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Bartolo Longo - from Satanist to Saint

Copyright © 2012 Bob and Penny Lord's Site

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 17Feb2010 Word count: 1019 Viewed: 955 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Let us speak of the man through which the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompei, Italy came about.

Bartolo Longo was born in Latiano (Brindisi) on February the 10th, 1841 to Dr. Bartolomeo Longo and Antonina Luparelli. 

His parents were well-to-do, which would enable 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, as a youth, 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 every thing 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 university! 

As is true in many universities, down through the ages, Bartolo was bombarded with deadly liberal, atheistic, anti-Christian heretical courses, especially in a philosophy class given by a fallen-away Priest. 

Subsequently, Bartolo fell into the 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 too began to rant and rave against the Church. 

But his heart was always seeking the Divine.  The ex-priest took away his anchor in the storm and of need, 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. 

He 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 His Church. 

God waited patiently, but not allowing him to continue harming his soul and that of others, God, through the night and day praying of his mother for his soul, allowed Bartolo to fast so severely, he dangerously jeopardized his health. 

Not only his physical health, but his mental as well.  He soon found himself sinking farther and farther 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 only 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's voice 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 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." 

God sent Bartolo a prayer warrior in Father Radente.  He prayed and fasted for his young charge.  I 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 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 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.  He 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 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 - 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." 

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