Why The Church Is Canonising an Ex-Satanist?

There’s one common misconception about saints…

That they lived perfect lives.


Many people imagine saints as holy from birth, never stumbling, never struggling, and living out in the woods peacefully with Bambi. Other than the Blessed Virgin Mary, that couldn’t be further from reality.


Some of the greatest saints were once the greatest sinners.
-St Paul authorised the stoning of St Stephen
-St Augustine was a heretic addicted to fornication
-St Francis de Sales was a Calvinist with anger issues

What makes a saint isn’t perfection from the start. It’s the turn. It’s throwing yourself completely into the mercy of God.

And there may be no greater example of that than… Blessed Bartolo Longo.

 

An Ex-Satanist?!


Yes. Bartolo Longo was an actual priest of Satan.
In 19th-century Italy, Catholicism was under siege. Anti-Catholic revolutions raged on one side, while superstition and occultism spread on the other.
At the University, Bartolo was one of those students who was swayed.

He abandoned his childhood faith for spiritualism. After having a few spiritual experiences, he became more intense and was ordained as a full-blown priest of Satan.

Bartolo’s obsession was so serious that he would even be demonically possessed, depressed and in a state of anxious confusion.

He was a wreck. 

But in Bartolo’s moment of necessity, God did not abandon him. He abandons no one.

It was exactly in this time of desolation that he came to his rescue.


A Dangerous Weapon (against Satan)

In his lowest state, Bartolo encountered a Dominican friar and nun.

The Dominicans are a religious group founded by St Dominic, who was allegedly given the first Rosary by Mary. It is no wonder then that these people introduced Bartolo to this great prayer.
As he kept praying the Rosary, his life got visibly better and he grew further apart from Satanism until one day…
holding a rosary in his hands, he proudly denounced Satanism as a “maze of errors and falsehoods”.
From this point on, he would have a deep devotion for the Blessed Virgin Mary and reclaim his Catholic Faith. Bartolo would even join this religious group, the Dominicans, as a lay person and take the name ‘Rosary’.


Saving Pompeii

Today, Pompeii is a famous city.
Historically, it was the place next to Mt Vesuvius, which in 79AD was covered in ash and consumed.
Yet, when Bartolo went to Pompeii to visit a friend, what he discovered was more like a wasteland than a spiritual paradise.
In Pompeii, the witchcraft and demonic practices that he had abandoned were common. Instead of turning to God for their problems, they would turn to demonic witchcraft. And, people were so poorly educated that they would think that there were three Gods.
Being in this type of environment crushed Bartolo deeply.
Pompeii wasn’t saved the first time historically. But Bartolo wanted to save it the second time, spiritually. And there seemed no better way than through the method that saved him, the Rosary.
With the help of his friend, Countess Mariana, he made the confraternity of the Rosary to spread devotion to this prayer. He restored Churches and encouraged people to attend them. He restored an image of Our Lady of the Rosary handing St Dominic the beads.
It is in this Church that a miracle was alleged to have happened. And with that, the flocks of pilgrims swarmed.

Bartolo’s Church was so popular and important that it eventually became an entire Basilica.

This spiritual wasteland would, through Bartolo’s help, become a place where religious people would actually want to go to.

Slowly, it became a play where people prayed the Rosary.


A Life of Charity

Throughout Bartolo’s life, he not only prayed but acted. He especially cared for children.

Orphans and prisoners of war he spent his time trying to help. His work was so recognised that they recognised his efforts and nominated him twice for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Bartolo’s life was not like the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was a grave sinner.

Instead, it was a life dedicated to loving Christ through Mary, the Mother of Mercy.

Many saints have been strengthened through this prayer. Padre Pio, St Cecilia, Pope Pius V. Mary was their refuge and can be ours too.

That’s why Fr. Donald Calloway’s book Champions of the Rosary tells Bartolo’s story alongside many others: saints, mystics, and ordinary Catholics transformed through this powerful prayer.

Reading their stories can do more than inspire you. It can change the way you pray, and the way you live.

As St John Bosco once said: “Only God knows the good that can come from reading one good Catholic book.”

Maybe today is your chance to find out.

You can get your hands on a copy of Champions of the Rosary here and deepen your devotion to Mary.

It’s my prayer that the Rosary changes more lives like it did for Blessed Bartolo.

God Bless.

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