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Published: Sunday, 30th August 2009
There are two cities of Pompei, near Naples in Southern Italy. One of these is known as the “City of Death,” and the other is known as the “City of Life.” The first of these was a large Roman city which was destroyed on the 24th of August in 79 A.D., when Mount Vesuvius erupted; its pyroclastic flow covered the city within minutes with its mix of extreme heat and deadly gases. Herculaneum and Stabiae, which joined Pompei, were also destroyed. Within a short time all whom had stayed in Pompei were killed, a few had managed to get away and were able to tell the story of horror as nature rebelled against them. Most people would have heard of the type of lifestyle that was lived in this “city of sin” as the murals on the walls testify.
These cities remained hidden beneath tons of ash and rock for the next 1,700 years, undisturbed, but ready to give up their secrets to modern man. In the 16th century, two letters from that period came to light which describe the events, which lasted 19 hours, and which consisted of pure terror and fear. They also describe how the people of Pompei thought it was the end of the world, and that they were doomed to die. There had been a series of violent earthquakes in the preceding years before the eruption. However, as we know from the letters which tell us that, at the time of the eruption, a man known as Pliny the Younger (a roman soldier) was staying at the home of his uncle, Pliny the Elder. The older Pliny set out for the heart of Pompei at the first signs of the volcano’s stirring, to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event. He did not survive; however, his nephew who remained behind with his mother did live, as they lived on the north of the city, from where it was easy to escape. Pliny the Younger’s letters to his friend Tacitus, a Roman historian, recounts the events of that terrifying day. This is the only known eyewitness account of the 
eruption; Pliny describes how at about 2pm on the 24th of August, daylight faded and it started to go dark. People wondered at what was happening, and where the daylight went to, and why had all the birds vanished; it seemed like nature was totally still and silent. In looking up toward Vesuvius they saw a huge cloud of dark ash ascend toward the skies. People were very worried and many began to leave almost immediately fearing the worst. Those who could go went straight away, but the elderly and some children were left behind. There was chaos on the streets as whole hoards of people were leaving to the north of the city, men, women and children, and in some cases their animals, and running as fast as they could. Within a short time, perhaps an hour or so, the cloud had descended on Pompei turning it into total darkness, followed by roars of thunder and lightning and raining down hot ash on people, houses and all over the place all the time. It became impossible to see or to breathe, and children began to scream for their mothers, and for their loved ones. Then there came a general air of despair, as people shouted to their gods to save them, but alas, nothing could be done, and they all perished, as we now know from the history of Pompei that is unfolding with it continued excavations.
Pompei has become one of the best known archaeological sites in the world today and its fame comes not so much by its dramatic destruction but by its remarkable preservation. As Pliny stated in his letter, the cloud had ascended almost 12 miles high and it was the ash from this cloud, once it cooled, that descended upon Pompei, preserving it almost intact under 15 feet of hard ash. It came to light again in 1748 when King Carlos III of Spain commissioned an engineer to find antiquities for his new palace. Workmen carted out acres of lapilli, and finally the streets, the frescoes, the mosaics, and even the skeletons of a once-vibrant city were picked open. Parts of ancient Pompei – buried, protected, and preserved for nearly 17 centuries – had finally been cleared and revealed. One can now walk down the original streets and see the houses, amphitheatres, baths and parks. The ruins showed that the Romans were sophisticated enough to have hot and cold running water in this city of 25,000 people, and that they had an efficient sewage system, running water and even hosted weekly community events.
The New Pompei, City of Life, City of Love.
The New City came about through the vision of one man, who was totally devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, not initially, but eventually, and he became a Saint. Bartolo Longo was born on February 10th in 1841 in the town of Latiano near Brindisi. His father was a medical doctor, so his family were reasonably well to do in general, and both of his parents were devout Catholics. Like most children he was taught how to pray the rosary with his family, and to attend mass every Sunday and holy day. By the time Bartolo was 10 years old his mother died and he gradually drifted away from his faith, so that by the time he was 17 he had lost the faith entirely. He was able to attend the university in Naples the following year but soon was attracted to the wrong crowd of students and teachers who were evil to the core. He joined a satanic cult that was involved in attacking the Church, the sacraments, Our Blessed Lady, and Catholic clergy in particular. He carried on in this depraved way of life for a number of years, eventually being so called “ordained” as a satanic minister.
In the following years however, Bartolo Longo’s life became one of depression, nervousness and confusion. He could not sleep at night, and even had many diabolical visions of hell and the
souls of the damned, which totally terrified him. He became ill and began to try other things, like extreme fasting and self abuse in its many and diverse forms, to try to get these terrible things out of his mind. He discovered that he could not do it alone, he needed help, ideally from a friend and if that did not work, then he would have to admit himself to hospital. He decided to turn to a friend as his best choice, but it would have to be someone from his home town.
He turned to a childhood friend called Vincenzo Pepe, who was now a philosopher who was teaching at the local university, and asked for his help and guidance. Pepe managed to convince him to abandon Satanism immediately, and to come back to the Church, and to start praying. Bartolo confided to his friend that he heard the voice of his father who was deceased, talking to him in his heart, begging him to return to God before it was too late. Professor Pepe was shocked to see Bartolo’s appearance and asked him “Do you want to die in an insane asylum and be damned forever?” Pepe managed to convince him to listen to his advice, and to bring him to a Dominican priest by the name of Father Alberto Radente O.P. In the course of time, and after much soul searching, Bartolo decided it was time to make a good confession and to ask God in a most profound way to forgive him for all his sins. The confession lasted some 4 hours, but when he walked out of the confessional, he seemed like a new man with the weight of his sins lifted off his shoulders. Father Alberto offered to guide him as his spiritual director, and enlisted him on a course in theology which included the writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and in particular devotion to Our Blessed Lady. Father Alberto stressed the need of all of us to pray the rosary daily and to reflect on the 15 promises made by Our Lady to those who recite the Rosary with devotion.
Bartolo continued his studies with zeal and developed a great devotion not only to the Holy Rosary but to frequent confession. Some years later, on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25th 1871, he was professed into the Third Order of Saint Dominic and given the name Brother Rosario.
Now armed with his faith and his absolute devotion to Our Lady and particularly to the Holy Rosary, Bartolo went out to complete his break with Satanism by denouncing the séances that took place in the University of Naples. He held up a medal of Our Lady and told the students that Satanism was a maze of errors and lies. That it was the ultimate evil that everyone should keep away from. He went to student parties, cafes and to individual students and proclaimed the power of the Rosary and the power of the love of God.
The Catholic Church was at that time being suppressed and ridiculed by society in general, but Bartolo realised that there is a special power in proclaiming the truth, and that it was the right thing for him to do. He finally found a “mission” which everyone would love to have. He considered becoming a priest but was discouraged by his spiritual director. He was able to make a Marian retreat to learn more about Our Lady and her “Fiat” to God, which implied Her total Love of God and Her total focus on God. He then decided to take a vow of perpetual chastity and to devote himself unreservedly to God and to Our Lady, stating that “I place myself, my God, in your hands; as a son I abandon myself to your fatherly embrace; roll and roll again in this mud, it has nothing to say; it is enough that it serve your designs and not resist your will for which I was made. Ask, command, prohibit! What do you wish that I do or that I not do? Lifted up, knocked down, suffering, dedicated to your works by sacrificing my will to yours, I can only say, as did Mary: Behold I am your servant O Lord, let it be done to me according to your Word.”
Father Alberto told Bartolo that he needed to make reparation to God somehow, and to try to repair the damage he had done to others as a satanist. Bartolo decided that he should also do the works of mercy that some others in the Dominican Third Order did, and which he had joined earlier. He began to care for the poor and the sick and the needy. He was amazed at the everyday poverty of people and wondered how they survived. One such member of this group was the Countess Mariana di Fusco. She had accidentally discovered that Bartolo Longo was an 
accomplished lawyer, and enjoyed a good reputation. The Countess asked Bartolo to undertake to do some legal work for her, which he willingly agreed to. Part of that work was collecting rents from farmers on a vast tract of land that she owned near the old city of Pompei. Bartolo was able to undertake this type of work and set off to see her estate and to collect the rents which were outstanding. But what he saw when he arrived changed his life forever. He was totally shocked and filled with pity when he saw how people were living in abject squalor. He noted their sublime ignorance, their lack of faith, their dependence on superstition, and their poverty was total in every sense of the word. People and animals slept together in ramshackle, filthy places.
This sight shook Bartolo and he began to look at himself and wonder what he was doing; he later wrote that “despite my repentance, I thought; I am still consecrated to Satan and I am his slave and property as he awaits me in Hell. As I pondered over my condition, I experienced a deep sense of despair and almost committed suicide. Then I heard an echo in my ear, of the voice of Father Alberto repeating the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary ‘One who propagates my Rosary will be saved.’ (Taken from the fifteen promises of Mary to Christians who recite the Rosary). These words brought an illumination to my soul. 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’ At that precise moment the little bell of the parish church rang out, inviting the people to pray the Angelus. This was like a signature to my firm decision.” He was later to ask “What is my vocation? To write about Mary, to have Mary praised, to have Mary loved.”
Now empowered with his “Special Mission” to promote Our Lady and the Rosary, Bartolo lost no time in getting started. He made frequent trips to the Valley of Pompei where the farmers lived, he also organised a yearly festival of the Rosary. He then invited priests to give missions to the poor, and to speak about devotion to the Holy Rosary in particular. He restored an old church in 1873 with such ease that he thought that he really should be building not only a very big church, but an entire “New City”, that would be a City of Mary, A City of the Rosary, a City of Life.
Bartolo obtained an old painting of Our Lady of the Rosary from a convent in Naples in 1875 and used it every time he said a public Rosary in the restored church. Miracles began to be reported and more and more people began flocking to the church, many more having to stand outside as there was no room inside. The Bishop of Nola, who had responsibility for Pompei, asked Bartolo to build a bigger church, to the delight of Bartolo who saw this as further confirmation of his mission to propagate the Rosary. Bartolo drew up plans and models of the new church which were so impressive and on par with some of the basilicas that are found in Rome. He was quickly invited to Rome where he presented his models to Pope Leo XIII who was more than impressed with what he saw. In the course of his conversations with Bartolo, it became clear that the Countess Mariana di Fusco was an important figure in Bartolo’s life and, at the suggestion of the Holy Father; Bartolo married the Countess on the 7th April 1885. They lived out their lives in a “chaste union” because Bartolo had taken a vow of chastity in reparation for his earlier sins and he was determined to get to heaven. This chaste couple did many charitable works and provided for orphaned children. He built schools, hostels, and got the Italian government to cooperate with him as did the Church authorities. By 1906 an entire New City was built and its centre-piece was the huge church built in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary. The entire property was given to the Holy See that same year. After the Countess died, Bartolo continued to promote the rosary until his death on October 5th 1926, at the age of 85.
In 1939, the church he built was given the title Basilica, and the main square in front of the church is now called Piazza Bartolo Longo. Bartolo also founded several religious groups including the Daughters of the Holy Rosary of Pompei and Dominican Tertiaries of which he
himself was a member. The life of Blessed Bartolo Longo holds many lessons for all of us. One of them is, definitely, that no one can stray so far away from the love of God that he or she cannot be brought back to that love.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei is one of the most important shrines and centres of Mariology that one finds in the Catholic Church today. It is able to organise pilgrimages, events, festivities, while running schools, hospitals, clinics and serving the poor. As Bartolo had given this property to the Holy See, the entire place is under the control of Archbishop Carlo Liberati who is the Prelate chosen by the Pope to run the entire place and to keep the same enthusiasm in promoting and propagating the Holy Rosary of Our Lady, as Bartolo Longo had.
This shrine draws some 4 million pilgrims per year from all over the world and it is worth noting that Pope John Paul II came here twice as Pope in 1979, and 2003, and Pope Benedict came here in 2008, all of course in October, month of the Holy Rosary.
On October 26th 1980 he was beatified by Pope John Paul II, the Great, who gave him the title of “Apostle of the Rosary” and the Pope mentions Bartolo specifically in his Apostolic Letter on the Rosary Rosarium Virginis Mariae.
The nearest airport is Naples and the website of the Sanctuary is www.santuario.it.
It is also possible to receive a monthly magazine in English from the shrine and to be enrolled in the Archconfraternity of the Holy Rosary of Pompei.
The 15 Promises of Our Blessed Lady to Christians who recite the Holy Rosary.
These promises were given to Saint Dominic and Blessed Alan De La Roche. 
The 15 stated promises:
This feature is categorised under Marian Shrines