Pope Approves Miracle of Apostle of Rosary

Despite being stricken by health issues, Pope Francis made time to help holy men and women move one step closer to sainthood.

On Monday, Pope Francis approved a decree that Blessed Bartolo Longo be canonized a saint in the church. His canonization date will be determined later.

Longo, who was a Satanist, credits the Blessed Mother for saving him. Fr. Donald Calloway recalls in his book Champions of the Rosary, “After having suffered from nightmares, hallucinations, depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts, he talked to a Dominican priest and had a profound conversion.”

Ever since the encounter with Mary, he longed to spread her devotion to the holy rosary. He organized rosary groups around a shrine he established in his neighborhood church around a picture of Mary called Our Lady of the Rosary. The shrine grew and became a basilica in 1901, attracting thousands of pilgrims daily, and still does today. Today, that shrine, which is now the Pontifical Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, is located in Pompeii, Italy.

During his beatification, St. John Paul the Great summarizes Longo’s steadfast devotion to the rosary by saying, “Rosary in hand, Blessed Bartolo Longo says to each of us: "Awaken your confidence in the Most Blessed Virgin of the Rosary. Venerable Holy Mother, in You I rest all my troubles, all my trust and all my hope.”

Blessed Bartolo Longo, Apostle of the Rosary, pray for us