When Pope Leo XIV visits Pompeii, Italy, on May 8, a one-day visit will highlight the legacy of St. Bartolo Longo, whose dramatic conversion, influential writings and preaching of fifteen Saturdays of the Most Holy Rosary devotion left a lasting impression on the city.
Before the Pope’s visit, find what’s aboveAn initiative “encouraging people to lift their minds and hearts to God” has released a new version of fifteenth saturday With the hope of reintroducing “forgotten Marian devotion”.
The Bhakti Mala is a series of 15 meditations on the mysteries taken from the writings of Longo, who promoted the prayer by publishing a book with the same title in the late 1800s.
Longo, who was canonized by Pope Leo XIV on October 19, 2025, developed a powerful devotion to the Blessed Mother after being brought back to Catholicism after living as a Satanic “priest” for several years.
After his profound conversion, Longo dedicated his life to spreading the fruits of the Rosary and was instrumental in founding the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii.
“Bartolo really popularized the devotion of the fifteen Saturdays through the shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii,” Dominican Father Joseph-Anthony Cress told EWTN News. “It began when he met an aristocratic lady who had a pamphlet translated from French that discussed the Fifteen Saturdays.”
Using the mysteries of the rosary, the devotion encourages “a 15-week spiritual journey,” explained Cress, originator of the Holy Rosary for the Province of St. Joseph. “Each Saturday you dedicate one of the 15 mysteries of the rosary, and you meditate on that mystery for the rest of the week.”
Inspired by this, Longo then expanded the original pamphlet into his book.
Crace said, “He compiled all the scriptures and quotations related to each mystery so that they could be collected in one place for everyone who prayed, to make it easier for them to enter into the mysteries holistically.”
The new edition of Seek What Is Above offers both written and image-based meditations with a series of paintings from St. Paul’s Church, a historic Dominican church in Antwerp, Belgium.
The 15-week devotional “encourages us to approach the rosary with a focus on the mysteries,” Kress said. It “encourages the reception of the Eucharist each Saturday as well as confession as a part of the structure to ensure you are spiritually prepared.”
Bartolo Longo, a one-time “anointed” Satanic priest, underwent one of the most dramatic conversions in recent church history and was declared a saint in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, October 19, 2025. | Credit: Courtney Mars/CNA
Saint Bartolo: ‘Apostle of the Rosary’
On the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii, Pope Leo will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary and the Chapel of Blessed Bartolo Longo, which houses Longo’s relics and remains. The Holy Father will also pray mass in the city’s central square – Piazza Bartolo Longo.
While the saint now has a permanent presence in Pompeii, Longo was not always a strong example of the Catholic faith. He lived in the late 19th century when the Church was fighting to combat the growing popularity of witchcraft.
Born into a devout Catholic family, Longo turned away from the faith while studying law in Naples. He began visiting some of the city’s notorious mediums who introduced him to witchcraft. His interest in the supernatural led him to Satanism and he began presiding over Satanic services, preaching blasphemous sermons against God and the Church.
Additionally, Longo struggled with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. A university professor, Vincenzo Pepe, urged him to abandon Satanism and introduced him to his future confessor, Dominican Father Alberto Redante.
With the guidance of Radente and others, Longo repented and returned to the church but still could not forgive himself or see how God could forgive him.
One day in Pompeii Longo became frustrated over his past with Satanism, but God helped him see how he could be saved and how he could save others.
“I heard in my ear the echo of Friar Alberto’s voice repeating the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary: ‘Whoever preaches my rosary will be saved,'” people wrote.
“Falling on my knees, I said: ‘If your words are true that whoever preaches your rosary will be saved, then I will reach salvation because I will not leave this earth without preaching your rosary,'” he wrote.
Since then he has helped others “not only in their physical poverty but also in their deep spiritual poverty” by “promoting the rosary,” Kress said.
“He took it upon himself to care for the most vulnerable in his city, and he put his professional skills to work for the betterment of the poor – being a lawyer by profession and providing free legal services to the poor who were being taken advantage of.”
Longo dedicated himself to works of charity by starting orphanages and institutions for the children of prisoners.
Crace said, “His conversion from the spiritualism of that time, in which he lived in witchcraft, to rejecting all that followed Christ and becoming devoted to the Mother of Christ is such a touching conversion.”
Kress said, “It really speaks to the hope that we Christians cling to, that there is never a situation, never a particular life circumstance, that takes away the hope of conversion and union with Christ.”
Longo became a Third Order Dominican and would return to the same places where he had once participated in clandestine activities. There, with a rosary in his hand, he would encourage those present to reject their ways and turn to the Blessed Mother for protection.
His love of the Rosary and the Blessed Mother not only led to the establishment of Marian shrines and enduring devotion, but also became the inspiration for Pope John Paul II to add the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary.
St. John Paul wrote in his 2002 apostolic letter, “As a true apostle of the Rosary, Blessed Bartolo Longo possessed a special charism.” Rosarium Virginis Maria Proposing new mysteries.
“Through his entire life’s work and especially through the practice of the ’15 Saturdays’, Bartolo Longo promoted the Christocentric and contemplative heart of the Rosary, and received great encouragement and support from Leo XIII, ‘Pope of the Rosary’.”
Why do fifteen Saturday devotional prayers?
Fifteen Saturdays is a unique devotion for prayer and meditation, as it is both devotional and sacred.
“Committing to fifteen Saturday devotions may seem like a huge chunk of time — it’s a few months,” Kress said. “But it shows us that the rosary itself is, in a small sense, a summary of the Gospel as it lived at one time.”
Crace said, “It is regarded as a presentation of the life of Christ and the mysteries of the Gospel, but … it also includes a consecrated life, since it includes the reception of the Eucharist, mental prayer as well as confession.”
It portrays that “our life with Christ is not just this private solitary thing we do in these interiors, but rather we join together in the public worship of the Church in the sacraments,” he said.
Cress said, “The more holy life we live promotes our mental prayer and our contemplation” and “leads us to a more worthy reception of the sacraments.”
“Then on a human level, I think it helps us live in the gift of perseverance.”
Kress added, “This isn’t just a quick fix. It requires some commitment.” “But it unfolds gradually and over time allows God’s grace to nurture and nourish our souls.”
He said, “Therefore we grow in the virtue of hope and grow in the grace of perseverance by observing devotions like the fifteen Saturdays.”
