Bartolo Longo was a young Italian lawyer in the 1860s who had become involved in Satanism and eve was ordained a Satanic priest.  However with the help of a Dominican friar and nun, who introduced him to devotion to the Virgin Mary and the rosary, Longo renounced his Satanism and returned to the Catholic Church.

To bring about spiritual renewal, Bartolo Longo encouraged public devotion to the rosary as a means of leading the people back to God.   Thus, he built the shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii.

Our current Pope Leo XIV was elected Pope on May 8, the anniversary of this very shrine, and so just visited this shrine for his anniversary.  Here is an excerpt from Pope Leo’s homily there:

“One hundred and fifty years ago, by laying the foundation stone of this Shrine, on the site where the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD had buried the signs of a great civilization under ash, preserving them for centuries, Saint Bartolo Longo, together with his wife Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco, laid the foundations not only of a temple, but of an entire Marian city…Saint John Paul II, speaking in this place of grace on 7 October 2003,  said, ‘Today as in the times of ancient Pompeii, it is vital to proclaim Christ to a society that is drifting away from Christian values and even forgetting about them’.

Exactly one year ago, when I was entrusted with the ministry of the Successor of Peter, it was precisely the day of the Supplication to the Virgin, this beautiful day of the Supplication to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii! So, I had to come here, to place my service under the protection of the Holy Virgin. My choice of the name Leo places me in the footsteps of Leo XIII, who, among his other merits, also developed an extensive Magisterium on the Holy Rosary. Added to all this is the recent canonization of Saint Bartolo Longo, apostle of the Rosary….

…Saint Bartolo Longo was an apostle of the Rosary and, at the same time, an apostle of charity. In this Marian city, he took in orphans and the children of prisoners, showing the regenerative strength of love. Here even the smallest and the weakest are welcomed and cared for in the Works of the Sanctuary. The Rosary directs our eyes towards the needs of the world… in particular two intentions that remain of pressing relevance: the family, which is suffering from the weakening of the marital bond, and peace, threatened by international tensions and by an economy that prioritizes the arms trade over respect for human life…

…From this Shrine, whose façade Saint Bartolo Longo conceived as a monument to peace, we faithfully raise our supplication today. Jesus told us that prayer offered in faith can obtain anything (cf. Mt 21:22). Through [Mary’s] intercession, may the God of peace pour out an overflowing abundance of mercy, touching hearts, soothing grudges and fratricidal hatred, and enlightening those who bear the special responsibilities of governance.”

Peace,

-Fr. Kevin