LONGO, BARTOLO, BL.

Also known as the "Man of Mary" and "Brother Rosario," Dominican tertiary, founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, and of the Daughters of Saint Rosario of Pompeii; b. Feb. 11, 1841, Latiano, Apulia, southern Italy; d. Oct. 5, 1926, Pompeii, Italy.

Son of a prosperous physician named Bartolomeo Longo and his wife, Antonietta Luparelli, Bartolo Longo received a good education from the Piarists at Francavilla Fontana and Lecce, then studied law at the University of Naples, where he received his degree in 1864. During his university years, Bartolo was influenced by the anticlericalism of the time and involved himself in popular occult spiritism. After a severe depression, Dominican Father Alberto Radente led him to conversion on May 29, 1865. Thereafter he devoted himself to charitable works. Bartolo became a Dominican Tertiary with the name Brother Rosario March 25, 1871.

In 1872, Longo went to Pompeii valley on business for the Countess Marianna Farnararo de Fusco (Feb. 9,1924), whom he married in 1885. Observing the despair and lack of faith in the region and recalling Father Alberto's devotion to the rosary, Bartolo decided to encourage it there, while continuing his works of mercy and teaching the catechism. With much difficulty he established a Confraternity of the Holy Rosary and sought to build a shrine of the Blessed Mother. After several unsuccessful attempts to raise funds, he took up Bishop Formisano of Nola's suggestion to collect a "soldo" (penny) a month from each of 300 donors. The cornerstone was laid in 1876. Fortuna Agrelli provided a major contribution after her miraculous healing in 1884, which led to the consecration of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary May 7,1891. Pope Pius X raised it to the status of a pontifical basilica in 1894. About 1900, Bartolo was falsely accused of financial mismanagement, but he was later cleared of the charge.

Longo promoted a unique "Rosary of the Fifteen Saturdays" and 54-day Novena Rosary of Our Lady of Pompeii. He also advocated the definition of the Assumption of Mary as dogma and founded the Dominican Daughters of Saint Rosario. He and his wife built an orphanage for girls in 1887, hospices for the children of prisoners in 1892 and 1922, a typesetting workshop and printing press to publish pamphlets, a hospital, music school, and two houses for Dominican tertiaries near the shrine. Other charities have grown up in the "City of Mary" around the shrine where hundreds of miraculous cures are alleged to have occurred. Before his death, Bartolo also wrote The Fifteen Saturdays, Petition (1883), and began the magazine The Rosary and the New Pompeii (founded 1884). His mortal remains now rest in the basilica of Pompeii under the throne of Our Lady's shrine (1983).

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on Oct. 26, 1980.

Feast: Oct. 6 (Dominicans).

Bibliography: Bartolo Longo e il suo tempo: atti del convegno storico promosso dalla Delegazione pontificia per il Santuario di Pompei sotto l'alto patronato del Presidente della Repubblica, ed. f. volpe. m. j. dorcy, Saint Dominic's Family (Dubuque, Iowa 1964), 580–83. p. m. frasconi, Don Barolo Longo (Alba 1941). a. illibato, L'archivio Bartolo Longo: guidainventario (Naples 1986). i. lÜthold-minder, Die Rosenkranzkönigin von Pompei und ihr Advokat Bartolo Longo (Hauteville, Switz. 1981). n. tamburro, Bartolo Longo, pioniere di civiltà: nel centenario di Pompei (2nd ed. Pompei 1975). Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1981) 529–32. L'Osservatore Romano (English edition) 44 (1980) 10–11.

[k. i. rabenstein]