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Photograph of Saint Bartolo Longo
(Credit : en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

While there is now a lasting presence of the Saint in Pompeii, Bartolo Longo was not always a strong example of the Catholic faith. He lived during the late 19th century when the Church was fighting to combat the growing popularity of the occult.

Early life

Born into a devout Catholic family on 10 February 1841, Longo fell away from the faith while studying law in Naples. He began to visit some of the cityʼs infamous mediums who introduced him into the occult. His interest in the supernatural led him into Satanism and he began to preside over Satanic services, preaching blasphemously against God and the Church.

Simultaneously, Longo was struggling with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. A university professor, Vincenzo Pepe, urged him to abandon Satanism and introduced him to his future confessor, Dominican Father Alberto Radente.

Conversion to Catholicism

With guidance from Radente and others, Longo repented and returned to the Church but still couldn’t forgive himself or see how God could ever forgive him.

One day in Pompeii Longo despaired over his past with Satanism, but God helped him to see how he could be saved and how he could save others.

“I heard an echo in my ear of the voice of Friar Alberto repeating the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary: ‘One who propagates my rosary shall be saved,’” Longo wrote.

“Falling to my knees, I exclaimed: ‘If your words are true that he who propagates your rosary will be saved, I shall reach salvation because I shall not leave this earth without propagating your rosary,'” he wrote.

From then on he helped others “not just in their physical poverty but also in deep spiritual poverty” by “promoting the rosary".

He extended himself to care for the most vulnerable in his own city, and he put his professional skill set to work for the good of the poor — being a lawyer by trade and offering free legal services to the poor who were being taken advantage of.

A Life of Charity

Longo devoted himself to works of charity by starting orphanages and institutions for children of prisoners.

Longo became a Third Order Dominican and would return to the exact places he once participated in occult activities. There, with a rosary in his hand, he would encourage those present to reject their ways and turn to the Blessed Mother for protection.

Shrine of Our Lady of Pompei

With the help of Countess Mariana di Fusco, Longo 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. The painting was in bad condition. However, he accepted the gift to conserve funds. Longo raised funds to restore the image and placed it in the church in an effort to encourage pilgrimages.

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. 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, while continuing to organize works such as schools and homes for orphans and the children of prisoners, which was considered radical at the time. 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.

Legacy and Veneration

Longo's spiritual writings were approved by theologians in 1939. His cause was formally opened on 28 February 1947, and he was given the title Servant of God. On 26 October 1980, Longo was beatified by Pope John Paul II.

Longo's love for the rosary and the Blessed Mother not only led to the establishment of Marian shrines and lasting devotions but also served as inspiration for Pope John Paul II’s addition of the luminous mysteries to the rosary. “As a true apostle of the rosary, Blessed Bartolo Longo had a special charism,” St. John Paul wrote in his 2002 apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae proposing the new mysteries.

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, which was done by Pope Leo XIV on 19 October 2025.

Watch EWTN's video : The Apostle of the Rosary: Celebrating 150 Years of Blessed Bartolo Longo, the Ex-Satan Priest (published in 2023). 

Article by Catholic Time Staff

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