STORY BEHIND THE TITLE: OUR LADY OF POMPEII

Feast Day - May 8

By the last half of the nineteenth century the Valley of Pompeii, near Naples, was practically deserted. Of the comparatively few people who still lived there, most had lost their ancient Catholic faith; ignorance and superstition prevailed. Only a handful of people bothered to attend the services in the little parish chapel.

In October 1872, a man named Bartolo Longo, a Satanic high Priest, came to Pompeii. He was the husband of the Countess of Fusco, who had some property there; and Bartolo came to see what condition these properties were in. He was raised a Catholic and was probably still one by name, although he had sold his Soul to Satan as his high Priest.

Soon after his arrival, he was walking along a somewhat desolate road when he heard a voice speaking within him. It told him that if he wished to be saved, he should propagate the devotion to the Holy Rosary and that the Blessed Virgin had promised, that was the way to find salvation.

When he started this assignment, his early efforts to make people get interested in the Rosary devotion proved abortive, but he persisted, and in about three years he had gathered quite a group around him for daily recitation of the prayers in the little chapel.

In 1875, the Bishop visited Pompeii and commended Bartolo on the good work he had done. He suggested that a church be built there in honour of Our Lady of Pompeii, and then, prophesied, pointing to a field near the chapel, declared that someday a Basilica would be built on that spot.

When devotees taking part in the daily recitation of the Rosary grew, then there was need to obtain a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to help the faithful cast their gaze, meditating as they prayed.

So, on October 13, 1875, Bartolo went to Naples to see if he could find a suitable picture, but after searching for several days, to his great disappointment, he found that any really good picture would cost around four hundred francs, and he had nowhere near that amount to spend.

He didn’t want to return empty handed, however, and disappoint the good people of Pompeii, so he somewhat reluctantly accepted a secondhand painting from a junk store for five lire. A trucker not knowing what the package contained pitched it on top of a load of garbage and so the picture arrived at the chapel. The people were pleased with the dilapidated picture and enshrined it. Almost immediately several miracles took place through Mary’s intercession as Our Lady of Pompeii.

In 1876-1891 a church was built and in 1934-1939, ordered by Pope Pius XI, a new Basilica was erected.