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Bartolo Longo

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Bartolo Longo
Bartolo Longo
Born 10 February 1841, Latiano, Italy
Died 5 October 1926, Pompeii, Italy
State of life Layman, lawyer, and Marian apostle
Religious institute or church Lay Dominican; Pontifical Shrine of Pompeii
Ecclesial status Saint; canonized on 19 October 2025
Recognition Beatified in 1980; canonized by Pope Leo XIV

Bartolo Longo was an Italian lay Dominican, convert, Marian apostle, lawyer, and founder of the works surrounding the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii; Pope Leo XIV canonized him in 2025.

Overview

Bartolo Longo, TOSD (10 February 1841 – 5 October 1926) was an Italian lawyer and former Satanic priest[1][2] who returned to the Catholic faith and became a Dominican tertiary, dedicating his life to the rosary and the Virgin Mary. He was eventually awarded a papal knighthood of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.[3] He was canonized by Pope Leo XIV on 19 October 2025.

Life

Origins and formation

Bartolo Longo was born at Latiano on 10 February 1841 and later studied law at Naples during a period of political and religious upheaval. In student circles he became involved in spiritualism and occult practices and drifted from the sacramental life. Dominican Father Alberto Radente and other Catholic friends helped him renounce those practices, confess, and return to full ecclesial communion. His conversion was neither a license for lurid invention nor proof that every opponent of the Church is a conscious occultist. It was a concrete passage from grave error to faith, penance, and charity. Longo became a Dominican tertiary and accepted the rosary as the organizing devotion of his lay apostolate.

Vocation and ministry

While administering estates in the impoverished Pompeii valley, Longo encountered religious ignorance, exploitation, and unmet social need. He promoted catechesis and the rosary, obtained an image of Our Lady of the Rosary, and helped build the sanctuary that became the Pontifical Shrine of Pompeii. With Countess Mariana di Fusco, whom he later married in a chaste Catholic union, he established schools, orphanages, printing works, and homes for the children of prisoners. The latter work challenged the deterministic belief that criminality was inherited. Longo used law, publishing, fundraising, architecture, and administration as instruments of evangelization, then eventually transferred the sanctuary and works to the Holy See.

Christian witness and legacy

Spirituality

Longo's spirituality joined repentance, confidence in divine mercy, Marian devotion, the rosary, Eucharistic life, and service to families burdened by imprisonment. His conversion should not be flattened into the slogan that a former 'Satanist priest' became a saint; the historical evidence supports involvement in spiritualism and anti-clerical occult currents, while sensational details vary. The decisive Catholic claim is that sacramental reconciliation and grace can transform a life. His Marian piety remains Christocentric: the rosary contemplates the mysteries of Christ with Mary and leads to works of mercy. His marriage also belongs to the account and should not be treated as an embarrassment within a lay vocation.

Work and historical significance

The Shrine of Pompeii, the Supplication to the Queen of the Holy Rosary, schools, printing apostolate, orphanages, and homes for prisoners' children form Longo's principal legacy. His mass communications anticipated modern Catholic use of newspapers and popular publications, while the social institutions embodied a rejection of inherited stigma. It should distinguish Longo's own writing from prayers adapted after his death and explain the canonical status of a pontifical shrine. The enduring institution is evidence of apostolic fruit, not by itself the ground of canonization.

Cause and veneration

Recognition and present status

Pope Saint John Paul II beatified Bartolo Longo on 26 October 1980, presenting him as an apostle of the rosary. After the further process required by canon law, Pope Leo XIV canonized him in Saint Peter's Square on 19 October 2025. His current status is Saint Bartolo Longo. The successive titles Servant of God, Venerable, and Blessed described earlier procedural stages and should not remain in a current status plate. Canonization authorizes his public veneration and confidently invokes his intercession, while historical claims about occult rites or individual favors remain subject to the evidence proper to each claim.[4]

Liturgical and devotional scope

Saint Bartolo Longo may be publicly venerated throughout the Catholic Church. His dies natalis is 5 October, and proper calendars connected with Pompeii and the Dominican family determine approved liturgical celebration; canonization does not automatically make the date a universal obligatory memorial. His public cult is especially associated with the Shrine of Pompeii, the rosary, conversion, publishing, and care for prisoners' families. Exact portraits and authenticated relics are appropriate. Devotion must not become superstition: novenas and the Supplication are prayer directed to God with Mary's intercession, not mechanisms that compel a result, and pastoral presentation should not exploit fear of the occult.[5][6]

Early life

Bartolo Longo was born into a wealthy family on 10 February 1841, in the small town of Latiano, near Brindisi, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.[7] His parents were devout Catholics. In 1851, Longo's father died, and his mother remarried a lawyer. Despite Longo's stepfather wanting him to study in order to become a teacher, Longo was set on becoming a lawyer. In 1861, Longo succeeded in convincing his stepfather and was sent to the University of Naples to study law.[8]

In the 1860s, the Catholic Church in Italy found itself at odds with the strong nationalistic movement that inspired the cause for Risorgimento. General Giuseppe Garibaldi, who played a key role in Italian unification, saw the papacy as an antagonist to Italian nationalism and actively campaigned for the elimination of the papal office altogether.[9] The Church in Europe was also competing with the growing popularity of Spiritualism and Occultism.[10] Because of this, many students at the University of Naples took part in public demonstrations against the pope, believed in witchcraft, and consulted Neapolitan mediums.[10][11] According to Longo, after some study and several spiritual experiences, he was ordained as a Satanic priest.[12][1]

Conversion to Catholicism

Over the next year, Longo apparently suffered, "with a body reduced to skin and bones, two possessed eyes, frazzled nerves, a devilish beard, and a stomach ailment doomed to accompany him for the rest of his life. … He felt an ominous presence at his side, a being that he referred to as his 'angel' … [a] dark companion."[13] His life became one of "depression, nervousness, and confusion".[12] One of his professors, Vincenzo Pepe, recognized the dramatic change in Longo's behaviour. The Dominican friar Alberto Radente and the religious sister Caterina Volpicelli also befriended Longo and introduced him to devotion to the Virgin Mary and the rosary. With their aid, Longo chose to abandon Satanism and return to the Catholic Church. He reportedly visited a séance and held up a rosary, declaring: "I renounce spiritualism because it is nothing but a maze of error and falsehood."[14]

On 7 October 1871, Longo became a Dominican tertiary and took the name Rosario. He also came to know some Franciscan friars with whom he helped the poor and incurably ill. Bartolo also kept up his law practice. He went to the village of Pompei[11] to take care of the affairs of a friend, Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco.[7]

In Pompei, Longo later recounted, he was shocked at the erosion of the people's faith. He wrote: "Their religion was a mixture of superstition and popular tradition. [...] For their every need, [...] they would go to a witch, a sorceress, in order to obtain charms and witchcraft." Through talking to the citizens, Bartolo came to recognize their severe lack of catechesis. When he asked one man if there was only one God, the fellow answered: "When I was a child, I remember people telling me there were three. Now, after so many years, I don't know if one of them is dead or if one has married."[11]

Longo was deeply troubled by the confused beliefs of the people he encountered at Pompeii. He was so depressed that he even struggled with suicidal thoughts, reminiscent of his time as a satanic. However, he remembered the Blessed Virgin's promise to Saint Dominic: "He who propagates my rosary will be saved". This promise convinced him to encourage public devotion to the rosary as a means of leading the people back to God.[15]

Shrine of Our Lady of Pompei

With the help of Countess Mariana di Fusco, he inaugurated a confraternity of the Rosary and, in October 1873, started restoring a dilapidated church. He sponsored a festival in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary.

In 1875, Longo obtained as a gift a painting portraying Our Lady of the Rosary, with Ss. Dominic and Catherine of Siena. M. Concetta de Litala, a nun of the Monastery of the Rosary at Porta Medina, had been holding it for the Dominican priest Alberto Radente. Radente had acquired it from a junk-shop dealer in Naples for a very small sum. The painting was in bad condition, and Longo wrote of his immediate distaste for the poor artistic quality when he first saw it. However, he accepted the gift to conserve funds and not to insult Concetta. Longo raised funds to restore the image and placed it in the church in an effort to encourage pilgrimages.[16][17]

Alleged miracles began to be reported, and people began flocking in droves to the church. Longo was encouraged by the Bishop of Nola to begin the construction of a larger church, the cornerstone being laid on 8 May 1876. The church was consecrated in May 1891 by Cardinal La Valletta.[17] In 1939, the church was enlarged to a basilica, known today as the Shrine of the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei. Longo also wrote spiritual works, including The History of the Sanctuary of Pompei.

Later life and death

Due to their years of collaboration on these spiritual and charitable works and at the suggestion of Pope Leo XIII, Bartolo Longo and the Countess Mariana di Fusco were married on 7 April 1885. The couple, however, lived in a Josephite marriage,[18] while continuing to organize works such as schools and homes for orphans and the children of prisoners, which was considered radical at the time.[19] In 1906, they donated the entire property of the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompei to the Holy See, and Longo relinquished his authority over all his works.

Longo continued promoting the rosary until his death on 5 October 1926, at the age of 85. The piazza on which the basilica stands has since been named in memory of Longo. His body is encased in a glass reliquary, and he is wearing the mantle and regalia of a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, a papal order of knighthood.[3][20]

Legacy

Nobel Peace Prize nominations

In 1902, Longo was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for organizing a petition drive for world peace from 1896 to 1900, collecting more than four million signatures in dozens of countries.[21] His nomination was submitted to the Norwegian Nobel Committee by Pietro Chimienti, Antonio Cardarelli and 8 members of the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies.[22][23]

In 1903, he was nominated again by Vincenzo Giuseppe De Prisco and Luigi Simeoni, highlighting his involvement in social and humanitarian issues.[24][25] It was even supported by Pope Leo XIII.[24] According to Instituto "Antonio Aveta", his nominations were not considered greatly because his work was of religious motives.[26]

Canonization process

Longo's spiritual writings were approved by theologians on 1 February 1939 and 4 April 1943. His cause was formally opened on 28 February 1947, and he was given the title Servant of God.[27]

On 26 October 1980, Longo was beatified by Pope John Paul II, calling him the "Apostle of the Rosary" and mentioning him specifically in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae ("The Rosary of the Virgin Mary").[28]

On 25 February 2025, Pope Francis approved the favorable vote of the ordinary session of the Cardinals and Bishops of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints for Longo to be canonized,[29] which was done by Pope Leo XIV on 19 October 2025.[30]

Works

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Kosloski, Philip (15 October 2025). "Former satanic priest to be canonized on October 19". aleteia.org. Aleteia SAS.
  2. Back to citation "A former Satanist priest who became a Saint". dominicanfriars.org. Dominican Friars Foundation.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 "Saints of the Order – Middle Atlantic Lieutenancy". www.midatlanticeohs.com. Washington, D.C.: Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. 2023. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  4. Back to citation Canonizations celebrated on 19 October 2025 — The Dicastery's official celebration register identifies the seven Blesseds canonized by Pope Leo XIV in Saint Peter's Square on 19 October 2025 and supplies the controlling date for their present rank as Saints.
  5. Back to citation Dicastery profile of Saint Bartolo Longo — The competent dicastery traces Longo's law studies and spiritualist involvement, Catholic conversion, Dominican and Marian apostolate, sanctuary and social works at Pompeii, beatification, and canonization.
  6. Back to citation Dicastery guidance on remembering holiness — Official Dicastery guidance distinguishing Saints, Blesseds, Venerables, and Servants of God and regulating public cult, local liturgical remembrance, private devotion, images, relics, and pastoral presentation.
  7. Back to citation occurrence 7.0 Back to citation occurrence 7.1 "Our Lady of Pompeii". www.ewtn.com. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  8. Back to citation Brown, Ann M., "Apostle of the Rosary: Blessed Bartolo Longo", New Hope Publications. 2004. ISBN 1-892875-24-1
  9. Back to citation Giuseppe Guerzoni, Garibaldi: con documenti editi e inediti, Florence, 1882, Vol. 11, 485.
  10. Back to citation occurrence 10.0 Back to citation occurrence 10.1 Conan, Doyle, "The History of Spiritualism Vol II", The Book Tree Co., CA, 2007
  11. Back to citation occurrence 11.0 Back to citation occurrence 11.1 Back to citation occurrence 11.2 "The Rosary: The Devil's Defeat". Catholic Exchange. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  12. Back to citation occurrence 12.0 Back to citation occurrence 12.1 Angelo Stagnaro, "Blessed Bartolo Longo: The Ex-Satanist On the Path to Sainthood", Catholic Herald, 19 July 2011.
  13. Back to citation The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (2016). "Blessed Bartolo Longo: From Satanism to Sanctity". From the Housetops. LVII (1): 4.
  14. Back to citation Hunter-Kilmer, Meg (5 October 2017). "Satanic priest turned saint, Bartolo Longo is proof that no one is too lost to be found". aleteia.org. Aleteia SAS; Flader, John (2 June 2023). "Q and A with Fr John Flader: From Satanist to Saint?". catholicweekly.com.au. The Catholic Weekly; Stagnaro, Angelo (12 December 2016). "Blessed Bartolo Longo, the Ex-Satanist Who Was Freed Through the Rosary". ncregister.com. EWTN News, Inc; "Who was Bartolo Longo? Ex-satanic priest canonised by the Pope". english.mathrubhumi.com. Mathrubhumi. 19 October 2025.
  15. Back to citation Fr. Roger J. Landry, "From Satanist to Saint", 31 October 2008
  16. Back to citation Cruz, Joan Carroll, "Relics", 1984. p 88-89. ISBN 978-0-87973-701-6
  17. Back to citation occurrence 17.0 Back to citation occurrence 17.1 Longo, Bartolo. "History of the Sanctuary of Pompeii". 1895. p 14, 115, 226
  18. Back to citation Catholic News Agency "BLESSED BARTHOLOMEW LONGO", 5 October 2014
  19. Back to citation Auletta, Gennaro. "Il Beato Bartolomeo Longo". 1980. ISBN 978-8885291249
  20. Back to citation "Blessed Bartolo Longo: a model for the members of the Order". www.holysepulchre.va. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  21. Back to citation John L. Allen Jr. (26 August 2006). "How a Satanist became the 'Man of Mary'". National Catholic Reporter.
  22. Back to citation "Nomination archive – Bartolo Longo". nobelprize.org. 21 May 2024.
  23. Back to citation "Nominasjon til Nobels fredspris for 1902 av Bartolo Longo (Italia)". media.digitalarkivet.no.
  24. Back to citation occurrence 24.0 Back to citation occurrence 24.1 "2 Soldiers, medical doctor, former satanist closer to canonization". Aleteia. 25 February 2025.
  25. Back to citation "Nominasjon til Nobels fredspris for 1903 av Bartolo Longo (Italia)". media.digitalarkivet.no.
  26. Back to citation Luigi Leone (8 May 2004). "Bartolo Longo scrittore". Instituto "Antonio Aveta".
  27. Back to citation Index ac status causarum beatificationis servorum dei et canonizationis beatorum (in Latin). Typis polyglottis vaticanis. January 1953. p. 31.
  28. Back to citation Pope John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae
  29. Back to citation "Pope Francis paves the way for new saints". Vatican News. 25 February 2025.
  30. Back to citation "Pope Leo XIV canonizes 7 new saints, including first from Venezuela and Papua New Guinea". Catholic News Agency. 19 October 2025. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
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