. Nothing need be said of the hideousness of the other figures. St. Dominic looked like a street idiot. To Our Lady’s left was a St. Rose. This I had changed later into a St. Catherine of Siena … I hesitated whether to refuse the gift or to accept … I took it.”

The image was too large to carry from Naples to Pompeiii, but Bartolo finally found someone who would take it to the chapel for him. When it arrived, it was lying on a wagon of manure. An attempt was made by an amateur to restore it. The artist refurbished the unsightly canvas and ornamented it with diamonds donated by the faithful and it was placed in the church on February 13, 1876, the foundation day for the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary at the chapel. When it was exposed for veneration, miracles started taken place and pilgrimages began.1 The heart of the shrine was, and still remains, the miraculous picture of the Queen of the Rosary with St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena kneeling beside her throne.

In 1876, the bishop laid the cornerstone of the chapel and volunteers carried rocks of volcanic lava on the site. As the edifice rose, miraculous cures were reported and influential benefactors came to visit. Among these were Queen Margarita of Italy, Lady Herbert of England, the royal family of Spain, cardinals and papal representatives. The countess appealed to rich friends in Naples and Bartolo undertook a fund-raising tour of Italy.

Reports about the miraculous shrine circulated in Europe and in the Americas. Among the first prodigies recorded were the cure of Bartolo’s dying mother, the restoration to perfect health of a paralyzed Jesuit priest, and a miraculous cure which was accepted by the Holy See for the canonization of St. Margaret Mary Aloque. The most famous of miracles of Our Lady of Pompeii was that of Fortuna Agrelli. For thirteen months, Fortuna Agrelli had endured dreadful sufferings and torturous cramps; the most celebrated physicians had given up on her condition. On February 16, 1884, the afflicted girl and her relatives commenced a novena of rosaries. The Queen of the Holy Rosary favored her with an apparition on March 3. Mary, sitting upon a high throne, surrounded by luminous figures, held the Divine Child on her lap, and in her hand a rosary. The Virgin Mother and the holy Infant were clad in gold-embroidered garments. They were accompanied by St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena. The throne was profusely decorated with flowers; the beauty of Our Lady was marvelous. The Blessed Virgin said: “Child, thou has invoked me by various titles and hast always obtained favors from me. Now, since thou hast called me by that title so pleasing to me, ‘Queen of the Holy Rosary,’ I can no longer refuse the favor thou dost petition; for this name is most precious and dear to me. Make three novenas, and thou shalt obtain all.” Once more the Queen of the Holy Rosary appeared to her and said, “Whoever desires to obtain favors from me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary, and three novenas in thanksgiving.” This moment of course gave birth to the Rosary Novena.

In addition to his better known accomplishments, Bartolo was also a gifted orator, an eloquent prose writer and a talented musician. He wrote the History of the Wonders of the Shrine of Pompeii and in 1884 published the first edition of the shrine magazine The Rosary and the New Pompeii, which was printed in eight languages.

In addition to his publications, this Dominican layman was a zealous social worker. At the side of the Pompeiian basilica he erected a group of buildings dedicated to providing free service to the poor and destitute. This New Pompeii is popularly known as the City of Charity and the City of Mary. There was an orphanage for girls, another for boys and one for homeless children of parents detained in prison. The unique city included a large printing press operated by orphaned boys, a school of typography, a hospital, gymnasium, music school, vocational school, post-office, railroad station and housing for a large number of employees. Bartolo also founded a congregation of Dominican Sisters, the Daughters of the Rosary, to provide for the education of orphan girls. He engaged the Christian Brothers also for the training of the boys.

Enemies of the foundation were not lacking. Denunciation from anticlericals and false accusations from within prompted Pope Saint Pius X to ask the humble tertiary to surrender the ownership and administration of the entire property to the Holy See for the good of the City of Mary, and in 1906 he did just that. Bartolo handed it over to the papacy. It was a crushing humiliation which he bore with heroic resignation. It was a last purification, a crucifixion after fifty years of sweat, prayers and tears in the service of his beloved Rosary Queen.

Five Popes (Leo XIII, St. Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI & Pius XII) have praised the majestic basilica which, like Lourdes and Fatima, is a principal shrine of the Queen of the Rosary. Pope Leo XIII elevated the shrine to the rank of a pontifical basilica.

Countess Marianna passed to her eternal reward in 1924 after devoting her life and wealth to the great shrine which she had helped to found. The soil on which the City arose was her personal property. Her husband survived her by two years during which time he remained in the City of Mary as a simple employee shorn of authority. In 1925, he was made a Knight of the Guard Cross of the Holy Sepulcher . On October 5, 1926, in the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary, Bartolo Longo died at the age of eighty-five holding in his right hand a crucifix and in his left hand the rosary, that had slipped through his fingers over and over again in unceasing prayer which provided him the graces to accomplish so much in honor of the Queen of the Holy Rosary.

In his last will and testament he declared among other things: ” I wish to die a true Dominican Tertiary in the arms of the Queen of the Rosary with the assistance of my holy father St. Dominic and of my mother St. Catherine of Siena.”

This holy layman, so dear to Mary, left posterity of ceaseless prayer, generous self-giving and immense dedication for the salvation of souls. He has inspired millions of souls to hold on to the Queen of Mary and that the greatest sinner, even one who gave himself to the devil, can one day be a great saint. He achieved in the valley of Pompeii what St. Dominic achieved in the Midi (the Midi was a warren of small fortified places, as well as home to some of the most magnificent defended cities – such as Toulouse, Carcassonne and Narbonne). He proved that the rosary is an effective means of bringing men back to Christ by raising their minds and hearts to the contemplation of the dogmatic truths enshrined in Our Lady’s Psalter. It is our forgetfulness of Christ and the way of life He established for us that causes the ills of society. His rosary apostolate, like that of St. Louis de Montfort and Blessed Alan de la Roche, proved to his age, as it does to ours, that the rosary is a way of life, a sensible and successful method of applying Christian principles to everyday practice. A totally dedicated Dominican tertiary, Bartolo Longo, was a shining knight of the Mother of God under whose loving gaze he experienced the joy of conversion, the agony of crucifixion and the glory of seeing the miracles that were done by God through his simple fiat in doing the work of the Lord and of His Immaculate Mother.