A Satanist priest saved through the Rosary

Emaciated from fasting and cloaked in a black robe, Bartolo Longo entered the satanic church in Naples, Italy … More than a century later, in 1980, Pope John Paul II — now St John Paul II — beatified Longo in front of 30,000 of the faithful, calling him an “apostle of the Rosary!”

The journey from disciple of Satan to Blessed Bartolo Longo was long, twisting and truly bizarre. Born in 1841 to a wealthy family from southern Italy, Longo was raised a devout Catholic. But a rebellious streak ran through him from a young age. When his mother died in 1851, Longo began to lose his faith, an erosion that continued as he headed off to study law at the University of Naples in 1861.

But his time as a satanist was marked by depression, extreme anxiety, insanity and delusions. He turned to an old friend who convinced him to seek spiritual guidance from a Dominican priest, Father Alberto Radente. Radente had an enormous influence on Longo. Frequent recitations of the Rosary steered Longo back to the faith. Longo became Brother Rosario, a third order Dominican. On the recommendation of Pope Leo XIII, he married a rich widow named Countess Mariana di Fusco, with whom he started a confraternity of the Rosary.

In 1876, a nun from the Monastery of the Rosary at Porta Medina offered him a depiction of Our Lady of the Rosary that he installed in his church. Soon miracles reputedly began to occur. Pilgrims flocked to what would become known as the Our Lady of the Rosary Shrine in Pompeii.

Adapted from an article by Addison Nugent, OZY Author