IS POMPEI FAMOUS FOR THE VESUVIUS ???

“Vesuvius is the only active volcano in mainland Europe, and has produced some of the continent's largest volcanic eruptions. It overlooks the Bay and City of Naples and sits in the crater of the ancient Somma volcano. Vesuvius is most famous for the 79 A.D. eruption which destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

So runs an advert aimed at catching the attention of tourists to visit Naples. Pompeii ending with a double ‘ii’, was a Roman city and together with Herculaneum, were completely destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius. To add insult to injury in 1659, when the city of Pompei seemed to be taking a new life, it was struck with “malaria”. Very few inhabitants escaped this epidemy.

Let’s leave Pompei aside for the time being. In 1841 a baby boy was born to an upper class couple, the father being a doctor and the mother a fervent Catholic. Bartolo, the baby, grew up as a lively and spirited boy. In his teenage days he contacted an ‘occult’ medium. But this was one solitary occasion. For a time he used to take part in anti-Catholic demonstrations. The demonic ‘spirit’, to whom Bartolo submitted his entire life, caused his health and sanity to decline under the spirit’s influence.

But the flame of ‘faith’ in Bartolo was not dead. Doing voluntary work in a hospital for the incurable, he discovered through the ill patients the true love of God. In 1872 Bartolo was on a business trip to Pompei, and that trip was God-send. As he himself declared: ‘Providence took me by the hand, as one would guide the blind and children.’ One day he felt someone whispering in his ears: ‘If you want to save yourself, be a devotee of the Holy Rosary.’

He started raising funds to build anew the abandoned church of Pompei. He managed to obtain an old painting of Our Lady of the Rosary (now better known as ‘Our Lady of Pompei’), but the way ahead was so difficult … until one day. One day, through the intercession of Our Lady, things changed completely.

A young girl, called Fortuna Allegri, from Naples, had for long years suffered from an incurable disease, notwithstanding the visits to many doctors. Fortuna prayed to Our Lady of the Rosary, and on the 16^th February of 1884, Fortuna, together with her family started a novena of Rosary. Our Lady appeared to her and told Fortuna that her Son was pleased with the girl, as she had addressed His Mother as the Queen of the Holy Rosary. She was completely cured from her illness.

The result was that Bartolo’s work was deeply appreciated, not by God alone but by all the inhabitants of Pompei. The great Basilica, still existing to this day, is the work of Bartolo Longo as a homage to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Saint John Paul II beatified Bartolo and hailed him as “The Man of the Rosary” or better still “The Apostle of the Rosary”. THIS is the reason why, today Pompei is ‘famous’.