Venerable Brethren health and Apostolic blessing our most merciful Redeemer after he had wrought salvation for mankind on the tree of the Cross and before he ascended from out of this world to the father said to his Apostles and disciples to console them in their anxiety behold I am with you all days
Even to the consummation of the word these words then are indeed most pleasing are a cause of all hope and security and they bring venerable Brethren ready secur and whenever we look round from this Watchtower raised on high and see all human society laboring admid so many evils and
Miseries that the church herself be set with without ceasing by attacks and machinations for as the beginning of the Divine promise lifted up the despondent Spirit of the Apostles and enkindled and inflamed them so that they might cast the seeds of the Gospel teaching throughout the whole world so ever since
Has strengthen the church unto victory over the Gates of Hell In sooth our Lord Jesus Christ has been with his church in every age but he has been with her with more present Aid and protection whenever she has been assailed by Graver perils and difficulties for the remedies adapted to
The condition of time and circumstances are always supplied by Divine wisdom who reacheth from end to end mightily and ordereth all things sweetly but in this latter age also the hand of the Lord is not shortened more especially since error has crept in and has spread far and wide so that it might
Well be feared that The Fountains of Christian Life might be in a manner dried up where men are cut off from the love and knowledge of God now since it may be that some of the people do not know and others do do not heed those complaints which the most loving Jesus
Made when he manifested himself to Margaret Mary alako and these things likewise which at the same time he asked and expected of men for their own ultimate profit it is our pleasure venerable Brethren to speak to you for a little while concerning the duty of honorable satisfaction which we all owe to thee
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus with the intent that you may each of you carefully to teach your own flocks those things which we set before you and stir them up for the same in practice two among many proofs of the boundless Dignity of Our Redeemer there is one that stands out
Conspicuously to it the fact that the charity of Christian people was growing cold the divine charity itself was set forth to be honored by a special worship and the riches of its Bounty was made manifest by that form of devotion wherein worship is given the most Sacred
Heart of Jesus in whom are HID all Treasures of knowledge and wisdom Colossians 23 for as in Olden time when mankind came forth from Noah’s Arc God set his bow in the clouds Genesis 9:13 shining as the sign of a friendly Covenant so in the most turbulent times
Of a more recent age when the jansenist heresy the most crafty of them all hostile to love and piety towards God was creeping in and preaching that God was not to be loved as a father but rather to be feared as an implacable judge then the most benign Jesus showed
His own Sacred Heart to the Nations lifted up as a standard of peace and charity portending no doubtful victory in the combat and indeed our predecessor of happy memory Leo I 13th admiring the timely opportun of the Devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus said very
Aptly in his encyclical letter Anum Sak when in the days near her origin the church was oppressed under the Yoke of the Caesars the cross shown on high to the youthful Emperor was at once an omen and a cause of victory that speedily followed and here today the most
Auspicious and divine sign is offered to our sight to it the most Sacred Heart of Jesus with a cross set above it shining with all the most resplendent brightness in the midst of flames wherein Must ALL hopes be set from hence must the salvation of men be sought and
Expected three and rightly indeed is that said venerable brethren for it is not the sum of all religion and there the pattern of more perfect life contained in the most auspicious sign in the form of piety that follows in as much as it more readily leads the
Mind of men to an intimate knowledge of Christ Our Lord and the more efficaciously moves their hearts to love him more vinant and to imitate him more closely it is no wonder therefore that our predecessors have constantly defended this most approved form of devotion from the censur of c
Calumniators and have extolled it with high praise and promoted it very zealously as the needs of time and Circumstance demanded moreover by the inspiration of God’s grace it had come to pass that the pious devotion of the faithful towards the most Sacred Heart of Jesus has made great increase in the course of
Time hence pious conf fraternities to promote the worship of the Divine heart are everywhere erected hence too the custom of receiving Holy Communion on the first Friday of every month and the desire of Christ Jesus a custom that now prevails everywhere four but assuredly amongst those things which properly pertain to
The worship of the most Sacred Heart a special Place must be given to that consecration whereby we devote ourselves in all things that are ours to the Divine Heart of Jesus acknowledging that we have received all things from the Everlasting Love of God when Our Saviors had taught Margaret Mary the most
Innocent disciple of his heart how much he desire for that duty of devotion should be rendered to him by all men moved in this not So Much by his own right as his immensity immense charity for us she herself with her spiritual father clauda colier rendered it first of
All thereafter followed in the course of time individual men then private families and Association and lasty and last ly civil magistrates cities and kingdoms but since in the last century and in this present Century things have come to such a pass that the machinations of wicked men the
Sovereignity of our Christ Our Lord has been denied and war is publicly waged against the church by passing laws and promoting or by holding Assemblies of them that cry out we will not have this brain over us Luke 1914 from the afores said consecration there burst forth over them in keenest
Opposition the voice of all the clients of the most Sacred Heart as if it were one voice to vindicate his glory and to assert his rights Christ must Reign 1 Corinthians 15:25 thy kingdom come Matthew 610 and from this length it happily came to pass at the beginning of this Century
The whole human race which Christ in whom all things are reestablished possesses by native right as his own was dedicated to the most Sacred Heart with the Applause of the whole Christian World by our predecessor of happy memory Leo the 13th five now these things so un auspiciously and happily begun as we
Taught in our encyclical letter quas primas we ourselves consenting to very many long continued desires and prayers of Bishops and people brought to completion and perfected by God’s grace when at the close of the Jubilee year we instituted the Feast of Christ the King of all to be solemnly celebrated throughout the Christian
World now when we did this not only did we set in a clear light that extreme sovereignity which Christ holds over the whole universe over civil and domestic society and over individual men but at the same time we anticipated the joys of that most auspicious day whereon the
Whole world will gladly and willingly render obedience to the most sweet lordship of Christ the King for this reason we decreed at the same time that this same conversation should be renewed every year on the occasion of that appointed fesal day so that the fruit of this same consecration
Might be obtained more certainly and more abundantly and all the people might be joined together in Christian charity and the reconciliation of Peace in the heart of the king of kings and Lord of lords six but but to all these duties more especially to that fruitful consecration
Which was in a manner confirmed by sacred solemnity of Christ the King something else must needs be added and it is concerning that this is our pleasure to speak with you more length venerable Brethren on the same occasion we mean that the duty of honorable satisfaction
Of repr ation which must be rendered to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus for the first and foremost thing in consecration is this that the creature’s love should be given in return for the love of the Creator another thing follows from this at once namely to that same uncreated love if so
Be it has neglected by forgetfulness violated by by offense some sort of compensation must be rendered for injury and this debt is commonly called by the name reparation seven now though in both these manners we are impelled to quite the same motives nonetheless we are Holden to the duty of reparation and
Experation by a certain more valid title of justice of of Love indeed in order that the offense offered by God by our sins may be expirated and the violated order may be repaired by Penance and of love so too that we may suffer together with Christ suffering and filled with reproaches Lamentations
3:30 and for all our poverty may offer him some little Solace for since that we are all sinners and Laden with many faults Our God must be honored by us not only by the worship wherewith we adore his infinite Majesty with due homage or acknowledge his Supreme Dominion by
Praying or praise his boundless Bounty by Thanksgiving but besides this must need make satisfaction to God the just Avenger for our numberless sins and offenses and negligences to consecration therefore whereby we are devoted to God and are called to God by that Holiness and stability which as the Angelic doctor teaches
Is proper to consecration there must be added experation whereas sins are wholly blotted out lest the Holiness of the supreme justice May punish our Shameless unworthiness and reject our offering as hateful rather than accept it as pleasing eight moreover this duty of experation is laid upon the whole race
Of men sense as we are taught by the Christian faith after Adam’s miserable fall infected by hereditary stain subject to concubus and the most wretchedly depraved it would never have been thrust down into Eternal Eternal destruction this indeed is denied Ed by the wise men of
This age of ours who follow the ancient eror of Pelagius ascribe to human nature a certain native virtue by which of its own force it can go forward to higher things but the Apostle rejects all these false opinions of human Pride admonishing that we were by Nature children of Wrath Ephesians 23
And indeed even from the beginning men in a manner acknowledged this common debt of experation and led by a certain Natural Instinct they endeavored to appease God by public sacrifices nine but no created Power was sufficient to expiate the sins of men if the Son of God had not assumed man’s nature in
Order to redeem it indeed the savior of man himself declared by the mouth of the Sacred psalmist sacrifice and oblation thou woulds not but a body thou Hast fitted to me Holocaust for sin did not please thee and then I said behold I come Hebrews 10:57 and in very deed surely he hath
Borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our iniquities Isaiah 53 45 he has his own born self born our sins upon the tree P second Peter Peter 2:24 blotting out the handwriting of this degree that was against us which was contrary to us and as he had taken
The same out of the way fastening it to the Cross Colossians 2:14 that we being dead to sins should live to Justice 1 Peter 2:24 yet through the copious Redemption of Christ was abundantly given us all offenses Colossians 213 nevertheless because of the wondrous Divine dispensation whereby these things that
Are wanting of the sufferings of Christ are to be filled up in our flesh for his body which was the church Colossians 1:24 to the Praises and sanc and satisfactions when Christ in the name of Sinners rendered unto God we can add our praises and satisfactions indeed it behoves us to do
So but we must ever remember that the whole virtue of the experation depends on the one bloody sacrifice of Christ with which without permission of time is renewed on our altars in an unbloody manner for the victim is one and the same the same now offering by the
Ministry of priests who then offered himself on the cross the manner alone of offering being different counsel of Trent session 23 chapter 2 wherefore with this most August Eucharistic sacrifice there ought to be joined in oblation both of the ministers and all the faithful so that they may present themselves living
Sacrifices holy pleasing unto God Romans 121 nay more St Ian does not hesitate to affirm that the Lord’s sacrifice is not celebrated with legitimate sanctification unless our oblation and sacrifice correspond to his passion Ephesians 6:3 for this reason the Apostle admonishes us that bearing about in our body the mortification of
Jesus 2 Corinthians s 410 and buried together with Christ imp planted together in the likeness of his death we must not only crucify our flesh with the vices of concubines Galatians 5:24 flying the corruption of that concupisent which is in the world St peter4 but that the life also of Genius may be
Made manifest in our bodies 2 Corinthians 4:10 and being made partakers of his eternal priesthood we are to offer up gifts and sacrifices for sins Hebrews 51 nor do these only enjoy a participation in this Myst priesthood and in the order of satisfying in sacrificing whar pontiff
Jesus Christ used as his ministers to offer up a clean oblation to God’s name in every place from the rising of the Sun to the going down Malachi 111 but the whole Christian people rightly called by the prince of the Apostles a chosen generation a kingly priesthood one Peter
29 ought to offer for sins both for himself and For All Mankind in much the same manner as every priest and ponti taken from among men is ordained for men in the things that app ptain to God Hebrews 51 10 but the more perfectly that our oblation and sacrifice corresponds to
The sacrifice of our Lord that is to say the more perfectly we have emulated our love and our desires and have crucified our FES flesh by that m IC crucifixion of which the Apostle speaks the more abundant fruits of that prop propitiation and experation shall we receive for ourselves and for
Others for there is a wondrous and close Union of all the faithful with Christ such as that which prevails between the head and other members moreover by that Mystic communion of saints which we professed in the Catholic Creed both individual men and peoples are joined together not only with one another but
Also with him who is the head Christ from whom the whole body being compacted and fitly joined together by that every joint supplieth according to the operation of the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity Ephesians 4:1 15:16 it was this indeed that the
Mediator of Gods and Men Christ Jesus when he was near to death called his father i in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one John 1723 11 wherefore even as a consecration proclaims and confirms this Union with Christ so does the experation begin of
That same Union by washing away faults and perfect it by participating in the suffering of Christ and consummated by offering victims for the Brethren and this indeed was the purpose of the merciful Jesus when he showed his heart to to us bearing about it the symbols of his passion and displaying
The Flames of Love that the one we might know the infinite malice of sin and in the other we might admire the infinite charity of Our Redeemer and so might have a more vinent hatred of sin to make a more Ardent return of love for his love
12 and truly the spirit of experation or reparation has always had the first and foremost place in worship given to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus and nothing is more in keeping with the origin the character the power and the distinctive practices of the form of devotion as
Appears from the record of history and custom as well as from the sacred literature and acts of several pontiffs for when Christ manifest himself to Margaret Mary and declared to her the infinitude of his love at the same time in the manner of a mourner he complained that so many and such great
Injuries were done to him by ungrateful men that we should that these words of which made this complaint were fixed in the minds of the faithful who were never blotted out of Oblivion behold this heart he said which had loved men so much and loaded them with all benefit
For this boundless love has had no return but neglect in contumely and this often from those who were Bound by a debt and duty of a more special love in order that these faults might be washed away he then recommended several things to be done and in particular the following as most
Pleasing to him himself namely that men should approach the altar with this purpose of expiating sin of making what is called a communion or reparation and they should likewise make expiatory supplications and prayers prolonged for a whole hour which is rightly called holy hour these Pious exercises have been
Approved by the church and have also o been enriched with copious indulgences 13 but how can these rights of experation bring Solace now when Christ is reigning in the beatitude of Heaven to this we may answer in some words of St Augustine which are very opposite
Here give me the one who loves and he will understand what I say for anyone who has great love of God he will look back through the tract of past time to dwell in meditation on Christ and see him laboring for man Sorrowing suffering the greatest hardships for us men and for our
Salvation well nigh warn out with sadness with anguish nay bra bruised for for our sins Isaiah 535 and healing us it by his bruises and the minds of the pious meditate on all these things the more truly because the sins of men and their crimes committed in every age were the
Cause why Christ was delivered up to death and now they would of themselves bring death to Christ joined in the same griefs and Sorrows since each several sin in its own way is held to renew the passion of Our Lord crucifying again to the themselves the Son of God and making him a
Mockery Hebrews 6 verse 6 now if because of our sins also that we were as yet in the future but were foreseen the soul of Christ became sorrowful unto death it cannot be doubted that then to already he had derived somewhat of soless from our reparations which was likewise foreseen
When there appeared to him an angel from heaven Luke 22:43 in order that his heart oppressed with weariness and anguish might find consolation and even so now in a wondrous yet true manner we can and ought to console that most Sacred Heart which is continually wounded by sins of
Thankless men since as we also read in the sacred liturgy Christ himself by the mouth of the psalmist complains that he is forsaken by his friends my heart hath expected reproach and misery and I looked for one that would grieve together with me but there was none and for one that would comfort
Me and I found none 14 to this may be added added that The expiatory Passion of Christ is renewed and in a manner continued and fulfilled in his mystical body which is the church for to use once more the words of St Augustine Christ suffered whatever it
Behooved him to suffer now nothing is wanting in the measure of the sufferings therefore the sufferings were fulfilled but in the head there were yet remaining the sufferings of Christ in his body Psalm 86 and indeed our lord Jesus himself vouch safe to explain that speaking to Saul as yet breathing out threatenings
And Slaughter acts 991 he said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest acts 95 clearly signified that when the persecutions are stirred up against the church the Divine head of the church is himself attacked and troubled rightly therefore does Christ still suffer in his mystical body desire to have us partakers of his
Experation and this is also demanded by our intimate Union with him for since we are the body of the Christ and members of a member 1 Corinthians 12:27 whatever the head suffers all the members must suffer with it 1 Corinthians 12:26 15 now how great is the necessity of this experation or
Reparation more especially in this our age will be manifest to everyone who as we said at the outset will examine the world seated in wickedness 1 John 519 with his eyes and with his mind for from all sides The Cry of the peoples who are mourning come to us and
Their princes or rulers have indeed stood up and met together in one against the Lord and against his church Psalm 22 throughout those re regions indeed we see that all rights both human and divine are confounded churches are thrown down and overturned religious men and sacred virgins are torn torn from their homes
And are afflicted with abuse with barbarities with hunger and imprisonment bands of boys and girls are snatched from the bosom of their mother of the church and are induced to renounce Christ to blaspheme and to attempt the worst crimes of lust the whole Christian people sadly disheartened and disrupted are
Continually in danger of falling away from the Faith or of suffering the most cruel death these things in truth are so sad that you might say that such events foreshadow and portend the beginning of Sorrows that is to say those shall be brought by a man of sin who is lifted up
Above all that is called God or is worshiped the 2 Thessalonians 24 16 but it is more to be lamented venerable Brethren than among the faithful members washed in baptism with the blood of the Immaculate lamb and enriched with Grace there are found so many men of every class who labored under an
Incredible ignorance of divine things and infected with false doctrines far from their father’s home lead a life involved in vices a life which is not brightened by the light of true Faith nor gladdened by the hope of future beatitude nor refreshed and cherished by the five of Charity so that they truly
Seem to sit in darkness and in the shadow of death moreover among the faithful there is a great increasing carelessness of ecclesiastical discipline and of those ancient institutions on which all Christian Life rests by which domestic Society is governed and the sanctity of marriage is safeguard Ed the education of children
Is altogether neglected or else it is deprived by too indulgent BL blandishments and the church is even robbed of the power of giving the young a Christian education there is a sad forgetfulness of Christian modesty especially in the life and dressed of a woman there is an unbridled cupidity of
Transitory things things a want of moderation in civic affairs an unbounded ambition of popular favor a deprecation of legitimate Authority and lastly a contempt for the word of God whereby faith itself is injured or is brought into proximate peril 17 but all these evils as it were culminate in the
Cowardice and sloth of those men who after the manner of sleeping and fleeing disciples wavered in their faith miserably forsake Christ when he was oppressed by anguish or surrounded by the satellites of Satan and the in the perfidy of those others who follow the example of the the traitor
Judas either partake of the Holy table rashly and sacrilegiously or go over to the camp of the enemy thus even against our will the thought rises in the mind that now those days draw near which our Lord prophesied because iniquity hath abounded the charity of many shall grow gr cold Matthew 2412
18 now whosoever of the faithful have piously pondered on these things must need an inflamed with the charity of Christ in his Agony and make a more vinant Endeavor to expiate their own faults and those of others to repair the honor of Christ and to promote an eternal salvation of
Souls and indeed that saying of the Apostle where sin abounds Grace did more abound Romans 5:20 may be used in a manner to describe this present age for while the wickedness of men have been greatly increased at the same time by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost a
Marvelous increase has been made in the number of the faithful of both sexes who with eager mind Endeavor to make satisfaction for the many injuries offered to the Divine heart nay more they do not hesitate to offer the to Christ as V victims for indeed if anyone
Will lovingly dwell on those things of which we have been speaking we will have them deeply fixed in his mind it cannot be but he will shrink with horror from all Sin from the greatest evil and the more he will yield himself wholly to the will of God but will strive to repair
The injured honor of the Divine Majesty as well as constantly praying as by voluntary mortifications by patiently bearing the afflictions that be befall him and lastly by spending his whole life in the exercise of experation 19 and for this reason also there have been establish estblished Many religious
Families of men and women whose purpose It Is by Earnest service both day and by night in some manner to fulfill the office of the Angel consoling Jesus in the garden hence come certain associations of Pious men approved by the apost see and enriched with indulgences who take upon themselves the
Same duty of making expiation a duty which is to be fulfilled by fitting exercises of devotion and of the virtues hence lastly to Omit other things come the devotions and solemn demonstrations for the purpose of making reparation to the offended Divine honor which are are inaugurated everywhere not
Only by Pious members of the faith but by parishes dicese and cities 20 these things being so venerable Brethren just as the right of consecration starting from humble beginnings and afterwards more widely propagated was at length crowned with success at our confirmation so in like manner we earnestly desire that this
Custom of experation or Pious reparation long since devoutly introduced and devoutly propagated may be one more firmly sanctioned by our Apostolic Authority and more solemnly celebrated by the whole Catholic name wherefore we decree and command that every year on the Feast of the most Sacred Heart of
Jesus which Feast indeed on the occasion we have ordered to be raised to the degree of a double with of the first class with an octave in all churches throughout the whole world the same expiatory prayer or protestation as it is called to our most loving savior set forth in the same
Words according to the copy subjoined to this letter shall be solemnly recited so that all our faults may be washed away with tears and reparation may be made for the violated rights of Christ the Supreme King and our most loving Lord 21 there is surely no reason for doubting venerable
Brethren that from this devotion piously established and commanded the whole to the whole church many excellent benefits will flow forth not only to individual men but also to society sacred civil and domestic seeing that Our Redeemer himself promised Margaret Mary that all those who rendered the honor to his
Heart would be endowed with an abundance of heavenly Graces Sinners indeed looking on him who they pierced John 1937 moved by the size and tears of the whole church by grieving for the injuries offered to the Supreme King will return to the heart lest per chance being hardened by
Their faults when they see him whom they perished coming in the Clouds Of Heaven Matthew 2664 too late and in in vain they shall bewail themselves because of him apocalypse 17 but the just shall be justified and shall be Sanctified still the apocalypse 221 that they will devote themselves
Wholly and with new order to the service of their King when they see him condemned and attacked and assailed with so many and such great insults but more than all will they burn with Zeal for the Eternal salvation of souls when they have pondered on the complaint of the Divine
Victim what profit is there in my blood Psalm 2910 and likewise the joy that will be felt by the same Sacred Heart of Jesus upon one sinner doing Penance Luke 15 1810 and indeed we more especially and vinant desire and confidentially expect that the just and merciful god who would
Have spared Sodom for the sake of 10 just men will much more be ready to spare the whole race of men when he is moved by The Humble petitions and happily appeased by the prayers of the Comm Unity of the fearful faithful praying together in Union with Christ
Their mediator and head in the name of all and now lastly May the most benign virgin mother of God smile on this purpose and on these desires of ours for since she has brought forth for us Jesus Our Redeemer and nourished him and offered him as a victim of the Cross and
By her Mystic Union with Christ and his very special Grace she likewise became and is piously called a reparis trusting in her intercession with Christ who whereas he is only one mediator of God and Men 1 Timothy 2:5 chose to make his mother the advocate of Sinners and the minister and mediator of
Grace as an Earnest in Heavenly gifts as our token of our paternal affection we most lovingly impart the apostolic blessing to you venerable Brethren and to all the flock committed to your care given at Rome at St Peter’s on the 8th day of May 1928 in the seventh year of our pontificate
A prayer of reparation oh sweetest Jesus whose overflowing charity towards men is most ungratefully repayed by such great forgetfulness neglect and contempt see prostrate before thy altars we strive by special honor to make amends for the wicked cold of men and the contumely which thy most loving heart is everywhere
Treated at the same time mindful of the fact that we too have sometimes not been free from unworthiness moved before with most vinant sorrow in the first place we implore thy mercy on us being prepared by voluntary experation to make amends for for the sins we have ourselves
Committed and also for the sins of those who wander far from the way of Salvation whether because being obstinate in their belief they refuse to follow thee as their Shepherd and leader or because spurning the promises of their baptism they have cast off the most sweet yoke of thy law we Endeavor
To expiate all these lamentable crimes together and it is also our purpose to make amends for each one of them severally we want for the want of modesty in life and dress for impurities for so many snares set for the mind of the innocent for the violation of feast
Days the horror blasphemies against thee and thy Saints for the insults offered to thy Vicor and the Priestly order for the neglect of Sac of the sacrament of divine love or its profanation by horrible sacrileges and lastly for the public sins of Nations which resist the rights and the teaching
Authority of the church which thou Hast instituted would that we could wash away these crimes with our own blood and now to make amends for the outrage offered to the Divine honor we offer to thee the same satisfaction which thou D once offer to thy father on the cross in
Which thou Dost continually Renew on our altars we offer this conjoined with the expirations of the virgin mother and of all the saints and of all Pious Christians promising from our heart that so far as in US lies with the help of thy Grace we will make amends for our
Own past sins and for the sins of others for the neglect of thy boundless Love by firm Faith by a pure way of life and by Perfect observance of the Gospel law especially that of Charity we will also strive with our strength to prevent injuries being
Offered to thee and gather as many as we can come become thy followers receive we beseech thee a most benign Jesus by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary the reper Trix the voluntary homage to this this experation and vouch safe that great gift of final perseverance to
Keep most faithful until death and in our duty and thy service so that at length we may all come to that Fatherland where thou with the father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God forever and ever amen Apostolic letter rosarium virgin sarier of the Supreme pontiff John Paul
II to the Bishops clergy and faithful on Most Holy Rosary introduction the rosary of the Virgin Mary which gradually took form in the second Millennium under under the guidance of the spirit of God is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the magesium simple yet
Profound it Still Remains at the dawn of this third millennium a prayer of great significance destined to bring forth a harvest of Holiness it Blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian Life which after 2,000 years has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and
Feels drawn by the spirit of God to set out into the deep Duke in altum in order once more to Proclaim and even cry out before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior the way the truth and the life John 146 the goal of human history and the
Point on which the desires of of history in Civilization turn the rosary though clearly Maran in character is at heart a christocentric prayer in the sobriety of its elements it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety of which it can be said to be a
Compendium it is an echo of the prayer of Mary her perennial Magnificat for the work of the Redemption Incarnation which began in her virginal womb with the rosary the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to
Experience the depths of his love through the rosary the faithful receive an abundant grace as though from the very hands of the mother of the Redeemer numerous predecessors of mine attributed great importance to this prayer worthy of special note in this regard is Pope Leo I 13th who on the 1st of September
1883 promulgated the incal Supreme suprem apostolos officio a document of great worth and the first of his many statements about this prayer which proposed the rosary as an effective spiritual weapon against the evils afflicting Society among the more recent popes who from the time of the second Vatican Council have distinguished themselves in
Pro promoting the rosary I would mention blessed Blessed John the 23rd and above all Pope Pope Paul 6 who in his Apostolic exhortation marialis culus emphasized in the spirit of the second Vatican Council the rosary’s Evangelical character and its christocentric inspiration I myself have often encouraged the frequent recitation of the
Rosary from my youthful years this prayer has held an important place in my spiritual life I was powerfully reminded of this during my recent visit to Poland and in particular at The Shrine of calara the Rosary has accompanied me in moments of joy and in moments of
Difficulty to it I have entrusted many number of concerns in it I have always found Comfort 24 years ago on October 29th 1978 scarcely two weeks after my election to the Sea of Peter I frankly admitted the rosary is my favorite prayer a marvelous prayer marvelous in
Its Simplicity and depth it can be said that the rosary is in some sense a prayer commentary on the final chapter of the Vatican 2 Constitution Lumen gentium a chapter which discusses the wondrous presence of the mother of God into the mystery of Christ in the church against the background of the
Words a Maria the principal events of the life of Jesus Christ pass before the eyes of the Soul they take shape in the complete series of Joyful sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries and they put us in living communion with Jesus through we might say the heart of his
Mother at the same time our heart can Embrace in the Decades of the Rosary all the events that make up the lives of individuals families Nations the church and all mankind our personal personal concerns and those of our neighbor especially those who are closest to us who are
Dearest to us thus the simple prayer of the Rosary marks the rhythm of human life within these words dear brothers and sisters I set the first year of my pontificate within the daily Rhythm of the Rosary today as I begin the 25th year of my service as the successor of Peter I
Wish to do the same how many Graces have I received in these years from the Blessed Virgin through the rosary magnif anima May Domin I wish to lift up my thanks to the Lord in the words of the most holy mother under whose protection I have placed my petrin Ministry totus
Tuos October 2002 to October 2003 the year of the Rosary therefore in continuity with my reflection on the apostolic letter noo millennio Eun in which after the experience of the Jubilee I invited people of God to start aresh from Christ I have felt drawn to offer a reflection on the
Rosary as a kind of Maran compliment to the letter and exhortation to contemplate the face of Christ in Union with and at the school of holy mother to recite the rosary is nothing other than to contemplate with Mary the face of Christ as a way of highlighting this invitation prompted by the forthcoming
120th anniversary of the aforementioned encyclical of Leo the 13th I desire that during the course of this year the rosary should be especially emphasized and promoted in the various Christian communities I therefore proclaim the year from October 2002 to two thou to October 2003 the year of the
Rosary I leave this pastoral proposal to the initiative of each ecclesial Community it is not my intention to encumber but rather to complete and consolidate pastoral programs of the particular churches I am confident that the The Proposal will find a ready and generous reception Rosary reclaimed in its full meaning
Goes to the very heart of Christian Life it offers a familiar yet fruitful spiritual and educational opportunity for personal contemplation the formation of the people of God and the new evangelization I am pleased to reaffirm this also also in the joyful remembrance of another anniversary the 40th anniversary of the
Opening of the second Vatican ecumenical council on October 11th 1962 the great grace disposed by the spirit of God for the church in our time objections to the rosary the timeliness of this proposal is evident from a number of considerations first the urgent need to counter a certain crisis of the Rosary
In which the present historical and Theological context can risk being wrongly devalued and therefore no longer taught to the younger generation there are some who think that the centrality of the Liturgy rightly stressed by the second Vatican ecumenical council necessarily entails giving lesser importance to the
Rosary yet as Pope Paul v 6 made clear not only does this prayer not conflict with the Liturgy it sustains it since it serves as an excellent introduction and a faithful echo of the Liturgy enabling people to participate fully and interiorly in it and to reap its fruits in daily lives
Perhaps too there are some who fear that the rosary is somehow Unum manical because of its distinctly Maran character yet the rosary clearly belongs to a kind of veneration of the mother of God described by the council a devotion directed to the christological center of the Christian faith in such a way that
When mother is honored the son is doing known loved and glorified if properly revitalized the rosary as an aid and certainly not a hindrance to ecumenism a path of contemplation but the most important reason for strongly encouraging the practice of the Rosary is that it represents a most effective means of
Fostering among the faithful that commitment to the contemplation of the Christian mystery which I have proposed in the apostolic letter noo millennio inun as a genuine training in Holiness what is needed is a Christian Life distinguished Above All In The Art of Prayer in as much as contemporary
Culture even amid so many indications of the contrary has witnessed the flowering of a new call for spirituality due also to the influence of other religions it is more urgent than ever that our Christian Community should become genuine schools of prayer the rosary belongs among the finest and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian
Contemplation developed in the west it is a typically meditative prayer corresponding in some way to the prayer of of the heart or Jesus prayer which which took root in the soil of the Christian East prayer for peace and for the family A number of historical circumstances also make a Revival of the
Rosary quite timely first of all the need to implore from God the gift of Peace the rosary has many times been proposed by my pred predecessors and myself as a prayer for peace at the start of a millennium which began with the terrifying Attacks of September 11th 2001 a millennium which Witnesses every
Day in numerous parts of the world fresh scenes of Bloodshed and violence to rediscovery the rosary means to immerse oneself in contemplation of the mystery of Christ who is our peace since he made the two of us one and broke down the dividing wall of hostility Ephesians 2:14 consequently one cannot recite the
Rosary without feeling caught up in a clear commitment to advancing peace especially in the land of Jesus still so sorely Afflicted and so close to the heart of every Christian a similar need for commitment and for prayers arises in relation to another critical contemporary issue the family the primary cell of
Society increasingly menaced by forces of disintegration on both the ideological and practical Plains so as to make us fear for the future of this fundamental and indispensible institution and with it for the future of society as as a whole the Revival of the Rosary in Christian families within the context of a broader
Pastoral Ministry to the family will be an effective Aid in countering the devastating effects of the crisis typical of our age behold your mother John 1927 many signs indicate that still today the Blessed Virgin desires to exercise through the same prayer that maternal concern to which the dying
Redeemer entrusted in the person of his beloved disciple all the Sons and Daughters of the church woman behold your son John 19:26 well known are the occasions in the 19th and 20th centuries on which the mother of Christ made her presence felt and and her voice heard in order to
Exhort the people of God to this form of contemplative prayer I would mention in particular on account of the great influence on lives of Christians and the authoritative recognition they have received from the church The Apparition of Lords and of fam famina Fatima excuse me these shrines
Continue to be visited by by a great number of pilgrims seeking comfort and hope following the witness it would be impossible to name all the saints who were dis who discovered in the rosary a genuine path to grow in Holiness we need but mention St Louis
Marie grignan deont for the author of an excellent work on the rosary and closer to ourselves El Padre Pio of Petrina who had recently had the joy of can canonizing as a true Apostle of the Rosary blessed Baro Longo had a special charism his path to Holiness rested on
An inspiration heard in the depths of his heart whoever spreads the rosary is saved as a result he felt called to build a church dedicated to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Pompei against the background of the ruins of the ancient city which scarcely heard the proclamation of Christ before
Being buried in 779 ad during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius only to emerge Century later from its ashes as a witness to the light and shadows of classical Civilization by his whole life’s work and especially in the practice of the 15 Sundays Baro Longo promoted the christocentric and contemplative heart of the
Rosary and receiving great encouragement and support from Leo III the pope of the Rosary chapter 1 contemplate in Christ with Mary a face radiant as the sun and he was transfigured before them and his face Shone like the sun Matthew 17:2 the Gospel of Christ’s Transfiguration in which the three
Apostles Peter James and John appeared entranced by the beauty of the Redeemer can be seen as an icon of Christian contemplation to look upon the face of Christ to recognize its mystery ad midst the daily events and the sufferings of human life and then to grasp the Divine Splendor
Definitively revealed in the Risen Lord seated in glory at the right hand of the father this is the task of every follower and therefore a task to each one of us in contemplating Christ’s face we become open to receiving the mystery of the trinitarian life experiencing ever a new the love of
The father and delighting in the joy of the Holy Spirit St Paul’s words then can be applied to us beholding the glory of the Lord we are being changed into his likeness from one degree of Glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the spirit 2 Corinthians
3:18 Mary model of contemplation the contemplation of Christ as an incomparable model in Mary in a unique way the face of the son belongs to Mary it was in her womb Christ was formed receiving from her a human Z resemblance which points to an even greater spiritual
Closeness no one has ever devoted to himself to the contemplation of the faith face of Christ as Faithfully as Mary the eyes of her heart already turned to him at enunciation when she conceived him by the power of the holy spirit in the months that followed she
Began to sense his presence and to picture his fa features when at last she gave birth to him in Bethlehem her eyes were able to gaze tenderly on the the face of her son as she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger Luke 27 thereafter Mary’s gaze ever filled
With adoration and wonder would never leave him at times it would be a questioning look as in the episode of finding the temple son why have you treated us so Luke 2:48 it would always it would always be a penetrating gaze one capable of deeply understanding Jesus even to the point of
Perceiving his hidden feelings and anticipating his decisions as at Kaa John 2 25 on the other hands it would be a look of Sorrow especially beneath the cross where her vision would still be that of a mother giving birth for Mary not only shared the passion and death of her son she also
Received the new son given to her in the Beloved disciple John 1926 27 on the morning of Easter hers would be a gaze radiant with the joy of the resurrection and finally on the day of Pentecost a gaze of fire with the outpouring of the spirit acts 1:14 Mary’s
Memories Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ treasuring his every word she kept all these things pondering them in her heart Luke 2:19 the and the men memories of Jesus impressed upon her heart were always with her leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her son’s
Side in a way these memories were to be called the rosary which she recited uninterruptedly through her Earthly life even now admid the joyful songs of the Heavenly Jerusalem the reasons for her Thanksgiving and pray remain unchanged they Inspire her material concern for the pilgrim CH Church in
Which she continued to relate her personal account of the gospel Mary constantly sets before the faithful the mysteries of her son with the desire that the contemplation of those Mysteries will release all their saving power in the recitation of the Rosary the Christian Community enters into contact with memories and the
Contemplative gaze of Mary the rosary a contemplative prayer the rosary precisely because it starts with Mary’s own experience is an exquisitly contemplative prayer without this contemplative dimen Dimension it would lose its meaning as Pope Paul v 6 clearly pointed out without contemplation the rosary is a body without a soul and its recitation
Runs the risks of becoming a mechanical repetition of formulas in violation of the admonition of Christ in praying do not Heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think they will be heard for their many words Matthew 67 by its nature the recitation of the
Rosary calls for a quiet Rhythm and a lingering Pace helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord’s Life As Seen Through The Eyes of her who was closest to the Lord in this way the unfathomable Riches of these Mysteries are disclosed it is worth pausing to
Consider this profound Insight of Paul v 6 in order to bring about certain aspects of the Rosary which show that it really is really a form of christocentric contemplation remembering Christ with Mary Mary’s contemplation is above all every remembering we need to understand this world in the biblical sense of remembrance
Zakar as Mak speaking present of the works brought about by God in the history of Salvation the Bible is an account of saving events culminating in Christ itself these events not only belong to yesterday they are also a part of the today of Salvation this making present comes about above all in the
Liturgy what God accomplished centuries ago did not only affect the direct witness of those events it continues to affect people in every age with its gift of Grace to some extent this is also true of every devout approach to these events to remember them in a spirit of faith
And love is to be open to the grace which Christ won for us by the mysteries of his love life death and Resurrection consequently while it must be affirmed with the second Vatican Council that the Liturgy as the exercise of the Priestly office of Christ and an act of public
Worship is the summit to which the activity of the church is directed and the font from which all its power flows it is also necessary to recall that the spiritual life is not limited solely to participation in the Liturgy Christians while they are called to prayer in common must also go to
Their own rooms and pray to their father in secret indeed according to the teaching of the Apostle they must pray without ceasing 1 Thessalonians 5:17 the Rosary in its own particular way is part of this varied Panorama of ceaseless prayer if the Liturgy as the activity of
Christ in the church is a saving action par Excellence the rosary too as a mediation with Mary on Christ is a salutary contemplation by immersing us in the mysteries of the redeemer’s life it ensures that what he has done and what the Liturgy makes present is profoundly assimilated and shapes our
Existence learning Christ from Mary Christ is the Supreme teacher the revealer and the one revealed it is not just a question of learning what he taught but of learning him in this regard we we could have any better teacher than Mary from the Divine standpoint the spirit is the interior teacher who lead
Leads us to the full truth of Christ John 14:26 also 1526 and 1613 but among the creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of this mystery better than his mother the first signs worked by Jesus the changing of the water into wine at
The marriage of Kaa clearly presents Mary Mary in her guise as teacher she urges the servants to do what Jesus commands John 2:5 we can imagine that she would have done likewise for the disciples after Jesus’s Ascension when she joined them in Waiting the Holy Spirit and supporting them in their first
Mission contemplating the scenes of the Rosary in Union with Mary is a means of learning her to read Christ to discover his secrets and to understand his message this school of Mary is all the more effective if we consider that she teaches by obtaining for us in abundance
The gifts of Holy Spirit even as she offers us the incomparable example of her own pilgrimage of Faith as we contemplate on each Mystery of her son’s life she invites us to do as she did at the enunciation to ask humbly the questions which open us to the light in order to
End with The Obedience of Faith behold I am the handmade of the Lord be it done according to your word Luke 138 being conformed to Christ with Mary Christian spirituality is distinguished by the disciples commitment to become conformed ever more fully to his master Romans 8:29 Phil Philippians
31012 the outpouring of the holy spirit in baptism grants the believer grafts the believer like a branch unto the vine which is Christ John 15:5 and makes him a member of Christ’s mystical body 1 Corinthians 12:12 Romans 125 this initial Unity however calls for growing assimilation which will increasing increasingly shape the
Conduct of the disciple in accordance with the mind of Christ have this mind among yourselves which was in Jesus Christ Philippians 2:5 in the words of the Apostle we are put out to put on the Lord Christ Jesus Romans 13:14 Galatians 3:27 in the spiritual journey of the
Rosary bra based on the constant contemplation in Mary’s company of the face of Christ this demanding ideal of being conformed to him is pursued through an association which could be subscribed in terms of friendship we are thereby enabled to enter natur naturally into Christ’s life as it were to share his deepest
Feelings in this regard blessed Baro Longo has written just as two friends frequently in each other’s company tend to develop similar habits so too by holding familiar converse with Jesus and the Virgin Mary by meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary and by living the same life in the communion we can
Become to the extent of our loneliness similar to them and can learn from these Supreme models a life of humility poverty hiddenness patience and perfection in this process of being conformed to Christ in the Ros y we must ourselves in a special way to the maternal care of the Blessed
Virgin she who is both mother of Christ and a member of the church indeed her preeminent and altogether singular member at the same time the mother of the church as such she continually brings forth children it for the mystical body of their son she does so through her intercession imploring upon them the
Inexhaustible outpouring of the spirit Mary is the perfect icon of the mother of the church Rosary mystically transports us to Mary’s side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth this enables her to train and to mold us with the same care
Until Christ is fully formed in US Galatians 4:19 this role of Mary totally grounded in that of Christ and radically subordinated to it in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ but rather shows its power this is the Luminous principle expressed by the second Vatican Council
Which I have so powerfully experienced in my own life and have made the basis of my episc Episcopal motto totus tus the motto is of course inspired by the teaching of St Louie Marie grignan De Monfort who explained in the following words Mary’s role in the process of our configuration to
Christ Our entire profession consists in being conformed United and consecrated to Jesus Christ hence the most perfect of all devotions is undoubtedly that which conforms unites and consecrates us most perfectly to Jesus Christ now since Mary is of All Creatures the one most conformed to Jesus Christ it follows that among all
Devotions that that which most consecrates and conforms her soul to our Lord is Devotion to Mary his holy mother and that the more a soul is consecrated to her the more it will be consecrated to Jesus Christ never as in the rosary do the life of Jesus and of Mary appear to be
Deeply joined praying to Christ with Mary Jesus invites us to turn to God with insistence and the confidence that we will be heard ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you Matthew 77 the basis for this power of prayer is
The goodness of the father but also the mediation of Christ himself 1 John 2:1 and the working of the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us according to the will of God Romans 8 2627 for we do not know how to pray as we ought Romans 8:26 and at times we are not heard
Because we ask wrongly James 4 2 and 3 in support of the prayer when Christ and the spirit cause to rise in our hearts Mary intervenes with her maternal intercession the prayer of the church is sustained by the prayer of Mary if Jesus the one mediator is the
Way of our prayer then Mary is purest and most transparent reflection shows us the way beginning with Mary’s unique Co operation in the working of the Holy Spirit the church has developed their prayer to the holy mother God centering it on the person of Christ manifested in his Mysteries at the wedding of
Ka the gospel clearly shows the power of Mary’s intercession as she makes known to Jesus the needs of others they have no wine John 2:3 the rosary is both meditation and supplication insist in prayer to the mother of God based on the confidence that her maternal intercession can
Obtain all things from the heart of her son she is all powerful by grace to use the Bold expression which needs to be properly understood of blessed Baro Longo in his supplication to our lady this is the conviction which beginning with the gospel has grown ever more firm
In the experience of the Christian people the Supreme poet Dante expresses it marvelously in the lines sung by St Bernard lady Thou Art so great and so powerful that whoever desires Grace yet does not turn to thee would have his desire fly without wings when the rosary we plead with Mary the sanctity
Of the Holy Spirit and she intercedes for us before the father who filled her with Grace and before the son born of her womb and praying with us and for us proclaiming Christ with Mary the rosary is also a path of proclamation and increasing knowledge in which the mystery of Christ is presented
Again and again at different levels of the Christian experience its form is that of a prayerful and contemplative presentation capable of forming Christians according to the heart of Christ when the recitation of the Rosary combines with the elements needed for an effective meditation especially in its communal celebration in parishes parishes and
Shrines it can present a significant kakadal opportunity which Pastor should use to Advantage in this way too Our Lady of the Rosary continues her work of proclaiming Christ the history of the Rosary shows how this prayer was used in in particular by the Dominicans at a very
Difficult time for the church due to the spread of heresy today we are facing new challenges why should we not once more have recourse to the rosary with the same Faith as as those who have gone before us the rosary retains all its power and continues to be valuable
Pastoral resource for every good evangelizer chapter 2 mysteries of Christ mysteries of her his mother the rosary a compendium of the Gospel the only way to approach the contemplation of Christ’s face is by listening in the spirit of the father’s voice since no one knows the son EX except the father Matthew
11:27 in the region of cesaria Philippi Jesus responded to Peter’s confession of Faith by indicating the source of that clear intuition of his identity flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven Matthew 16:17 what is needed then is a revelation from above in order to
Receive that Revelation attentive listening is indispensable only the experience of silence and prayer offer the proper setting for the growth and development of a true faithful and consistent knowledge of that mystery the rosary is one of the traditional Paths of Christian prayer directed to the contemplation of Christ’s
Face Pope Paul v 6 described it in these words as a gospel prayer centered on the mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation the rosary is a prayer with clearly christological orientation it his most characteristic element in fact the Lany like succession of Hail Mary becomes in itself an
Unceasing Praise of Christ who is the ultimate object to both of the Angels announcement and to the end of and to the greeting of the mother of St John the Baptist blessed is the fruit of your womb Luke 1:42 we could go further and say that the succession of Hail Marys constitutes
The warp on which is woven the contemplation of the Mysteries the Jesus that each Hail Mary recalls is the same Jesus whom the succession of mysteries proposes to us now as the Son of God now as the son of the Virgin a proposed addition to the traditional
Pattern one of the many mysteries of Christ life only a few are indicated by the Rosary in the form that has become generally established with the Seal of the church’s approval the selection was determined by the origin of the prayer which was based on the number
150 the N the number of the Psalms in the alter I believe however that to bring out fully the christological depths of the Rosary it would be suitable to make an addition to the traditional pattern which while left to the freedom of individuals and communities could broaden it to include mysteries of
Christ’s public Ministry beneath his baptism and passion in the course of these Mysteries we contemplate important aspects of the person of Christ as the definitive regul revelation of God declared the beloved Son of the father at at the baptism in the Jordan Jesus is the one who announces the coming of the
Kingdom Bears witness to it in his works and proclaims its demands it is during the years of this public Ministry that the mystery of Christ is most evidently a mystery of light while I am in the world I am the light of the world John 95 consequently for the rosary to become
More fully a compendium of the Gossel it is fitting to add the following reflection on the Incarnation and the hidden Life of Christ the Joyful Mysteries and before focusing on the sufferings of his passion the sorrowful mysteries and the Triumph of his resurrection the Glorious Mysteries a meditation on certain particularly
Significant moments in his public Ministry the ministries of life in addition to these new Mysteries without prejudice to any essential aspect of the prayer’s traditional format is meant to give it fresh life and to enkindle renewed interest in the rosary’s place within spirituality as a true
Doorway to the depths of the heart of Christ ocean of joy and light of suffering and of Glory the Joyful Mysteries the first five decades the Joyful Mysteries are marked by The Joy radiating from the event of the Incarnation it is clear from the very first mystery the enunciation where
Gabriel El’s greeting to the virgin of Nazareth is linked to an invitation to Masonic Joy Rejoice Mary the whole of Salvation history in some sense the entire history of the world has led up to this greeting if it is the father un father’s plan to unite all things in Christ
Ephesians 1:10 then the whole of the universe is in some way touched by the Divine favor with which the father looks upon Mary and her and makes her the mother of his son the whole Humanity in turn is embraced by the Fiat with which she readily agrees to the will of
God exaltation is the keynote of the encounter with Elizabeth where the sound of Mary’s voice and the presence of Christ in her womb caused John to leap for Joy Luke 1 144 gladness also fills the scene in Bethlehem when the birth of the Divine Child the savior of the world is announced
By the song of the angels and proclaimed to the Shepherds as great new news of a great joy Luke 2:10 the final Mysteries while preserving this climate of Joy already points to the drama Yet to Come the presentation in the temple not only expresses the joy of the child’s
Consecration and an ecstasy for the Aged Simeon it also records the prophecy that Christ will be a sign of contradiction for Israel and that a sword will pierce his mother’s heart Luke 23435 Joy mixed with drama marks the fifth mystery finding of the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple here he appears in
His Divine wisdom as he listens and qu and raises questions already in effect one who teaches the revelation of this mystery as the son wholly dedicated to his father’s Affairs proclaims the radical nature of the Gospel in which even the closest human relationships are challenged by the absolute demands of the
Kingdom Joseph and Mary fearful and anxious did not understand his words to meditate upon the Joyful Mysteries then is to enter into the ultimate causes and the deepest meaning of Christian Joy it is to focus on the realism of the mystery of the Incarnation and on the Obscure
Foreshadowing of the mystery of the saving passion Mary leads us to discover the secret of Christian Joy reminding us that Christianity is first and foremost euangelion good news which has as its heart and its whole content the person of Jesus Jesus Christ the word made flesh the one savior of the
World mysteries of light moving on from the infancy and hidden life in Nazareth to the public life of Jesus our contemplation brings us to those Mysteries which may be called in a special way mysteries of light certainly the whole mystery of Christ is a my mystery of light he is
The light of the world John 8:12 yet this truth emerges in a special way during the years of his public life when he proclaims the gospel of the Kingdom in proposing to the Christian Community five significant moments Luminous Mysteries during the phase of Christlike I think that the following
Can be fittingly singled out one his baptism in the Jordan two his self-manifestation at the wedding of kaaa three his proclamation of the kingdom of God and with his call to conversion four his Transfiguration and finally five his institution of the Eucharist as the sacramental expression of the Pascal mystery
Each of these Mysteries is a revelation of the Kingdom now present in every in the very person of Jesus the baptism in the Jordan is first of all a mystery of light here as Christ descends to the wa to the waters the innocent one who became sin for our Sake 2 Corinthians
521 the heavens open wide and the voice of the father declares him the beloved Son Matthew 3:17 while the spirit descends on him to invest him with the mission in which he is to carry out another mystery of light is the first signs given at kaaa John
21-12 when Christ changes the water into wine and opens the hearts of the people to Faith thanks to the intervention of Mary the the first among Believers another mystery of light is the preaching by which Jesus proclaims the coming of the kingdom of God calls to conversion Mark 1:15 and forgives the
Sins of all who draw near to him in Humble trust the inauguration of that Ministry of Mercy which he continues to exercise until the end of the world particular part particularly through the sacrament of reconciliation in which he is usted to his church the mystery of light par exellence is the
Transfiguration traditionally believed to have taken place on Mount tabore the glory of the godhead shines forth from the face of Christ as the father commands the astonished Apostles listen to him Luke 9:35 and prepare to experience with him the agony of the passion so as to come
With him to the joy of the resurrection and a Life transfigured by the Holy Spirit a final mystery of light is instituted is the institution of the Eucharist in which Christ offers his body and blood as food under the signs of bread and wine and testifies to the end his love for
Humanity John 13:1 for whose salvation he will offer himself in sacrifice in these backgrounds apart from the Miracle at kaaa the presence of Mary remains in the background the gospels make only the briefest reference to her occasional Presence at one moment or another during the preaching of Jesus Jesus Mark 3:31 and5 John
2:12 they give no indication that she was present at the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist yet the role she assumed at kaaa in some ways accomplish accompanies Christ throughout his Min Ministry the Revelation made directly by the father at the baptism in the Jordan and echoed by John the Baptist
Is placed upon Mary’s lips at Kaa and it becomes a great matern maternal counsel which Mary addresses to the church at every age do whatever he tells you John 2:5 this council is a fitting introduction to the words and signs of public Christ’s public Ministry and it forms the Maran
Foundation of the mysteries of light rosarium vus marier part two the sorrowful mysteries the gospels give great prominence to the sorrowful mysteries of Christ from the Beginning Christian piety especially during the lent and devotion of the way of the Cross has focused on the individual moments of the
Passion realizing that here is found the culmination of the revelation of God’s love and the source of our Salvation the rosary selects certain moments from the passion inviting the faithful to contemplate them in their hearts and to relift them the sequence of meditations begin with Gethsemane where Christ experiences a
Moment of great anguish before the will of the father against which the weakness of the flesh would be tempted to Rebel there Jesus encounters all the Temptations and confronts all the sins of humanity in order to say to the father not my will but yours be done Luke
22:42 this yes of Christ reverses the know of our first parents in the Garden of Eden and the cost of this faithfulness to the father’s will is made clear in the following Mysteries by his scourging crowning with thorns his carrying a cross and his death on the
Cross the Lord is cast into the most abject suffering Ichi homo this abject suffering reveals not only the love of God but also the meaning of the man himself iomo the meaning orig origin and fulfillment of man is to be found in Christ the God who humbles himself out
Of love even unto death death on a cross Philippians 2:8 the sorrowful mysteries help the believer to relive the death of Jesus to stand at the foot of the cross besides Mary to enter with her into the depths of God’s love and to experience all its lifegiving power the Glorious
Mysteries the contemplation of Christ’s face cannot stop at the image image of the crucified one he is the Risen one the rosary has always expect expressed this knowledge born of faith and invited the believer to pass through the darkness of the passion in order to gaze upon Christ’s glory in the resurrection and
Ascension contemplating the Risen one Christians ReDiscover the reasons for their own faith First Corinthians 15:14 and relive the joy not only of Those whom Christ appeared the apostles Mary Magdalene and the disciples on the road to Emos but also the joy of Mary who must have had an equally intense experience
Of the new life of her glorified son in the Ascension Christ was raised in glory to the right hand of the father well Mary herself would be raised to that same glory in the Assumption beforehand by special privilege the destiny reserved for all the just at the resurrection of the Dead crowned in
Glory as she appears in the last glorious mystery Mary shines forth of Queen of the angels and Saints the anticipation of and the Supreme realization of the esal goal state of the church at the center of this unfolding sequence of the glory of the man of the
Son and the mother the rosary sets before us the third glorious mystery Pentecost which reveals the face of the church as a family gathered together with Mary enlivened by the powerful outpouring of the spirit and ready for the mission of Evangel evangelization the contemplation of this scene like that of other Glorious
Mysteries ought to lead the faithful to an Ever greater appreciation of the new life in Christ lived in the heart of the church a life of which the scene of Pentecost itself is a great icon the Glorious mystery thus leave the faithful to Greater Hope for the es eschatological goal towards which the
Journey as members of the PE Pilgrim people on Earth this can only impel them to Bear courageous witness to that good news which gives meaning to their entire existence from Mysteries to the mystery Mary’s way the cycles of meditation proposed by the rosary are by no means exhaustive
But they do bring to mind what is essential and they awaken the soul a thirst for a knowledge of Christ continually nourished by the Pure Source of the Gospel every individual event in the Life of Christ as narrated by the evangelists is resplendant with the mystery that surpasses all understanding Ephesians
3:9 The Mystery of the word became flesh in whom all the fullness of God dwells bodily Colossians 29 for this reason the catechism of the Catholic Church places great emphasis on the mysteries of Christ pointing out that everything in this life is a sign of his
Mystery the Duke and Alum of the Church of the third millennium will be determined by the ability of Christians to enter into perfect knowledge of God’s mystery of Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Colossians 2 2 and 3 the letter to the the Ephesians makes
This heartfelt prayer for all the baptized May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith so that you being rooted and grounded in loved may have power to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with the fullness of God 3:17-19 the rosary is at the service of
This ideal it offers the secret which leads easily to a profound and inward knowledge of Christ we might call it Mary’s way it is the way of example of the virgin of Nazareth a woman of faith of Silence of attentive listening it is also the way of a Maran
Devotion inspired by knowledge of the inep able bond between Christ and his beloved mother the mysteries of Christ are also in some sense the mysteries of his mother even when they do not involve her directly for she lives from him and through him by making our own the words of Angel
Gabriel and St Elizabeth contained in the Hail Mary we find ourselves constantly drawn to seek out a friend fresh in Mary in her arms and in her heart the Blessed fruit of her womb Luke 1:42 mystery of Christ mystery of man in my testimony of 1978 mentioned
Above where I describe the rosary as my favorite prayer I used an idea to which I would like to return I said then that the simple prayer of the Rosary marks the rhythm of human life in the light of what has been said so far on the mysteries of Christ it is
Not difficult to go deeper into this anthropological significance of the Rosary Which is far deeper than it may at First Sight anyone who contemplates Christ through the various stages of his life cannot fail to perceive in him him the truth about man this is the great affirmation of the
Second Vatican Council which I have so often discussed in my own teaching since the Inc encyclical letter redemptor humous it is only in the mystery of the word made flesh that the man the mystery of man is seen in its true light the rosary helps to open up the
Way to This Light following the path of Christ in whom man’s path is recapitulated revealed and redeemed Believers come face to face with the image of the true man contemplating Christ’s birth they learn that the sanctity of Life seeing the household of Nazareth they learn the original truth of the family according
To God’s plan listening to the master in the mysteries of his public Ministry they can find the light which leads them to enter the kingdom of God and follow him on the way to Calvary they learn the meaning of salvific suffering finally contemplating Christ and his mother in glory they see the
Goal towards which each of us is called if we allow ourselves to be healed and transformed by the Holy Spirit it could be said that each mystery of the Rosary carefully meditated sheds light on the mystery of man at the same time it becomes natural to bring to this encounter with sacred
Humanity of the Redeemer all the problems anxieties labors and Endeavors which go to make up our Lives cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you Psalms 5523 to pray the rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and his mother 25 years
Later thinking back over the difficulties which have been a part of my exercise of the petrin petrin author Ministry I feel the need to say once more as a warm invitation to everyone to experience it personally the rosary does indeed Mark the rhythm of human life bringing it
Into harmony with the rhythm of God’s own life in the joyful communion of the Holy Trinity our life’s Destiny and deepest longing chapter three for me to live as Christ the rosary a way of assimilating the mystery meditation on the mysteries of Christ is proposed on the rosary by
Means of a method designed to assist in their assimilation it is a method based on repetition it applies above all to the ha Mary repeated repeated 10 times in each Mystery if this repetition is considered superficially there could be a temptation to see the rosary as a dry and boring
Exercise it is quite another thing however when the rosary is thought of as an outpouring of that love which Tire tirelessly returns to the person loved with ex Expressions similar in their content but ever fresh in terms of the feeling pervading them in Christ God has truly assumed a heart of
Flesh not only does God have a Divine heart rich in Mercy and in forgiveness but also a human heart capable of all the stirrings of affection if we needed evidence from the of this from the gospel we should easily find it in the touching dialogue between Christ and Peter after the
Resurrection Simon son of John do you love me three times this question is put to Peter and three times he gives the reply Lord you know that I love you John 21 15-1 17 over and above the specific meaning of this passage so important for Peter’s Mission none can can fail to recognize
The beauty of this triple repetition in which insistent request and the corresponding reply are expressed in terms familiar from the universal experience of human love to understand the rosary one has to enter into the psychological Dynamic proper to love one thing is clear although the repeated Mary is addressed directly to
Mary it is to Jesus that the act of Love is ultimately directed with her and through her the repetition is nourished by the desire to be conformed even more completely to Christ the true program of Christian Life St Paul expressed this project with words of
Fire for me to live is Christ and to die is G gain Philippians 1:21 and again it is no longer that I live but Christ lives in me Galatians 2:20 the rosary helps us to be conformed ever more closely to Christ until we attain true Holiness a valid
Method we should not be surprised that our relationship with Christ makes use of a method God communicates himself to us respecting our human nature and its vital rhythms hence while spiritual Christian spirituality is familiar with the most Sublime forms of mystical silence in which images words and gestures are all
So to speak superseded by an intense and ineffable Union with God it normally ly engages the whole person in all his complex psychological physical and relational reality this becomes apparent in the Liturgy sacraments and sacramentals are structured as a series of rights which bring into play all the dimensions of
The person the same applies to La non-liturgical prayer this is confirmed by the fact that that in the East the most characteristic prayer of christological meditation centered on the words Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner is traditionally linked to the rhythm of breathing while this practice favors
Perseverance in the prayer it also in some ways embodies the desire for Christ to become the breath the soul and the all all of one’s life which nevertheless be improved I mentioned in my Apostolic letter Novo millennio in inun that the West is now experiencing A Renewed demand for meditation which at
Times leads to Keen in interest in aspects of other religions some CRI Christians Limited in their knowledge of the Christian contemplative tradition are attracted by these forms of prayer while the latter contains many elements which are positive and at times compatible with Christian experience they are often based on ultimately unacceptable
Premises much in Vogue among these approaches are methods aimed at attaining a high level of spiritual concentration by using techniques of a psychophysical repetitive and symbolic nature the rosary is situated within this broad gamut of religious phenomena but it is distinguished by characteristics of its own which correspond to specifically Christian
Requirements in effect the rosary is simply a method of contemplation as a method it serves as a means to an end and cannot become an end in itself all the same as the fruit of centuries experience this method should not be undervalued in its favor one could cite
The experience of countless Saints this is not to say however that this method cannot be improved such as the intent of the addition of the new series of Mysteria lucus to the overall cycle of Min Ministries and a few suggestions which I am proposing in this letter regarding its manner of
Recitation these Su suggestions while respecting the wellestablished structure of this prayer are intended to help the faithful to understand it in the richness of its symbolism and in harmony with the demands of DAV daily life otherwise there is a risk that the rosary would not only fail to produce
The intended spiritual effects but even the beads with with which nothing is usually said could come to be regarded as some kind of amulet or magic object thereby radically distorting their meaning and function announcing each Mystery announcing each Mystery and perhaps even using a suitable icon to portray it is
As it were to open up a scenario in which in which to focus our attention the words direct the imagination and the mind towards a particular episode or a moment in the Life of Christ in the church’s traditional spirituality the veneration of icons and the many devotions
Appealing to the senses as well as the method of prayer proposed by St ignacius of lyola in the spiritual exercises make use of visual and imaginative elements in the composi judged to be of great help in concentrating the mind on this particular mystery this is a methodology moreover which corresp responds to the
Inner logic of the Incarnation in Jesus God wanted to take on human features it is through his bodily reality that we are LED into contact with the mystery of his divinity this need for concreteness finds further expression in the announcement of the various Mysteries of the Rosary obviously these Mysteries neither
Replace the gospel nor exhaust its content the rosary therefore is no substitute for lectio deina on the contrary it presupposes and promotes it yet even though the Mysteries contemplated in the rosary even with the addition of the Mysteria luchis do no more than outline the fundamental elements of the Life of
Christ Christ they easily draw the mind to a more expansive reflection on the rest of the Gospel especially when the rosary is prayed in a setting of prolonged recollection listening to the word of God in order to supply a Biblical foundation and a greater depth to our
Meditation it is helpful to follow the announcement of the Myst with it with the proclamation of a related bi biblical passage long or short depending on the circumstances no other word can ever match the efficacy of the inspired word as we listen we are certain that this is
The word of God spoken for today and spoken for me if received in this way the word of God can become part of the rosary’s methodology of repetition without giving rise to the anwe delivered from the simple recollection of something already well known it is not a man of recalling
Information but of Allowing God to speak in certain solemn communal celebrations this word can be appropriately illustrated by a brief commentary silence listening and meditation are nourished by silence after the announcement of the mystery and the proclamation of the word it is fitting to pause and to focus
One’s attention for a suitable period of time on the mystery cons concern before moving into vocal prayer a discovery of the importance of silence is one of the secrets of of practicing contemplation and meditation one drawback of a society dominated by technology and the mass media is the fact that silence becomes
Increasingly difficult to achieve just as moments of Silence are recommended in the Liturgy so too in the recitation of the Rosary it is fitting to pause briefly after listening to the word of God while the Mind focus on the content of a particular mystery the Our Father after listening to the word and
Focusing on the mystery it is natural for the mind to be lifted up towards the father in each of his Mysteries Jesus always leads us to the father for as he read rests in the father’s bosom John 1:18 he is continually turned towards him he wants us to share in intimacy
With the father so that we can say with him ABA father Romans 8:15 Galatians 4:6 by virtue of his relationship to the father he makes us brothers and sisters of himself and of one another communicating to us the spirit which is both his and the father’s acting as a kind of foundation
For the christological and Maran meditation which unfolds in the repetition of the Hail Mary Our Father makes us makes meditation upon the mystery even when carried out in solitude an ecclesial experience the 10 Hail Marys this is the most substantial element in the rosary and also the one
Which makes it a Maran prayer par excellance yet when the Hail Mary is properly understood we come to see clearly that its Mary in character is not opposed to its christological character but that it actually emphasizes and increases it the first part of Hail Mary drawn
From the word spoken to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel and by St Elizabeth is a contemplation in adoration of the mystery accomplished in the virgin of Nazareth these words Express so to speak The Wonder of Heaven and Earth they could be said to give us a glimpse of God’s Own wonderment as he
Contemplates his Masterpiece the Incarnation of the son in the womb of the Virgin Mary if we recall how in the Book of Genesis God saw all that he had made Genesis 1:31 we can find here an echo of that pathos with which God at the of creation
Looked upon the word the work of his hands the repetition of the Hail Mary in the rosary gives us a share in God’s Own wonder and pleasure in jubilant amazement we acknowledge the greatest miracle in history Mary’s prophecy here Finds Its fulfillment henceforth all generations will call me blessed
The center of gravity in the Hail Mary the hinge as it were which joins its two parts is the name of Jesus sometimes in hurried recitation this center of gravity can be overlooked and with it the connection to the mystery of Christ being contemplated yet it is precisely the
Emphasis given to the name of Jesus and to his mystery that is the sign of a meaningful and fruitful recitation of the Rosary Pope Paul v 6 Drew attention in his Apostolic exhortation marialis Cultus to the custom in certain religions of highlighting the name of Christ by addition of a clause referring
To mystery being contemplated this is a prais worthy worthy custom especially during public recitation it gives Force forceful expression to our faith in Christ directed to the different moments of the redeemer’s life it is at once a profession of faith and an aid in concentrating our meditation since it facilitates the
Process of assimilation to the mystery of Christ inherent in the repetition of the Hail Mary when we repeat the name of Jesus the only name given to us by which we may hope for salvation acts 412 in close association with the name of the Blessed Mother almost as if were
Done at her suggestion were set out on a path of assimilation meant to help us enter more deeply into the Life of Christ from Mary’s uniquely privileged relationship with Christ which makes her the mother of God theotokos deres the forcefulness of the appeal we make to her in the second half
Of the prayer as we entrust her maternal intercession our lives in the hour of our death the Gloria trinitarian doxology is the goal of all Christian contemplation for Christ is the way that leads us to the father in the spirit if we travel this way to the end we
Repeatedly encounter The Mystery of the three Divine persons to whom all praise worship and Thanksgiving are due it is important important that the Gloria the high point of contemplation be given due prominence in the Rosary in a public recitation it could be sung as a way of giving proper
Emphasis to the essentially trinitarian structure of Christian prayer to the extent that meditation on the mystery is attentive and profound and to the extent that it is enlivened from one Hail Mary to another by love for Christ and for Mary the glorification of the Trinity at the end
Of each decade far from being a perfunctory conclusion takes on its proper contemplative tone raising the mind as it were to the heights of heaven and enabling Us in some way to relive the experience of tabore a foretaste of the contemplation yet to come it it is good for us to be
Here Luke 9:33 the concluding short prayer in current practice the trinitarian doxology is followed by a brief concluding prayer which varies according to the local custom without in any way diminishing the value of such invocations it is worthwhile to note that the contemplation of the Mysteries could better Express their full spiritual
Fruitness in an effort were if an effort were made to conclude each Mystery with a prayer for the specific fruits to this particular mystery in this way the rosary would better express its connection with the Christian Life One Fine lurgical prayer subject suggests as much inviting us to
Pray that by meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary we may come to imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise such a final prayer could take on a legitimate variety of forms as indeed it already does in this way the rosary can be better adapted to different spiritual traditions and
Different Christian communities it is to be hoped then that the appropriate formula will be widely Circ circulated after due pastoral discernment and possibly after experimental use and centers and shrines particularly devoted to the rosary so that the people of God May benefit from an abundance of authentic spiritual
Riches and fine nourishment for their person personal contemplation the rosary beads the traditional aid used in the recitation of the Rosary is the set of beads at the most superficial level the beads often become a simple counting mechanism to Mark the succession of Hail Marys yet they can also take on a
Symbolism which can give added depth to contemp ation here is the first thing to note is the way the beads converge upon the crucifix which both opens and closes the unfolding sequence of prayer the life of and prayer of Believers is centered upon Christ everything begins from him everything
Leads towards him through him in the Holy Spirit attains to the father as a counting mechanism marking the progress of the prayer the beads evoke an unending path of contemplation and of Christian Perfection blessed Baro Longo saw saw them also as a chain which links us to
God a chain yes but a sweet chain for sweet indeed is the bond to God who is also our father a filial chain which put puts us in tune with Mary the handmaid of the Lord Luke 1:38 and most of all with Christ himself who though he was in the form of God
Made himself a servant out of love for us Philippians 2:7 a fine way to expand the symbolism of the beads is to let them remind us of our many relation relationships of the bond of communion and the fraternity which unites All In Christ the opening and closing at present in different parts of
The church there were many ways to introduce the Rosary in some places it is customary to begin with the opening words of Psalm 70 oh God come to my Aid oh Lord make haste to help help me as if to nourish in those who are praying a humble awareness of their own
Insufficiency in other places the rosary begins with the recitation of the Creed as if to make the profession of Faith the basis of a contemplative Journey about to be undertaken these and similar Customs to the extent that they prayer prepare the mind for contemplation are all equally legitimate
The rosary is then ended with a prayer for the intentions of the Pope as if to expand the vision of the one praying to embrace all the needs of the church it is precisely in or in order to encourage this ecclesial dimension of the Rosary that the church has seen fit
To Grant indulgences to those who recite it with the required dispositions prayed in this way the RO rary truly becomes a spiritual itinerary in which Mary acts his mother teacher and guide sustaining the faithful by her powerful intercession is it any Wonder then that the soul feels the need after saying
This prayer and experiencing so profoundly the motherhood of Mary to burst forth in Praise of the Blessed Virgin either in that Splendid prayer the salv Regina or in the Litany of Loretto this is the crowning moment of an inner Journey which has brought the faithful into Living contact with the
Mystery of Christ and his Blessed Mother distribution over time the rosary can be recited in full every day and there are those who most L lably do so in this way it fills with prayer shes the days of many a contemplative or keeps company with the sick and the elderly who have abundant
Time at their disposal yet it is clear and this applies all the more to the new series of Mysteria luchas is included that many people will not be able to recite more than a part of the Rosary according to a weekly pattern this week ly distribution has the effect of giving
The different days of the week and a certain spiritual color by analogy with the way in which the Liturgy colors the different seasons of the lurgical Year according to current practice Monday and Thursday are dedicated to the Joyful Mysteries Tuesday and Friday to the sorrowful mysteries and Wednesday
Saturday and Sunday to the Glorious Mysteries where might the mysteries of light be inserted if we consider that the Glorious Mysteries are said both Saturday and Sunday that Saturday always had a special Maran flavor the second week Med meditation on the joyful Ministries m in which Mary’s presences
Especially pronounced could be moved to Saturday Thursday would been free from for mediating the the mysteries of light this indication is not intended to limit a rightful freedom in person personal and community prayer where account needs to be taken of spiritual and pastoral needs and of the occurrence of particular lurgical
Celebrations which might call for suitable adaptations what is really important is that the rosary should always be seen and experienced as a path of contemplation in the Rosary in a way similar to as to what takes place in the Liturgy the Christian week centered on Sunday the day of Resurrection becomes a
Journey through the mysteries of the Life of Christ and he is revealed in the lives of his disciples as the Lord of time and history conclusion blessed Rosary of Mary sweet chain linking us to God what has been said so far makes abundantly clear the richness of this traditional prayer which has the
Simplicity of a popular devotion but also the theological dep of a depth of a prayer suited to those who feel the need for deeper contemplation the Church always has attributed particular efficacy to this prayer entrusting the rosary to its Coral recitation and to its con constant practice the most
Difficult problems at times when Christianity itself seemed under threat its Deliverance was attributed to the power of this prayer and Our Lady of the Rosary was acclaimed as one of those whose inter ession brought salvation today I willingly entrust the power of this prayer as I mentioned at
The beginning the cause of Peace in the world and cause of the family peace the grave challenges confronting the world at the start of this Millennium leads us to think that only an intervention from on high capable of guiding the hearts whose living in situations of conflict and
Those governing the Destinies can give reason to hope for a brighter future Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace since it consists in the contemplation of Christ The Prince of Peace the one who is our peace Ephesians 2:14 anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ and this is clearly the goal
Of the Rosary learns The Secret of peace and makes it his life’s project moreover by virtue of its meditative character with the Tranquil succession of Hail Marys the rosary has a peaceful effect on those who pray it disposing them to receive an experience in their innermost depths and to spread
Around them that true peace which is the special gift of the Risen Lord John 1427 and 2021 the rosary is also a prayer for peace because of the fruits of Charity which it produces when prayed well in a truly meditative way the rosary leads to an encounter with Christ in his mystery
And so cannot fail to draw attention to the face of Christ in others especially the most Afflicted how could one possibly contemplate The Mystery of the child of Bethlehem in the Joyful Mysteries without experiencing the desire to welcome defend and promote life and should be burdened of suffering children all over the
World how could one possibly follow in his footsteps of Christ the revealer in the mysteries of light without resolving to Bear witness to his Beatitudes in daily life and how could one contemplate Christ carrying the cross and Christ crucified without feeling the need to
Act as a Simon of sirene to our for our brothers and sisters weighed down by grief or or crushed by despair finally how could one possibly gaze upon the glory of the Risen Christ or of Mary Queen of Heaven without yearning to make this world more beautiful more just more closely
Conformed to God’s plan in a word by focusing Our Eyes On Christ the rosary also makes us peacemakers in the world by its nature as an in insistent Coral repetition in harmony with Christ’s invitation to pray ceaselessly Luke 18:1 the rosary allows us hope to hope that even today the different Battle For
Peace can be won far from offering an escape from the problems of the world the rosary of obliges us to see them with responsible and generous eyes and obtains for us the strength to face them with the certainty of God’s help and the firm intention of bearing witness in every situation to
Love which binds everything together in Perfect Harmony Colossians 3:14 the family parents as a prayer for peace the rosary is also and always has been a prayer of and for the family at one time this prayer was particularly dear to Christian families and it certainly brought them closer together it is
Important not to lose this precious inheritance we need to return to the practice of family prayers and prayer for families continuing to use the Rosary in my Apostolic letter noo millenio UTI I encourage the celebration of the literature of the Hours by the lay faithful in the ordinary life of Parish communities and
V and Christian groups I now wish to do the same for the rosary these two paths of Christian contemplation are not mutually exclusive they com they compliment one another I would therefore ask those who devote themselves to pastoral care of families to recommend heartily the recitation of the
Rosary the family that prays together stays together the Holy Rosary by its age-old tradition has shown itself particular particularly effective as a prayer which brings the family together individual family members turning their eyes towards Jesus also regain the ability to look one another in the eye to communicate to show
Solidarity to forgive one another and to see their Covenant renewed in the spirit of God many of the problems facing contemporary families especially in economically developed societies result from their increasing difficulty in communicating families seldom manage to come together and the rare occasions when they do they are often taken up with watching
Television to return to the recitation of the family Rosary means filling daily life with very different images images of the mystery of Salvation the image of the Redeemer the image of the Most Blessed Mother the family that recites the rosary together reproduces something of the atmosphere of the household of
Nazareth it’s members Place Jesus at the center they share his Jo Joys and sorrow they replace their needs with their plans in his hands they draw from him the hope and the strength to go on and children it is also beautiful and fruitful to entrust this prayer the the growth and development of
Children does the rosary not follow the Life of Christ from his conception to his his death and then to his resurrection and His glory parents are finding it ever more difficult to follow the lives of their children as they grow to maturity in a society of advanced technology mass m of Mass Communications
In globalization everything has become hurried and the cultural distance between Generations is growing ever greater the most diverse messages and the most unpredictable experiences rapidly make their way into the lives of Children and adolescents and parents can become quite anxious about the dangers their Childs face at times parents suffer acute
Disappointment at the failure of their children to resist the seductions of the drug culture The Lure of an umbri Hedonism the temptation to violence and the manifold expressions of meaninglessness and despair to pray the rosary for children and even more with children training them from their earliest years to
Experience this daily pause for prayer with the family is admittedly not the solution to every problem but it is a spiritual Aid which should not be underestimated it could be objected that the rosary seems hardly suited to the tastes of children and young people of today but perhaps the objection is
Directed to an impoverished method of praying it furthermore without prejudice to the rosary’s basic structure there is nothing to stop children and young people from praying it either within family or in groups with appropriate symbolic and practical aids to understanding and appreciation why not try it with God’s
Help and a pastoral approach to youth which is positive impassioned and creative as shown by the world youth days is capable of achieving quite remarkable results if the Rosary is well presented I am sure that young people will once more surprise adults by the way they make this prayer their own and
Recite it with the enthusiasm typical of their age group the rosary a treasure to be rediscovered dear brothers and sisters a prayer so easy and yet so rich truly deserves to be Recon rediscovered by the Christian Community let us do so especially this year as a means of confirming the
Direction outlined in my Apostolic letter Novo millennio inuent which from the P pastoral plans of so many particular churches churches have respond as drawn inspiration as they look to the immediate future I turn particularly to you my brother bishops priests and deacons and to you pastoral agents in your different
Ministries through your own personal experience and the beauty of the Rosary may you come to promote it with conviction I also placed my trust in you theologians by your sage and rigorous reflection rooted in the world word of God and sensitive to the lived experience of the Christian people you
May help them to discover the biblical foundations the spiritual riches and the Pastoral Avenue of this traditional prayer I count on you consec ated men and women called in a particular way to contemplate the face of Christ at the school of Mary I Look to all of you brothers and
Sisters of every state of life to you Christian families to you the sick and elderly and to you young people confidently take up the rosary once again ReDiscover the Rosary in the light of scripture in harmony with the Liturgy and in the context of your daily
Lives may this appeal of mine not go unheard at the start of the 25th year of my pontificate I entrust this Apostolic letter to the Loving Hands of the Virgin Mary prostrating myself in spirit before her image and The Splendid Shrine built for her by blessed Baro Longo the Apostle of the
Rosary I willingly make my own touching words with with which concluded his well-known supplication to the queen of the Holy Rosary oh blessed Rosary of Mary sweet chain which unites us to God Bond of Love which unites us to the angels Tower of Salvation against the assaults of Hell safe port in our
Universal shipwreck we will never abandon you you will be our comfort in the hour of death yours our final kiss as life webs away and the last word from our lips will be your sweet name oh Queen of the Rosary of Pompei oh dearest mother oh Refuge of Sinners oh Sovereign consoler
Of The Afflicted May you be everywhere blessed today and always on Earth and in Heaven from the Vatican on the 16th of day of November in the year 2002 the beginning of the 25th year of my pontificate history of the sanctuary of Pompei by blessed Baro Longo printed at the valet D pompe
Editing School of typography of Baro Longo 1895 introduction having received from Heaven not one but innumerable benefits and not least among these that of a life preserved through the intercession of our great mother whom we venerate in Pompei by her title of the Rosary I could not fail to realize my
Great debt of gratitude and I felt my heart burn with an immense desire to love and praise Mary and Lead others also to love and praise her from the very moment that this loving mother showed herself so mer merciful unto me it became my firm purpose to consecrate my life to her
Service and to the propagation of her worship especially of the Divine Rosary so acceptable unto her hence arose my intention of spending nearly 500 Franks of my own to raise a simple altar on this abandoned plane around which to gather the simple country Folk in order
To instruct them in the re recital of the Rosary the events I have have surpassed my intention it was only when I beheld the blessing of God descending so abundantly upon my humble efforts that I first planned to raise a throne to Our Lady of such beauty and religious
Attractiveness as to draw the faithful here to venerate her on the spot nor yet could I oppose any obstacle to the designs of the Lord when suddenly I found myself in the midst of such unusual and prodigious events that it was simply impossible for me to explain and when day after day I
Received letters bearing testimony to the benefits received telling of a health Mira a health miraculously recuperated and of in mble and extraordinary Graces bestowed at the invocation of the virgin of Pompei it appeared to me that there was no better way to choose than to Second what providence itself was working out
And what it has done everyone sees but in order that even those who are distant and cannot themselves come to Valley de Pompei to behold the great works of of the Lord may join together with us to exalt her mother and to invoke her Aid with faith and
Efficacy I have had to go a step further namely I have been obliged to reach the determination to render her a still greater Honor by narrating the various facts some of them may have very significant in the eyes of the world which containing in themselves as they do the
Germ of a development Superior to any human provision have been the origin of events of a most extraordinary nature but not only have I wished to narrate them with that Consciousness veracity and exactness required by history precisely as persons worthy of belief have referred them to us and as
We have beheld them with our own eyes but I have also wished to study them deeply knowing as well as I do that the works of God in their eloquent language are at once simple and profound and here I find it my duty to confess that in the study of these facts
I have found a link a superior principle an agent of infinite Perfection which connects and binds them a starting point on which as Dante aligar says heaven and all nature do depend this truth I have sought to instill in the minds of my readers and
It appears to me that a history of the sanctuary of Pompei written with this Criterion must answer the demands not only of those who read to satisfy their religious appetite admiring The Works of God but also of those believers who still feel the need of an accurate
Research of the truth in order to glorify him certainly if one consider the incessant stream of visitors of all classes and conditions of pilgrims of men of note of Bishops and of those high in authority and church and state of entire religious communities who undertake long Journeys from all points
Of the compass to come and pray before an altar raised on a spot wholly unknown 15 years ago in fact dreaded until a short while since by Travelers as a resort of Thieves and vagabonds and now change suddenly into a renowned sanctuary if one behold the vast edifice here
Raised by the faith of so many peoples of diverse tongues and that will cost no less than two millions one cannot help being struck by a profound ADM admiration and stimulated not only to examine the proofs of all Supernatural events uced but also to investigate in what Manner and by which logical
Connection of of things and ideas is this faith has become spread abroad on all sides how has this thing come to pass how came such a fact to be possible in our 19th century in which the broad and sincere faith of the Middle Ages has no
Hold this is a question that will be put by many to answer it I have not felt the need of allowing myself to be guided by too impetuous a Zeal much less by that certain fanaticism of which often times Prejudiced and over clouded Minds accuse Catholic
Writers but I have with a cool and accurate disquisition strengthened by testimonies and by the evidence of facts and of Faith narrated that which every man who does not willfully desire to deny the light that triumphantly appears must in good conscience affirm with sure servants and this I have done without
Ought adding or ought hiding but simply followed the pure and full truth the Duke of St Simmon was want to say that when he wrote he shut his door to men and told a story that was to be confided in to a century later later I have written these pages in my
Little study situated on the first room continuous to the sacr sanctuary of our beloved mother of Pompeii from this room I behold the summit of Mount Garo and made memorable by The Apparition of the AR Archangel St Michael to St catello Bishop of Castell Mari in the silence that rains in
Wintertime in this Valley it has often times seemed to me that I was alone in the midst of a desert world and at the sight of a lovely Azure sky above me and at the contemplation of that mount which constantly recalls to my mind the celestial Apparition and the Angelic
Colloquy it has seemed to me while writing that I too far from speaking to Mortals of this Earth was conversing with beings who soar through the infinitude of space to them have I concluded or confided my simple tale and thus do I give it to the Press every lover of truth will find
Means to convince himself of its presence here I have quoted names domiciles and Witnesses because as the persons are yet living they may be questioned and so the reader having thus convinced himself of the veracity of my recital will also bear te testimony to the
Truth and for this reason I am sure that the history of the sanctuary of Pompei will find two species of contradictor the first will be that of the the Skeptics or freethinkers who hearing a history interwoven with M Miracles and Supernatural events will shrug their shoulders and smile derisively and laugh
At our own credulity which they will term Superstition and so will with a very easy and convenient method deny everything with such as these we will undertake no reasoning or dispute as their manner of getting out of a difficulty is by systematically denying everything instead we invite them not to
Read this history but to come to Valley de Pompei and there will have to believe their own eyes in fact several have come have seen and have believed in a Divine Providence that regulates events in this spot in a matter wholly Supernatural the other class of Contra contradictor
Is that composed of Christians or rather of false Christians who enjoy contradicting sometimes because of their fality and sometimes because of incapable of governing their love of slander and forgetting the great saying of the Redeemer judge not that ye be not judged often pronounced to the most inconsiderate
Verdicts often producing a great great harm than they themselves suspected this is a class much to be feared as they appear to speak for the love of truth but this class is complex those who speak in good faith either oppose or curse the work of God because they hear
Others in whom they blindly Trust to do the same and without searching for the truth themselves they do as the Sheep of whom the poet wrote and as the one so too the others do for such as these this history will be of use as it will at least serve a
More seriously call the attention of their conscience and of their judgment of his work and move them to see and examine if what we state is true those of bad faith belong to the evil seed of Judah and to the priests of the Old Law who killed Jesus thinking
Thus to do such a thing that would be pleasing in the sight of God for these there is no other hope than the mercy of Mary to Enlighten and convert them and for these too do we pray book first the ancient Valley of Pompei chapter 1 ancient and modern
Pompei The Traveler who wishes in the space of a few hours to visit the sanctuary that rises in honor of the virgin of the Rosary on this peace of Heaven Fallen to Earth as The Poets called this par vesuvian Zone but to present himself at the station of Naples and ask
For a return ticket for Valley D Pompei the next stopping place after Pompei the whole trip takes but 65 minutes what a delightful Road the beautiful sea as clear and blue as the sky it reflects is never lost sight of during the whole trip and it lies
Rippling and dazzling to the right of the railroad track first he passes along the open broad sea beach after which he leaves to the left smiling portii resina the ancient hunam and opl once sisters in morning to stabia and to ponpe over which like a giant on guard ever tow grand old
Vvus with his high crest of smoke to the right his eye wanders across the broad Gulf even further ever further till arrested by the mountains that rear themselves immediately behind behind the cast Amari then slowly shifting his gauge towards the poetical shores of fair sento that ever recall to mind the sweet
Singer of The gofredo Immortal tasso he beholds long lost in the blue Azure of the distance as though hung between sea and sky point minurva but already the scene has changed Tori Del Greco the city of corals 12 times rebuilt by its inhabitants who have ever pertinaciously returned to the ruins of
Their City covered by the lava of vvus obstinate enemy of spirits still more obstinate an obstinate enemy of spirits still more obstinate in the love of their native soil has been passed on the left so too has t a nonata flourishing in its Commerce and industries left
Behind the train now stops at the station of ancient Pompei but the Valley of the sanctuary has not been reached as yet though the traveler is wholly intent on going directly to venerate the great mother of God in her Monumental Temple nevertheless hearing the conductor call out Pompei he almost unconsciously looks out
Of the window a thousand indistinct confused ideas of antiquity of history of paganism and of Ruin Rush simultaneously to his mind Pompei magic historical word that attracts the attention and the study of All Earth’s cultured men Pompei Splendid and Majestic among all the truscan cities that vaunted capua for their
Metropolis senica and tacitus Flores and Titus lius called her fair and flourishing because of the beauty of her Sky the activity of her Commerce and the importance of her Communications softly reclining on velvet Hills she rested her head on the side of a mountain of fire Fountains of
Pure water flowing forth from the Sarno refreshed her bosom and at her feet in a calm Repose lay The Smiling Gardens with the in with the fertile Plains irrigated By the Waters of that historic River in in those days navigable but that mountain vomited devouring Flames destruction rained and poured from its
Heaving its heaving sides buing every grandure in its train and over that immense he hecome like a funeral Paul was throwing a sheet of Ashes The Traveler sees but a huge mound of Earth and lail once that once buried a whole generation of living beings beneath their pitiless weight and scarce
Noticing that the train is already moving along he gazes on the long stretch of walls of roofless and ruined dwellings sees columns some still intire and standing others broken and Fallen pass rapidly before his View you intermingled with the remains of a broken vaults and the ruins of painted
Walls till he cites the amphitheater once giving over to the spectacle of human butcheries unconsciously his brows contract in almost unknown to himself he has become sad and pensive his thoughts have reverted back to the life habits and habituations of a people long sense distinct Roman specters seemed to wander about those
Heights from the contemplation of those stones still standing after a lapse of 18 centuries his imagination descends to the deserted streets to that intricate web of long narrow Melancholy alleys there is still the road paved with vesuvian stones shaped like trapezoids they’re still the Cobblestone sidewalk they’re still the marks of the
Heavy carts and vehicles upon the Pavements the houses and the shops the edifices and vast temples still seem to await the return of their masters The Fountains and statues the painting and the exercise grounds for a aristocratic youth the tomb the mosaics porticos theaters and Amphitheater all speak of the Roman
Grandeur but the Masters returned no more all that Splendid came to an end that Pagan grandor did not go beyond the tomb and so and not did it know that the future Destinies of the human race mute are the Forum the public baths and the Temple of a
Apollo mute the pantheon the Temple of Augustus the two theaters and the vast Amphitheater 18 centuries of Silence lay heavily on them five minutes have not passed and the sharp whistle of the locomotive reminds the traveler that he has left the station of Pompei that there is no
More and is approaching that of the Pompei which is rising the scene as if by enchantment has changed a spelt and elegant Capa appears a long way off after the Capa brilliant with light and displaying its variegated white and black checks appear in immense building distending itself along the side of the sanctuary
Then in front came other minor edifices still the eye traveling further and further on behold on beholds a straight road an Avenue shaded by a quadruple row of plon and Eucalyptus that started from a marble column a mil Stone that bears the legend via sakra and now finally has reached the
Station of valet D Pompei his foot scarcely touched the ground before the solemn sound of a bell reached his ear those slow vibrations resounding through the valley extend the trim Olo of their sonorous waves of sound far into the desert streets of the m City the Christian’s heart can scarcely repress its vinant
Palpitations at such new and unexpected Impressions by the side of a land of death he has suddenly come upon a land of resurrection and of Life instead of an Amphitheater stained with blood he beholds a Temple alive with the faith in love a temple sacred to the mother
Made opposite a city dead in Pagan demachy throbs a new Chast and Noble life that takes its origin from the new civilization that takes its origin from the new civilization introduced by Christianity the new Pompei the 18th centuries of Silence hovered over those tombs are broken by the sacred toll and the secular
Melancholy of that spot is gladdened by the tender song of children by the little Orphans of the Rosary who from within the pale of a sacred sacred Ark praise the Lord it is the new civilization by the side of the old modern art by the side of the ancient
That is here clearly to be observed Christianity the source of of life face to face with paganism whose son has set forever but this singular confrontation of life and death on the self-same so soil becomes still more evident as soon as the threshold of the sanctuary has been
Crossed here the glory of modern Christian and Italian painting and sculpture shines forth in its full split Splendor those colored marbles of perfect workmanship of incomparable Hue and luster those frescos of the coua of the apsis and of the entire ceiling of the sanctuary the angels that form a
Crown around the upper part of the church those finely worked statues of bronze and marble that wealth of gliding through the vast edifice that wondrous softness of tints that Perfection of Christian art and its purely Tuscan style all these are eloquent voices that loudly speak to the heart of the
Traveler and to the mind of every lover of arts and the religion of saying here the new art has succeeded to the old the new civilization has supplanted the ancient he here Christianity triumphs over paganism all this great movement of life and art of civilization and re religion
Do not exist here 11 years ago all this Splendid all this Splendor that bursts on the sight of the visitor is like a sweet Vision after the dark and Melancholy thoughts of death and ruin had no existence but a few years ago go and here the traveler will want to
Know how so rapid a change that must be of a necessity seems an seem an exaggeration to the distance and appears as a dream even to those who are present came to pass to satisfy this just desire I must however begin far back and to reveal the earliest origin of this great phenomenon
But prior to the beginning of these researches it appears to me wise and reasonable to permit a few truths that will place my narrative in a more evident light one the work of pom is the work of God the Virgin Mary is directing it to his glory and the means of promulgation
Of which she avails herself are miracles in this work is hidden a profound and secret design of God not yet fully developed and when God Wills a thing be men willing or not it is sure to be accomplished this much we can asservate without fear of aing that
Surely it is a design of Mercy however however we must confess that we ourselves are at first mistaken because of our lack of understanding of the Divine signs we thought in the beginning that they were but designs of Mercy to be shown to the poor country folk of this
Valley and we blindly followed the impulse that we felt within us to instruct and benefit merely the ignorant people of the country roundabout but with the lapse of years with the unceasing multiplying of the prodigies of our Heavenly queen with the centuplicate of letters and of foreigners and of strangers from the
Most remote regions of the world returned to us either to thank the Virgin for benefits received or to ask for new favors with the coming hither of so many illustrious personages and church and the state authorities so that often times our shoulders can scarce bear so heavy a
Load and still we Behold a constant increase a steady progress we have at last become aware of the fact that God’s design is one of Mercy yes but not of partial but of universal M Mercy if the work of Pompei is the work of God it must needss be constantly
Opposed the gospel Comforts us and teaches us that Our Redeemer was the first to be placed as a sign that should be contradicted Signum in quo contradictor contradiction is the distinguishing sign of all his works this is the sure a sign that your work
Is is the work of God thus spake to us one day the greatest personages of our times the high pontiff Leo I 13th because you suffer contradiction but the Virgin will cause your work to Triumph and in fact as will be seen by this history there has not been a
Triumph of the sanctuary that was not preceded by a battle nor a glory not ceeded by a humiliation thus will our reader see how constantly all our great consolations have only come after great bit bitterness and that in all our arduous trials we have been sustained and lengthened by The
Loving hand of the Mistress of his Valley whose title is the queen of Victories three in this word work of Pompei Providence inconvertible manifests itself that Providence so often denied or cursed in these days without any sure income without any surplus without any fixed Capital without any help from city or state
Government thousands of Franks are spent weekly and hundreds of families workmen children and orphans are daily supported on Saturday evening not a scent remains but on the following Saturday the money is there ready and forthcoming and this has been going on for 12 years and we have in this matter
Succeeded in dispersing more than 3 million Franks who can doubt that there exists a Providence four from Facts in which I myself have either been an actor or which I have been and still am a witness as I will show it will be easy for everyone to conclude that there is
Not a sinner so lost but that he may find safety in the rosary of Mary there is not a soul however bound and chained by Satan that cannot break loose from its bonds by holding on to that chain of Refuge which the Queen of Heaven extends from
Above for the Salvation of of the Shipwrecked in life’s Tempest tempestuous sea five to triumphantly carry on even the most difficult and arduous Works undertaken for the honor of God there is no need either of riches of power or of wisdom when all things are done as
Ordained and with sincere faith for all the rest one thing alone that draws from Heaven the full abundance of superhuman Health it is necessary and that is a right intention chapter 2 the ancient Valley of Pompei one the unexplored valley prior to beginning this historical narrative it seems to me to
Be a wise plan to premit a few notice regarding the spot where the events chronicled in the sketch that I have that have taken place if the building of a new city and of a monumental Temple erected in the shortest possible time in an open and abandoned
Country like that that like a magnet attracts the heart of so many inhabitants of this globe is a remarkable fact then too is it important to know what this spot chosen by Providence in this Century of ours so prone to deny Providence as the theaters
Of its portense was in Times Gone by and what is what it is today now that the Queen of Angels has chosen it as the seat of her throne of mercies whosoever comes from the amphitheater of Pompei continues on his way towards scafati and lets his eyes roam over the
Surrounding country a most beautiful Valley presents itself this Valley lying to the Southward of Mount Vesuvius is irrigated to the right and to the left by Two Rivers the Sarno and the ca Canal of the Sarno and fertile and rich in various annual Productions it lies smiling for many miles round about the
Solitary ruins a long chain of mountains a Spur projecting from the epines for for about east to west a broad and ample belt round about they are the same mountains that hedge in the Valley of the Sarno lengthening themselves out towards alfi and then finishing the circle Tower around towards the South above
Cast lar D stabia till with a long arm they can stretch themselves down to the Sea at the point of serento or as it is also called the point of the Campanella thus crowned by her mountains covered for the most part with luxuriant and vegetation of oil of chestnut trees
And brimming over with life teeming in numberless beautiful Villages that Nestle on their Summits or their slopes this Valley reposes proudly between two neighboring mountains that give her Renown in historic Fame these are to the north Vesuvius that with its menacing crater and rough rugged sides stands directly
Over her like a Lord and Master and mount goo to the South that with its three dark Peaks covered with fruit bearing woods and olive trees watches over her like a protector or a sentinel on guard this spot today strewn with farmhouses buildings and Villas that day by day in increasing
Numbers cluster around the growing sanctuary of the Roses numbered at the beginning of the present Century but a few souls and today thanks to the movement of life and art all of which the rising Temple and The Works instituted by us are the origin It numbers more than
3,000 this Valley has today become famous not through the Antiquity of the joyed destroyed Pagan City or the number of visitors curious to behold ancient monuments but in truth through the Marvels here done by the Blessed Virgin by means of her new Temple dedicated to the rosary and Through The Concourse of
Numberless ill illustrious pilgrims who flock hither from every city and every climb to vener at her who is the queen of Graces and of mercies and consoler of the inflicted but what was once this Valley that today has become the center of the affection of hundreds of thousands of
Faithful what was its name in bygone days what is what its history in the days of false and lying gods during the course of all these centuries that have elapsed since the year of Our Lord 79 year in which Pompei was destroyed to the present day that which we now call Valley of
Pompei was unknown or we had perhaps better say unexplored even in the writings of the Learned we find no mention of it should one of our readers even today question students of antiquity and ask them what became of the country lying to the east and south of ancient Pompei after the year
79 whether we went the dispersed pompan after the day of the Fatal in destruction of their beloved City their answer would be it’s hard to say the fact is no one could ever have imagined that this obscure unknown and unstudied Valley had been so-called ever since the
Remotest Antiquity and that the name it to the name it today Bears of Valley de Pompei as its own right by historic who could ever have supposed that this abandoned spot chosen by Mary as the center of her portense in this 19th century could have had the historical
Importance it did not only in the time when ancient Pompei was at the height of its Glory but also in the middle centuries from the 11th to the 17 we have therefore been doubly fortunate we have given birth with new with a new Sanctuary raised in honor of
The queen of the Rosary to a new town that may become the new Pompei not only but we also have found the key that unlocks the door to a better knowledge of the historical importance of this Valley dear to Mary the way we came to make this important Discovery was was very
Simple in 1887 in order to prepare for the Triumph of the Blessed Virgin in this Valley on that ever memorable day of the 8th of May Day in which she was to take possession of her throne in Pompei we not only build on ground belonging to us a small station bearing
The name of valet de Pompei for the greater convenience of all visitors to the sanctuary we not only opened through the fields of the defusco family an Avenue leading from said station to the sanctuary Avenue which we call Vias sakra but we also at the own expense
Made a square and one extremity of which we began to dig the foundations of a model modern working men’s home when lo and behold whilst digging the foundations some ruins appear proceeding carefully the neighbors came upon ancient rooms and upon monuments of the pompeian epoch these having been studied by the
Famous archaeologist ludovico Pepe were the cause of his writings the history of this Valley from the first century of the Christian era up to the present day and this his history is enriched and sustained by the incontrovertible documents found by rumaging among the old parchments hidden in the diois
Archives as well as those of the various libraries and notori files following therefore the revelations afforded by The Monuments discovered by us and the studiio and learned researchers brilliantly concluded by the very distinguished archaeologist ludovico Pepe we are glad to offer to the reader of the history of the
Sanctuary of Pompei a brief epilogue of 18 centuries of history in this Valley till yesterday abandoned and forgotten by all but chosen by Providence unto the glory of the Virgin for the moral and civil resurrection of this pompeian people and for the increase and spread of Faith so rapidly decreasing in the world
Two the ancient Valley in the first century what was the valley of Pompei in these days in which Pagan Pompei flourished the valley We call we today call Valley of Pompei was in the times of the ancient city called campus pompus it was crossed by roads that from pompe led to stabia to
Noera and to other important towns in the Valley of the Sno and it was also in intersected by roads that from this spot led to the above city named cities for this reason besides all agricultural City Industries also could freely Prosper here rustic Villas manufacturies and shops adorned the outlying country
Rich in luxuriant vegetation but what was the state of this Valley after the eruption when the city and its surroundings had been buried beneath the ashes and lapilli and all around remained mute and desolate a ray of Life appeared on the spot nearest the amphitheater on the very site of our ex
Excavations that we began on the western side of a large Square we opened a new Pompei here on top of the ancient monuments we found the tombs of those who had lived there after the eruption these tombs we we found excavated in the ashes and built on the lail erupted in the year
79 they are tombs for the poor prepared without show and proving that those who built them were obliged to content themselves with what they could get they are pagan tombs in them were found the ointment boxes the lamps placed placed at the feet of the body all of which objects we have collected
And preserved the constructions which we found built on top of the ancient ones are the work of the new inhabitants of the valley a still more evident indication of the important Discovery was a piece of brass money of the emperor Diocesan found in a room built against
Some anci icient walls that belong to an Epoch greatly anterior to the eruption the Roman Emperor dioclesian lived in the 3 Century therefore the occupants of this house must have lived there at least until the 4th Century as we have found monuments belonging to that Century that most evidently prove
The valley to have been inhabited we again find this Valley mentioned in the 9th century by the name of compus pompus by the chronicle Martino Monaco who in the history of the transfer of the body of St Bartholomew from Lear to benavento tells that sardo Prince of benevito for fear that the
Sarasin might attempt a disembarkment had encamped his army ano 83 38 in Pompeo Campo Quia pompea deser accepted campus pompus it was therefore called in the 9th century from the name of the destroyed city of Pompei in Campania at any rate whether the Campo or the valley it takes its name from
Pompea it may be for this reason that the old curate of valet Don giovan siril killo who had died within the last year took for the motto to be engraven on his seal the words perish of the Most Holy Savior the ancient ient land of vol a pompea as we will
Narrate three the sacred Valley the first pompeian Christians here very naturally one’s curiosity might be aroused to know whether among the first inhabitants of valet deep Pompei there were any converts to the Christian faith we will satisfy this this Desire by stating that in the ancient city was not even the slightest vesage
Of Christianity found and that for this reason the valley of Pompei inhabited by an idolatrous pompeian fugitives remained for a long time in the darkness of paganism the ray of new civilization that had together with the Christian Christianity penetrated Naples and Rome and nearly all Italy watered by the blood of
Martyrs was very late in illumining the minds of the descendants of that City so famous for its luxury and Gentile voluptuousness and whose ruins to this day bear the impress of dissoluteness and depravity we must reach the fourth Century in order to find the first traces of Christianity in
Pompei it is true that in the excavations of Pompei there was found a lamp with a sign of the cross but father yuchi of the Jesuits in his pompeian questions recognized that cross signed lamb certainly distinguishing a feature of the fourth Century that is to say of those same inhabitants whom
Fiorelli and all archaeologists declare to belong to the third and fourth centuries these inhabitants were want to go and dig Within the Ruins of ancient Pompei and by making apertures in the upper part of the houses they entered them and carried off anything of value some of them however after being
After having penetrated through the apertures remain AED buried within and were suffocated by the falling of lapo and of ruins thus has explained the presence of a Christian lamp in the 4th Century among the excavations of Pompei neither have we found in the vast Ed edifice brought to light by us any
Trace of Christianity but certainly those same Christians of the third C the fourth Century who inhabited that part of the valley excavated by us were the progenitors of those pompeians who built the Church of the Most Holy Savior on the banks of the river Sno not quite a
Mile distant from the Unearthed F Fon the first time we find the church mentioned by any writer is in the year 1093 it can therefore with safety be asserted that after the destruction of Pompei a hamlet was built in the underlying Valley and along the banks of the river
Sarno in those days navigable and this Hamlet taking its name from the situation in which it was built that is in the lower part along the river was called valet and here a church in honor of the Most Holy Savior was erected around this church there dispersed inhabitants of all the valley
Gathered and thus formed the new city according to the principles of the philosophy of History given to us by Vico of the flux and reflux of generations and of various epochs we would call to the notice of the reader a singular fact that as the formation of the city of
Valet was begun by the building of a church around wh which the first inhabitants gathered so in this our Century around the Church of the Rosary the scattered dwellers in the modern Valley are clustering thus to form a new city and if the sanctuary that today rises in our midst is of great
Importance even socially considered of no less importance was the Church of the new poman Christians in fact it is to be seen according to Pepe that in 1093 the ancient Church of valet became an Abbey it having been given by the bishop of NOA Sasson to Hugo Abbot of the Benedictine months of
Aversa in 12:15 we find it mentioned in the brief in eminente apist sis of the high pontiff inet III from this we learn that the ab of valy was extended from the sea to Vesuvius and to the east as far as the Sno it was in 1337 that this Rich abbey church of
Valet in the campus pomus became poor and dowless then those same benedic te months of a versa seated the church and the town of Val and the property of the Church of Bernardo KOLO in permutation which possessions from that day formed the Feud of the noble family of the kacho of neighbors Naples
KOLO enjoyed the benefit of these possessions but the church became exceedingly impoverished whence the citizens of the University of Val in the 16th century decided Ed to endow it but from that time it re-entered the jurisdiction of the bishop of Nola however the ancient citizens of valet as far back as
1511 thus acquired the socalled right of patronage which was to present to the bishop of Nola the nominee for the pastorship even to this day the Parish of the Most Holy Savior in valet de Pompei is is one of the only 18 parishes in Italy in which the right of electing
A pastor by the voice of the people is in full Vigor what a singular Valley this is Pepe however had good reason to doubt the authenticity of the bull of Julius II of the Year 1511 which with which this right of popular election election is conferred
For the first time and that to the people of valet he sus suspects it to be apocryphal as he had not yet been able to find in the archives of Rome the said bull not even among such of them as are printed moreover he finds it to be
Identical to another bull sent to the citizens of bolognia but we commit the the care of the research as to the truth in this matter to the diosas authority a watchful guardian of all ecclesiastical rights four the valley of Pompei the theater of war in the Middle
Ages the land of valet is mentioned in the Middle Ages not only because of its church as we have seen but also because of its Castle F Feud and Township with its municipality or university and with its Mayors from documents found in the grand archives of Naples in the National
Library of the same city and with the important archives of the Episcopal sea of Nola where the accounts of holy visits made by Pastors in those times still preserved it is clear to see that the township of valet was well inhabited and guarded by a castle more important than the one of
Scafati and in occasion of the historical conspiracy of the Barons promoted by the prince of Toronto against Ferdinand I of Aragon on this Valley Rises into importance not far distant from here near the town of Sarno Ferdinand came to battle with the enjun forces and they were strengthened by the troops of the
Conspiring Barons famous defeat of Sarno fell to the lot of Ferdinand the following day as is known in history the end join army went to castella Mari D stabia passing through our territory of valet meanwhile it came to pass that in the year 1459 Lewis KOLO the great feudal Lord of our Valley
Took the side of the Barons in the famous conspiracy but ferdinan protected by Pope Pas II of Piccolo mini Piccolo mini and coagu by Anthony picolomini a nephew of the Pope routed the army of the Barons took the rebellious Louie KOLO prisoner pardoned him his life but took
From him the feud of the valley which he gave to his faithful toraldo in 1550 the views the feud of the valet was by toraldo sold to Jacob of the bis from whose hands it passed into those of alons piccolomini who bought the entire Feud of valet that is the castle the houses
The Palace of the university the men the vassals and all the feud feudal rights whence later he received the title of Prince of valy because of these things our Valley was in 1647 elevated to the Dignity of a principality history of the sanctuary of Pompei part two
Chapter 2 Section 5 destruction of the ancient Township of Val in the 17th century but when and how was the ancient Terror D destroyed the prince of Val alons piccolomini in order to draw the water of the Sno to put in motion the will the Mills
He owned in scaf FTI and in Tori caused enormous Palisades and long dkes to be build which in a short time produced an overflow of the river thus not only did navigation become impossible but the Overflow wter having collected into pools and having become stagnant with pesta the feris Exile
Exhalations the air soon became fatal to all the populations of s of noera of scafa of striano of San Petro of San Valentino of angry and other towns an enormous Paradise the most fatal of all and a dyke of 950 Palms was near the Church of the Most Holy Savior
And from that church took their name hence from that day the inhabitants began to decrease partly on account of the mortality and partly on account of immigration in vain did the poor suffering communities go to law and obtain favorable sentences the prince of Val with the usual high-handedness of feudal barrons
Constituted himself superior to the law with such a decrease of citizens the s in the Val in the University of Valley became scarcer and scarcer in number till the Terr till the terrible and famous Pest of 1656 mowed down the last of the victims leaving intact but three families whose descendants are still
Living but the complete abandonment of the town of Val is to be placed in the year year 1659 after 3 years that is to say in 1662 the ancient Parish was reduced to a simple benefice by decree of the bishop of Nola In His Episcopal visit of that year but that Bishop monsenor
Kaga perhaps because so inspired by Heaven placed at the foot of said degree the following lines should the inhabitants of Val in the future reached the number of 15 this church is to be reintegrated in its rights is to have the care of souls that Clause seemingly so slight
Importance enclos The Germ of the resurrection of a dead C City chapter three the valley after its destruction one the dismembered Valley and so the inhabitants who were not killed by the deadly miasma or by the pestilence were scattered to distant Parts many families settled down in the
Country round about the modern Valley and built new dwellings far away from the river along the roads that lead to aano and to Naples taking advantage of the materials remaining from the demolished buildings of the ancient Casal other families went to dwell with the populations of the near towns that
Is to say of Tor an noada and of Bosco real a city lying in the province of Naples and of scafati that formed forms a part of the Providence of cerno this is the good reason why a part of the Terra deali goes with scafar a part with té
Anada a part with the Bosco real meanwhile still another part as far as ecclesiastical jurisdiction is concerned is subject to the province of Tiara de lavaro because in this latter Province lies Nola but however this happened only after the destruction of the township and of the parish
Ofal the fact from 11 to 16th century in which period of time we find the terror of Ali so often mentioned in all of the documents we can discover no reference made to the Cal or settled Township other than by the simple name of Val without any further
Designation and the historic reason for this is most evident before té anada and Bosco real even before scafati existed valet was a Township fully autonomous with its Feud and Castle its municipality or university with its Mayors and Parish priests the township of Val the historian guani tells us was well populated and
Had an entity all its own the territory over which the church had spiritual jurisdiction was as vast as is now that over which the parishes of Tor anunziata and and of Bosco real of comparatively recent formation have jurisdiction it is therefore evident that in the second half of
The 17th century when the malarious air caused the obliteration of the township a part of that dist District became Incorporated in the province of solerno and a part remained as here to for in the province of Naples but in the year 1740 after the building of the ancient Parish of the
Most blessed savior of Ali near the river had been destroyed few inhabitants of the new valley together with the parish priest and the bishop of NOLA who obtained necessary decree from the sacral sacred Congregation of the Bishops and regulars rebuilt The New Parish of the most
Blessed savior of the Tera Dev Val in the district of B bosor rale and the province of Naples and precisely on the spot called the fosa D valy the ditch of Valley today belonging to té anun and from that year we may date the beginnings of a new aoch which is that
That of the modern valet D Pompeo two the name of the modern Valley having thus shown the distinction and Independence of the Void of valet as regards the neighboring communes not to mention the autonomy of the Parish of Val rebuilt on territory lying in the province of Naples yet let
Us now proceed to prove how very natural it was the title of Pompei should be given to the valley lying round about the ancient ruins on the testimony of the already mentioned chronicler of the nth 9th century Martino Monaco we are informed that in the times following the
Destruction of Pompei when the memory of the location of the ancient city still lasted in the minds of men the valley that stretched itself out on its feet could was known by the name of Campo P Pompano nor could it have been otherwise it was the celebrated name of Pompei that naturally gave rise to the adjective Pompeo as applied to the surrounding fields and there was no other inhabited spot that could have ured the name then between the 9th and the 10th centuries all knowledge of the location
Of ancient Pompei disappeared completely from the memory of man and when in the 11th century a small Church dedicated to the Savior was here built and round about the church a town it was named Val on account of its position in a valley near the river Sarno and so this appalation took place
Of that of Pompei and of Campo poano did the word Valley require a distinctive adjective in those days it was not necessary because the town of valet was in itself important and autonomous moreover neither scafati nor té anunciada nor Bosco real had as yet risen but even if they had wished to
Give a distinguishing title to the township they most certainly would have called it valet D Pompei had they known of the ruins buried almost beneath their feet it is evident thus concludes the above mentioned Pepe that if the location of Pompei had been known the underlying Township that
Touched the very outskirts of the ancient city would without any doubt have been called the valley D Pompei as we have seen it was named before Campo popano in the year 838 but the real keynote to the valley is given us by history and by the church there built
And by public documents which go to prove the truth of what we write thus after the charge of souls have been abolished there the ancient Church of the Redeemer in valet which was situated near the present Royal Powder Magazine remained standing till the year 1740 in that year it was demolished and
Rebuilt a little more than a mile further off opposite the ancient Tavern of the prince of Val today property of Count defusco On The Spot called the ditch of Val fosa valy in the province of Naples this spot is the line of demarcation between the two provinces because the Taverna de Val
Belonging to the count defusco is comprised in the territory of scaa in the province of Salerno and the Parish of the Most Holy Savior of Val opposite in the town of Tor anunciada in the province of Naples it was these reasonable moments that induced Don de Don Giovani
Cillo the First Parish priest of this modern Valley a man well posted as to the first origin of his Parish and who had read important documents in ancient inscriptions to have a seal to be placed on all public acts papers and parochial documents engraved with the inscription per Parish of the Most Holy
Savior in the ancient land of valet de pompea we have as we have already stated and the valley is full of papers bearing that Legend all the present citizens have have some of these documents either as attestations of birth or of baptism or as certificates of marriage or of death and the
Like today after two centuries have elapsed since the destruction of the town and of the parish both town and Parish come to life again the parish that was reinstated as far back as 1840 assumed together with its ancient title of Parish of the Most Holy Savior in valet
Also a part of its territory which was divided among the three communes of two provinces the township of valet whose res resur Resurrection began on the eth day of May 1887 on the day of the coronation of the virgin of the Rosary with its worldview known known as
Sanctuary with its trade schools and charitable institutions with its infant and orphan asylums with its post and Telegraph offices with its schools and workingmen’s homes with its own station bearing the name of valet D Pompei shall it not also in this historic spot resume its ancient denomination this resurrected Parish this newborn
Commune how should we have called it the first time that we wrote the history of this Sanctuary how would the reader have called it in order to distinguish it from other places and towns in Italy that also bear the name of Val we designated it by a historical
Adjective it lies halfway between SC scava and Tor anunciada near the celebrated rumin of Pompei now no longer unknown but discovered and Unearthed more than a century ago who would not be naturally inclined to add the designation of Pompei to the word Valley this was the ancient Campo papon
And this must be the valley of Pompei and as the Pompei stands above it and as we have here near the sanctuary discovered monuments tombs streets and shops belonging to Pompei who is he who would call this Valley other than the valley D Pompei now the name of valet de Pompei
Is already established the parish priest Giovani cillo who died in 1887 was the first to call his Parish that of the valet de Pompei we also in founding the celebrated Church of the rosary around which a new generation is clustering so called it and lastly it was so-called by
The government and the department of males and ter telegam s so it was called by The Railroad Society so by the direction of taxes of scafati the notaries of Naples of castol lamare of Bosco real and of scafati so call it in their public instruments so it was called by
The bishop of Nola when asking privileges for it from the holy sea also by the high pontiff Le Leo I 13th in his briefs and rescripts in favor of the sanctuary of the most holy rosary so by all the scientists composing the Italian and foreign meteorological Societies in distinguishing from others the me
Meteoric R meteoric geodynamic volcanological Observatory of the valley of Pompei and last of all the world that looks with Wonder and with faith towards this spot called it by no other name save that of Valley de Pompei three the parish and the tavern of valet having reached this point of our
Historical researches we must still dwell for a moment on on the parish and Tavern of vol as it is on this small plot of ground that all the extraordinary events we are about to relate have taken place the ancient settlement having been destroyed and the old church of the
Savior in val near the river demolished in 1740 a new parochial church was built about a mile distant and precisely in the already mentioned locality of the ditch of Val opposite the renowned Tavern of valet with the materials of the same and with the money
Obtained by the sale of a bell of the ancient Bell Tower of Val which was sold in Bosco rale for 150 duats at the beginning of this Century that is in 1840 the inhabitants of this Valley having reached the number of 300 and more it became incum incumbent on
Monsenor pasca then Bishop of Nola to act upon the already mentioned Memorial of monsenor kaga who had as our reader will remember written that if in future the inhabitants of this Valley should reach the number of 15 this church is to be reintegrated with the care of souls so monor pasca
Having heard that in this Valley people died of forsaken and without sacraments obtained by a Royal Decree in that same year of 1840 the reintegration of this Parish with the care of Souls and so two years later in 1842 according to their ancient right the pastor in the person of Don Giovani
Cillo of bosow real was elected by the voice of the people with 161 votes and he who was the first pastor of the modern Valley enters as hero upon the scenes our n narrative will disclose let us now give a rapid glance at the tavern of Val which has been an
Incidental cause in the events have gradually unfolded themselves in the sanctuary this tavern of valet was a humble hosy for travelers and was situated on the provincial road that from Naples leads to Salerno in the point where two roads Naples Salerno and Valley aano cross each other in the feud of Val
Property of the prince of val on on the extreme confin of the province of solerno and the opposite The New Parish of the Holy Savior in valy this T Tavern we find mentioned for the first time in the year 1695 with an instrument dated February 19th
1815 and made out by Thomas Mara notary of Naples the Tavern of Val was was seated and assigned to the prince of Val Francis PNA telli patelli the 23 of November 1815 Prince Pignatelli sold it to Mr Gabriel prit of Naples and on the 19th of February 1827
Gabriel PR with his turn sold it to the count count Francis defusco by means of an instrument made out by Louis mazola notary of Naples count defusco in 1844 built a second apartment above the five rooms already existing adding 54 Acres of adjoining land buying the same from Don Diego J
Janoo of Naples palentine count his son and Heir count alenio defusco having acquired still other adjoining lands died in 1864 leaving his wife Countess Mariana defusco nay far fararo in Monopoly in the province of bar haris to all and she today is our compion companion and wife and coworker in this
Great undertaking assigned to us by Providence having permitted these rapid notes that embody 18th centuries of the history of this Valley till today unknown and unexplored and now became am Famous by reason of the prodiges here worked by the August queen of Victories let us now narrate more particularly the history of
This blessed Sanctuary where on the richest Throne sits Crown the feris gem that shines in Heaven’s High Court four the valley chosen by Mary as Center of her Graces thus the modern valet has for its Center the Parish of the Most Holy Savior in Val and above mentioned Tavern
Of Val it is we repeat on this small plot of ground that the extraordinary events unfold themselves we therefore desire to call the attention of the reader to it it is a hard task to try and describe the abandonment in which the poor inhabitants of this Valley lived not
More than 15 years ago yet we will try to do it may we be allowed to quote certain particular incidence which here recur to our memory and which will serve the demonstrate what a miserable state of existence these poor country folk LED we knew in 1874 a poor old man whose age unfitting
Him for work sheltered his feeble body at night in some oven or in some manger that by Good Fortune he might stumble on and in order to warn warm his poor members chilled by the co cold night air he would lie down on some stable manure at last one night he sought
Refuge in a hay loft which no one knows how took fire and the poor old man was found the next day burned by the flames in a pile of smoking hay no one sought for any information regarding him more moreover there are no carabineers in Pompei in those days
Again we visited a poor old woman of Pompei nearly 80 years old and we found her lying forsaken on an old bed without the assistance of any relative as all were obliged to dig and till in order to live themselves and nourish their beasts on the wall against which her bed
Stood no image was to be seen not even that of the friend and consoler of the icted the crucifix oftimes in carrying her some strengthening food we studied hard to comfort her but generally we could not succeed in understanding her strangely drawed words nor she ours because pronounced in a manner unknown to
Her and so the poor creature slowly neared her sepulture till one day we found her dead and she was no sooner extinct than forgotten moreover many families passed their lives in the same Hut where the cow the ass and the pig were huddled together all lying on the same dirty
Straw and father and mother Sons or daughters are all sleeping promiscuously neither did there arise in their minds any idea of having recourse to some Authority or to some charitable institution as they had not the slightest conception of what an authority was much less still of public benevolent societies belonging to the
Commune but to which commune and to which society could they have had recourse as this Valley was in is me dismembered into so many communes and provinces that every year the poor contadini in changing house or land change commune and Province mayor and judge and tribunals oh why are these unfortunate
Ones on Earth left so forsaken after a long study of these facts it appears to us that we have found the real reason of such abandonment the reason lies in The Irregular territorial circumspection because this small spot of Valley belongs to three different municipalities to Scara to Tor anunciada and to Bosco
Real it also belongs to three provinces that is to say under the civil jurisdiction to those of Naples and cerno and as to ecclesiastical jurisdiction it is under Noah Nola which is in the province of certa hence being the extreme limit of the three communes of the three
Provinces a certain forgetfulness on the part of both communes and provinces was inevitable even today great inconveniences arise because of such irregular subdivision so that the poor inhabitants have to suffer all the brunt of them thus merely to mention a case not only the Waters of the river Sarno that
Serve for the irrigation of the far Farms but all the Overflow of the rain Waters and of the mud that comes down from Vesuvius and Bosco real passes through the middle of the communal Highway as though we were living in Adam adamic times and this highway the thoroughfare
Along which the products of this Valley have to pass in order to reach Castle alarmy belongs to three different communes scafar Bosco Rial and Tori anuna hence it often happens that the road rendered impractical because of the Overflow of the waters abounds in ditches so that the carts and their contents are shaken
Thoroughly and often overturned with a constant risk to the life and health of these poor folk and oftimes the most holy viaticum cannnot be given to the the dying as the road must be fored like a river besides which law and Civil Justice and the public security suffer indefinable obstacles in their
Actualization the poor contadini if they change the lease of a farm and remove to a distance of but a yard or two we do not know which receiver to which judge or to which public office to turn for the making out of contracts citations and foreclosures because within the distance
Of a yard they change municipality and Province so it is that yesterday for some fruit lease or foreclosure they had to turn to the ptor of Tor anunciada to the tribunal of Naples and the receiver of Tor anunziata to today that they have rented a little dwelling opposite or next to their old
One they must have recourse to the Trib tribunal of serno the pretura of angri and the municipality of scafati thus for all Lawless acts contraventions and thefts that may occur along the public Road in the railroad station in the square of the sanctuary the carabineers of Pompei who are
Nearest to the station of valet D Pompei to the working men’s homes and to the Via sakra and to the hotel of the sun cannot interfere for any Act of authority recourse must be had to the procurator of the king of zerno to the Tura of angri and the carabiners of
Scara but as all these places are rather distant from the center of this Valley these latter are scarcely ever to be seen here and even if they do appear they cannot exert their vigilance either over the sanctuary or the asylums or the orphanage over the bookbinding or
Typography shop or over the houses of those who come to spend their summer in their Villas because of all these edifices are to the right of the provincial road which belong to the province of Naples but this is not all when the inhabitants of this Valley wish to marry
Or are in need of a certificate of poverty or of any ecclesiastical document they must turn to a third province in Tera de lavoro to NOLA and how often can they cannot they do this a few years ago many citizens to avoid the long journey and the expense entailed by the
Documents required of the Civil Bureau for their marriage merely went to their Parish to perform the religious ceremony with without at all caring for all the future civil consequences again we were witnesses to the arrest made by the carabiners of a young man of 20 accused of being refractory to the
Lea whereas he was not at all refractory he had never been inscribed in the lists of birth in the Civil Bureau because his parents two old lessies of ours had never contracted a civil marriage no later than 1888 a young girl about to marry could find no trace of herself among the acts
Of the Civil Bureau for which motive the ptor of angry found himself obliged to name a commission that would attend to the Civil marriage of all the inhabit ANS of this Valley who had merely been memor been married before a pastor and in order to enable them to do this he was
Constrained to indemnify them for all expenses thereby entailed we now believe that we have given sufficient reasons to show the real motive why this unhappy population is so uniform formally cheerless but we trust that the Blessed Virgin will soon soften all our trials part five the witches in the
Valley and what religious Faith had these almost Nomad inhabitants of the modern Valley the most abject Superstition was comingled with any religious belief they possessed prejudices and false ideas took the place of the Gospel truths without any hesitation they had recourse to all sorts and manners of Witchcraft and they implicitly believed
In all witches and magicians one day in 1878 I myself wished to see a young calf that we were growing on one of our Farms I wish to see your calf I said I to our farmer he looked around and then in an IR Resolute tone of voice stammered his words he
Replied sir I cannot Le lead it out of the stable and why so because of the evil eye supposing I lead it out and other Farmers see it and exclaim What a fine animal why would I be why I would be ruined come rejoined I smiling let me
See it then I must first exercise all the evil influences so saying he took a handful of dirt and threw some first on the animal’s back and then on its neck next he took the ring of the spindle of his old mother and the bone ring of his
Nursing babies and placed them on the beast’s horns and so having taken these superstitious precautions I was allowed to see the calf if anyone was suffering from some pain or broken arm the relatives or friends would immediately call in a medicine woman who would make a few
Signs of the cross on the arm or body while muttering mysterious words and they were firmly convinced that without these words of the pythoness no pain ceased and no infirmities could be healed of doctors and medicines there was no need no sooner did the serious Mady manifest itself than they would call the
Pastor he who was the first pastor of the newly reinstated parish and who for all ills had one General common and infallible Panacea namely four eight or 12 blood suckers till either the sickness had to come of a necessity small ills were cured by going on foot to
Tunada where and there by the seashore taking a good drought of saltwater did anyone desire to take Vengeance on an enemy for some grievance then they would go to cavad T to find a woman who made a public profession of Witchcraft five Franks plac in her hand and the enemy was
Bewitched sir one day said to me one of our chief lesies who is still living I was once ill until death with a most mysterious pain in my head well it was the witchery of another farmer who wished to take my place in the lease of
The land I was then holding and he succeeded in his intent little by little my life began to wne but having gone to cavad torente and having paid the hag five Franks she assured me that while flying through the air she had found the cause of the witchery and she consigned it to
Me it was a ball stuck full of pins now if you will readily understand that this same ball was meant to represent my head and the pins the acute pains that tortured me it was believed that when little children remain puny it was due to Witchcraft and when any theft occurred
They had recourse to witches to find out the thief and it is believed by them to this day that whosoever is born on Christmas night will assuredly become a witch or leant tropus I do not speak of other facts in order not to appear to exaggerate and I keep
To the saying of the poet ever to such truths as falsehoods mask do wear should lips of men be sealed and mute as shame were least deserved thus oft results part six the valley and the brigin to increase all this squalor there came at last the period of
Brigandage the memory of a certain band headed by the famed pelone had dreaded brigand is still fresh in men’s Minds this band as far back as 1862 in tested all the land lying around about Pompei driving away not only the landed Proprietors but even such Travelers as were obliged to pass
Through that part of the country and those who did pass because of sheer necessity did so the greatest fear and trembling add to this what was worse than brigandage itself a perfect infestation of petty thieves and highway men who kept themselves in hiding in the recesses of the amphitheater and in a
Spot called Lilo where they were many ditches resulting from the REM removable lapal near the province Road and not far distance from the Parish of valet the sequestration of Marquee evitable director general of the bank of Naples and the spoliation of the governmental procurator assailed in full daylight and the assassination of young
Toor a Teamster whose name we will again refer in the course of this history are still clearly remembered then came the period of the repression of brigandage and of the instantaneous shooting of any suspicious person which serve to heighten the dread of this Valley no one passed through here
Without Terror and those who saw it from a distance look upon it as a place to be feared and devoided in the annals of the kingdom of Naples we find this note attached to the words Val de Pompei a most dangerous Resort of bold and Infamous rer
Robbers thus the modern Valley D Pompei solitary sad feared and avoided by all well-intentioned and honest people might well have been called as we have already termed it the disconsolate Valley history of the sanctuary of Pompei part three Book 2 the new valet D pompe chapter 1 the first
Day such was the valley of Pompei at the time our Story begins to dream that a locomotive could come as far as this desert spot to think of a post office at a telegraph office not to mention a busy railway station would simply have been Folly whosoever had either said or even
Thought but 15 years ago this Valley within a short time will be the theater of great portense in this our Epoch this Valley will be chosen by the Queen of Heaven to show her wondrous Works to the 19th century to this Valley after 15 years people from all quarters of the globe
Will come to bend their knees before an altar here erected whosoever he might have been that would have should have voiced these pre predictions would justly have been thought a fool and yet all this has come to pass how well I remember the first day first set foot on this then Melancholy
Plane it was in the first part of the month of October of the Year 1872 I had come hither to renew the leases of the large farm belonging to the famous Tavern of valet as my wife Countess defusco scarcely ever came to visit her lands at that time there was no
Detachment of carabin carabiners uh stationed at Pompei hence a traveler was in constant Peril of sequestration as I arrived at the station of Pompei I met two of our Farmers armed with guns who had come to escort me it is sweet to me today after so many remarkable events have taken place to
Remember how humble were the beginnings that gave rise to all the great events that have transpired and tell me it is not a great Delight to trace out the origins of the works of God and to look over old memories which often beside being a pleasure are also of great benefit to the
Soul and so it is that I remember the first dialogue that I had with those farmers who had constituted themselves my safeguard while walking together along the provincial Highway towards the tavern of valet at a certain point of the road I turned to them with an air of unconcern
And the dialogue which ensued between us carried on despite any number of interruptions as we found it very difficult to understand each other gave me in in the briefest possible time a clear insight into the state and condition of things not only as regards the the country but also its
Inhabitants what new thing has occurred is it now no longer safe to walk even among the provincial Highway oh spoke with spoke up one with a great air of Bravery when Yan are accompanied by us you have nothing to fear what are there any brigands about
Oh no dear no brigands indeed the band broke up after the absence of pelone absence you mean death answered I pelone dead answered the farmer with a sharp little whistle pelone does not intend to be found they say he is dead but instead of that he is hiding amongst
The mountains of malfie and agerola I looked at him in Surprise pitying the credulity of these poor people but if pelone had absented himself and is no longer here what is the need of your going thus armed eh he answered with an ironical smile there are robbers abroad robbers continued I slightly ra
Raising my eyebrows robbers on the provincial Highway where are the carabineers there is no Barracks here and touching with his right hand the gun he carried over his left shoulder we guard ourselves he said so saying our little troop had happily reached a certain point near the
Amphitheater where the two sides of the road form a rise because cut through a mound of LA and ruins here we are at the Passa valet said the other farmer and here it is necessary to be very cautious as robberies and assaults are perpetrated here without
Cease and here he began to count up all the persons he knew that had been assailed in broad daylight but when we neared The Tavern of Val and and had already reached the old Parish of the Most Holy Savior there said he pointing to a house
Lying a little behind the church it was there that one night the troops open fire against some brigands who had taken Refuge within it was truly an infernal night it poured and a furious wind was blowing oh how much blood was shed this this short account of a
Tragedy that had happened in our days right near that old Amphitheater that recalled to my mind the streams of human blood that had there been shed in times of old for the pleasures of ferocious Hearts filled my spirit with a sadness and Drew a veil of melancholy over the
Pleasant and Serene Joys I had felt when I got out at the station a Pompei chapter 2 the solitary church we had arrived at our destination the first honors of our reception were paid us by the father of all these country folk by the pastor a wiry Old
Gentleman with a fresh Rubicon face and a gown and short cape that had braved many storms this kind kind Pastor was the first person with whom I was able to exchange a word in any intelligible kind of of language as the inhabitants of the valley speak a very broad neopolitan
Dialect and I with a closed accent as we all of leid do which made it difficult ma a difficult matter either for me to understand or be understood from him I first learned the name of this Valley which was called Valley of pompea as he had concluded it must be
Because of all the facts we have already stated with him we went to visit his parochial Church what a sight that poor little church built with the price of a sold Bell because the inhabitants had reached the number of 15 was so poor and small so badly kept that monor
Fano the Zeal zealous Bishop of Nola at the beginning of his Episcopal rule obliged the pastor to sell a part of the fields belonging to the parish in in order to lengthen it and yet nevertheless it still remained too narrow and small and was insufficient to accommodate the population that daily kept
Increasing whereas in 1840 the whole modern valet numbered scarce 300 Souls after 30 years the number had increased to a near 1,00 and the church when crowded could scarcely hold a hundred people beside which there was no Sacristy or sexon to keep the house of God clean nor was there even a little
Room for the pastor who resided on a farm of his nearly three miles distance from the church and as it had been badly built and badly kept the the ceiling had cracked and threatened to fall for this reason it was in 1880 pulled down by the order of Cavo
Arde at that time mayor of Tor anunciada there was but one altar in the church and that the high altar which was indispensible for the conservation of the most holy sacrament but it was composed of old boards and it ought not therefore to surprise anyone when I say that it was the
Peaceful Abode of rats lizards and bugs the inhabitants of this spot save a very few families are all field laborers for the most part very poor thus wrote The Parish priest to the Episcopal sea of Nola and to all this the fact that there were no schools to banish the darkness
From the simple intellects there was no temple in which they could all congregate and be instructed in the salutary principles of our religion not even a single altar consecrated to Mary to the mother of God the consoler of The Afflicted round which they could gather and find Comfort
Beneath the shadow of her Celestial and maternal mantle it is true that monor Joseph for Masano moved by his paternal Zeal had for many years been trying to build a church there but he could not accomplish this design alone overburdened as he was with the charge of more than 700 churches among which
Were 85 parishes exceedingly poor for the most part and some in construction he had already lent a helping hand to the best of his abilities to many churches in his vast dicese that numbers could more numbers more than 200,000 Souls scattered among the valleys and hills in the four different
Provinces and so he waited for heaven to answer his Ardent prayers such was the state of and such the miserable Worship in the only church then existing here but hard as the zealous Bishop tried to make provision for so many needs he could not obviate the fact that
Many and many in his Valley because of the smallness of the church could not assist at Mass on Sunday and so the most part of this people not being able to enter the house of God or hear his word lived in perfect ignorance of the principles of
Religion but what saddened me the most of all was to see on Sundays and other religious holidays the complete and public in observance of the law of God as given in the third precept of the decalogue to see young men and girls either work by the hour as on other days
Or pass the time in idleness father of all vices to see the children the most jealous part of the human family from which some day will spring either the honest citizen or the thief left to themselves to grow up like brutes but how came this image of of Our
Lady of the Rosary that today astonishes the whole world with its portense to be here in Pompei how came this Temple so Grand and magnificent to rise here and why and how came I a total stranger to these parts to be in the midst of so many extraordinary events arranged by
Providence this is what I will frankly and simply state hoping thus to benefit my neighbors chapter three the answer reader have you ever had your heart and mind enveloped by a cloud of sad black musings that have given you a feeling of irksomeness of desolation and of being so
Downcast you alone then can understand me having scarce emerged from the Dark Forest of errors in which as a follower of magnetism and spiritualism I had lost myself my soul could find no peace at the age of 33 incessant hard and implacable battles with Satan who was constantly Conjuring up new tempests
With which to assail me had beaten me down and obliged me to bite that dust from which my proud head was want to rise rebelliously and arrogantly against God and here it was that God awaited me that where iniquity had abounded there might be grace and mercy
Superabound it was the one Abyss calling another Abyss God is patient and longsuffering because he is strong being omnipotent he NE he neither is angered nor takes Vengeance because all is subservient to him he is loving and gentle of his own nature good that is to say lavish of his
Gifts but just and punishing because of our sins he awaits man’s penitence but if he be obstinate Must In Justice condemn him oh great great and merciful god what if not thy essential Bounty moved thee to wait so long for my return to thee despite my distant
Wanderings what if not the fact that all thy ways are ways of mercy and of Truth thou to my rebellions did oppose thine infinite patience with the most gentle benignity did thou throw my meat my wanderings and when I offended thee thou answerest with the size of thy loving generous and paternal
Heart at last after my repeated Falls thou did stretch out thy helping hand thou sawest my humiliation and my trials and sufferings and then thy mercy triumphed for in the valley of humiliation thou raises the mountain of thy Grace and the first fruit of thy Grace was to inspire me with an Ardent
Insatiable and uncontrollable desire of thee truth light food and peace of man thy creature so it is my soul was anxiously seeking God God alone as the unique Center could fix my intellect floating on a fluctuating sea of Errors God Alone could satiate the Restless desires of a heart torn by
Numberless and burning passions one day it was the 9th of October 1872 The Tempest in my soul was torturing my heart and my body more than usual and filled me with a sadness not not far removed from desperation I went out of the house a villa of the
Defusco and began to walk with a hurried and nervous step through the valley without well well knowing where I was going so walking I came to the most Bleak and desolate part of the country a spot The Peasants called Araya almost as though it were The Dwelling Place of the
Harpies all nature lay wrapped in the deepest silence I looked around me not even the shadow of a living Soul suddenly I came to a dead stop my heart was bursting within me in such darkness of being it seemed to me as though a fe friendly voice were
Whispering to me those same words I I had read and that a true and holy friend of mine now gone to his rest was ought to repeat to me if you seek to be saved promulgate the rosary this is dear Mary’s own promise who promulgates the rosary is
Safe Satan who had held me as his prey saw his defeat drawing near and in a last desperate effort wound his coils most close more closely around me it was the last battle but a most terrible one with the audacity born of Despair I raised my brow in my hands towards
Heaven and addressing myself to the sweet mother maid if this is if this is true I cried that thou did Pro promise to St Dominic that whoever should promulgate the rosary should be saved then I will be saved for I shall not leave this Valley without having propagated thy Rosary no voice answered
Me silence as of the Grave encompassed me about but suddenly a great calm succeeded to the Dreadful Tempest in my soul and I felt that perhaps Someday My Cry would a cry of Anguish would be answered when I arose I felt that a tear had wet my
Cheek Heaven did not make me wait long for an answer the pages before you reader will soon explain it all to you read and judge chapter 4 the first attempt and so I resolutely determined with all my powers to promote the devotion of the Rosary in this desolate
Valley where by a strange disposition of Providence I found myself at the time and how was I to do it how was I to teach the rosary to a people that live scattered in farms and Cottages without even a site in which to gather them together on a
Sunday there was no other way than to go from house to house to freely to house freely Distributing rosaries and medals as they were given gratuitously they were gladly accepted except by many with a certain avidity as being of metal they appeared to those poor folk to be of some
Value but what was the use after all when many scarce knew how to recy recite the Angelic salutation the sweet Hail Mary but in coming into closer contact with this people I noticed that they had an innate piety and a profound reverence for the
Dead it was a great trial to them to see the bodies of their beloved being carried like carcasses to their last resting place without the accompaniment of some P pious congregation as they had seen in the neighboring towns to recite the last prayers for the Departed Souls it pained
Them to have no anniversary to perpetuate the memory of their ancestors in the minds of their descendants it appeared to me that I might derive some Advantage from this feeling here I thought to myself is the Instinct of the the immortality of the Soul their reverence for the dead the
Undying memory which they wish to keep of them their prayers and suffrages are clear proofs that weigh down in the soul of man no matter how ignorant God has implanted the dogma of the immortality of the soul I took hope and felt that this people dispersed to the right and left
Left could more easily be led to congregate when the object proposed was to their liking I therefore decided in order to obtain my end that my first step towards cap captivating their Good Will should be the establishment of a conf confraternity whose Duty it would be to accompany the deceased and to suffocate
Their souls by means of the recital of the Rosary but there was this eternal obstacle where to have the confraternity congregate it was a Heavenly day towards the end of October a day that invited you to go out and I having no one with whom to converse went out to
Hunt beneath those long rows of popps that line the banks of the river sarna in the direction of the royal Powder Magazine of scafati I met a young hunts Huntsman he was tall wore gold eyeglasses and was very affable I was exceedingly glad when I
Came from him that he was a priest he was a native of the valley and his name was jario Frederico and continuing along our road I opened my heart to him about my wishes to form a society of the Rosary among the contadini so that they might fraternal
Lie amongst themselves and learn to recite the rosary and also lend medicines and assistance to the sick to give dowes to IND Indigent girls and a Christian burial to the deceased it will be very difficult he answered this people has lost lost faith in such things nevertheless I would not allow
Myself to become discouraged and I questioned him closely as to the habits and customs of the people and I learned much from him among other things their great fondness for popular feasts games and Maro rounds and other such like amusements but especially the attraction that waffles that Raffles had for them all
The women of the country round about would rush to attend in the hope of winning a gold ring or a pair of earrings there I thought to myself is my first expedient to open a great Lottery and distribute distribute rosaries medals images and pictures of the virgin of the Rosary as
Prizes thus after the course of a few years every individual will have a rosary and every house will be decorated with a picture of the virgin of the Rosary I decided in my mind to Institute the lottery together with a feast in honor of the virgin of the Rosary the very next
October thus at least by means of the ecclesiastical rights the panag jeric the fireworks the popular games in clamor ous Raffles Not only would the festival remain impressed on their minds but also the word rosary and the title of Virgin of the Rosary so I determined that the first
Feast in honor of the Ros Rosary in val de Pompei should be celebrated during the month of October of the following year 1873 and that I would prepare for it a year beforehand one the first Feast of the Rosary and valet de pompe in
1873 and so it came to pass on my return to Naples I began asking some Pious ladies of my acquaintance for medals rosaries scapulars and pictures of any saint and I obtain from and I obtain them from the baroness decastro D Rosa from Madame Katherine vul pacelli and The Duchess of trajeto and
From Madame Raphael peria many others I brought myself with and big bundle I returned in the October of 1873 to my new land but I added two other articles I had noticed that the crucifix was not to be seen save in a very few Huts as it
Was customary with those people to buy a crucifix only on the occasion of a marriage outside of this there was not even a rough wooden cross to be found hanging on any wall I therefore purchased several hundred crucifixes to be hung at the head of the bed and what is more I
Firmly de decided that the feast was not to be lost in Vapor like the smoke of fireworks and gun crackers a principal feature of this celebration was to be a great lottery every ticket to cost a cent the first five prizes were to be of Neapolitan gold that is to say very
Showy but of small value a ring a pair of earrings a bro Etc the remaining 800 prizes were to consist in crucifixes rosaries and pictures of the virgin of the Rosary I ordered fireworks games and the band of Pagani for the festival and as the sacred writs there
Was to be a mass sung by the pastor of C valet who was then Don giovan chillo now deceased and there was to be a fine discourse on the rosary by my friend and Confessor PM rente whom I had purposely invited and at my expense having no appropriate picture to
Expose I took down a lithograph of the Madonna of the Rosary where it was hanging at the head of my bed which I had bought in Naples and offered it to the public veneration and with these preparations I awaited the dawning of the first Sunday of October but contradiction began on the
Very first day when I wished to do honor to the queen of the Rosary the torrential rain and a perfect hurricane accompanied by tunder thunder and lightning not only prevented the people from flocking to the little parochial church and the band from coming to valet de Pompei but it kept the pastor the
Invited priests our friends and ourselves imprisoned within the parish walls unable so much as to put our heads out of doors because of the weather this was a bad beginning thought I so so what bittered said to myself it would seem as though the Virgin did not approve of my
Doings but then this afterthought comforted me I have not else to do on my part but to propagate the rosary we will see if the Virgin on her part will keep her promises made to St Dominic that whoever propagates the rosary shall be saved but my discouragement increased when
Lightning was to the Fine discourse held by my mentioned Confessor the words are all miss all out of whack I noticed to my BR very little of what he said was understood by the people who were gathered together as they were only used to hearing their own dialect and their
Own Pastor so it seemed to me labor lost and money wasted two the second Feast of the Rosary in valet de Pompei in October of the Year 1874 in order to Forstall any hindrance the weather my place in the way way of next next year’s Festival I decided to
Leave to every family as a visible reminder of the feast a pretty rosary and a picture of the Virgin Mary and the October of 1874 having duly been ushered in I prepared a another large Lottery it was customary in that part of the country when an invitation was to be
Made to the people at large to send out a crier and this latter was always some woman known for her strong and stentorian voice so eight days before the time set I set out this woman to Proclaim throughout that part Rose part of the country was coming to the Feast of the
Rosary for three whole days I myself went went went from Farmhouse to Farmhouse asking for any offering of corn or cotton to celebrate the Festival of the virgin of the groser house by house I entered in and invited their occupants to come to the
Parish and to a joy in the middle of the provincial Road the great spectacles offered for their Amusement not to mention a great Lottery from the sale of the Corn and cotton I was intended to draw two advantages the first was to increase the sum that I had decided to spend my own
Money and my second and most important object in which I succeeded wonderfully was to thus solicit these countries solicit these country people to come to this celebration as being personally interested in it the festival succeeded quite brilliantly so that the inhabitants immediately understood that I had paid nearly all
The expenses from out of my own pocket but neither did I have in that year a fit image of the virgin of the Rosary to expose to public veneration for the second Feast of the Rosary in Valley de Pompei I had another lithograph of the Virgin placed in the little Tumbl down
Parochial Church beneath a small canopy and around this picture were engraven in small compartments the 15 Mysteries I had bought it in Naples from anav Villa the stationary stationer and I left to the pastor of the church in memory of the feast meanwhile in order not to make
Another mistake I thought this time that no one could better preach to the people than his own than their own pastor whom they would be able to understand I therefore begged him to preach three sermons on the rosary to the people hoping that the words of their own Pastor would would bear far
More copious fruit than the pred preceding year but even this time I failed in my intent for instead of taking for his theme the rosary he chose to preach about the salvate Regina nevertheless the festival the clamorous raffle the fireworks the bombs and gun crackers the noise of the drum of the
Band the public games the donkey and bag races all appeared to greatly satisfy my new people who similar to all other country folk at first showed a certain diffidence towards a stranger but after witnessing the feast two years running and realized that I was spending my own money to their advantage they all
Grew to love me and feel great confidence in me but the feast the sermon and the lottery were but merely a torrent sweeping through the land without leaving the ground F fertile the rosary had not been learned much less understood I was discouraged but not disheartened my object was none other
Than the proper vation of the Rosary I did not expect the fruit of my labors here I scattered beads and metals broadcast among the poor and having acquired their confidence I began seriously to debate with the learned and experienced prelates as to the wisest and best to firmly establish the
Devotion to the rosary already begun under such favorable circumstances nobody could suggest anything better than to found a confraternity which they should meet all the needs of his people but how attain unto this how Gather in a holy Society all these people scattered throughout the land how to induce them to cultivate
Mutual love and Brotherhood when they were living far apart and in constant diffidence of each other after a long discussion we reached perhaps by divine inspiration the following decision we determined to call to our Aid a mission which rousing The Souls of this people by the meditation of Eternal truths should
Awaken in those uncouth Hearts the sure hope of Pardon through a sincere attachment to Mary and especially to her Rosary one day that I had gotten out out at the station at I met a priest who appeared to me both learned and zealous and on questioning him I found
Him to be a missionary of the Sacred Hearts of which institution the venerable Henry of SE seond Deano was founder and having found out this much I opened my heart to him and he told me for a long time the Lord had given me an earnest desire to have a mission come to
Pompei that worthy priest belonged to the family genovis of Pagani in fact he was the brother of that philomina g genovis Franciscan and Domin Dominican tertiary who died in the odor of sanctity he greatly encouraged me and offered me his services from that day forward we were linked together in close
Friendship so with my mind fixed on that point I began to study by what means I could actuate my design which for me was then a very arduous question ignorant as I was of all ecclesiastical manners and a Layman and stranger to those parts neither knowing the bishop
Of Nola nor the Cardinal of Naples who was at that time CYO riario sorsa or any prelate of the neighboring dicese but my designs were for the time crossed by the Envy of him who first upon his maker turned his back chapter five the hour of Mercy some time elapsed during which I
Never abandoned my plans and my firm purpose to make another attempt towards their actu actuation when one day in the name of the count as defusco turned to two Pious ladies raphaela peria and Katherine vul pichelli who had in the meantime raised a little marble altar in the Tumbl down Paris church after
Demolishing the old one made of worm eaten boards at the same time I was encouraged in my ideas by the r Reverend Lewis kuso then Vice Secretary of the clergy of Naples and today a canon in that City’s Cathedral he being a friend of the bishop of castal
Lamari D stabia who was then monsenor pagna had recourse to him for the choice of some holy priest to be sent on a mission visit to Pompei and yet nevertheless three long years elapsed before these priests could be obtained to come on a mission to this desolate spot because as I have already
Stated being a Layman and a stranger in these parts I Not only was ignorant of the manner of soliciting a mission not knowing to whom to address myself especially as I desired it for a private devotion of my own but I even ignored the name of the bishop of Nola and all
Of the Bishops in the surrounding dicese but when the day for the execution of God’s purpose arrives there exists no obstacle that can offer any opposition to the Divine will the month of October of the Year 1875 came Round In Due season in order to increase the Devotion to the Virgin
Honored by the title dearest to her I brought with me from Naples a small statuette of Our Lady of the Rosary which I carried to valet on my own arms accompanied by that worthy Neapolitan priest Don Carlo de Baron pelino shipan and I placed the figure beneath a canopy in the old Parish
Church the feast in honor of the Rosary s succeeded brilliantly partly because of the games fireworks and Raffles and partly because of a Solemn Mass and Vespers sung by the pastor of the priests of their surrounding country meanwhile I myself went from house to Hut to invite the country folk to the feast
East and to encourage them to form a holy confraternity of Mary having thus ordered manners My First Care was to clean up and put in order as much as possible the miserable little church so as to give it a slightly more venerable aspect I painted
It in various places so as to hide the enormous stains produced by dampness and cracks but put some quick lime in all the holes and crevices in order to destroy the peaceful nests of rats lizards and spiders and sunry other animals in order to accomplish this I
Summoned a young man of Pompei a certain Pasqual matron the son of our oldest lesie to him I gave 10 lbs of yellow 20 lbs of red Earth equality of lime white white lead and black smoke and with this enormous provision of colors and with an immense white washer’s brush the old
Parochial church was painted everyone can imagine how but already the hour of Mercy for this people had sounded the bishop of Nola just as my hopes were were about dying out to my great and unexpected Good Fortune authorized the Three Holy priests to undertake the sacred Mission and on the
Second day of November in the year 1875 I myself went to cast Casto lamare D stabia to meet with these three blessed ministers whose happy lot it was to be the first to spread the light among the people lying in the utter Darkness their names are not only
Engraven on our hearts but what is much better on the maternal Heart of Mary they were Canon santarpia of leuri today passed into a better life Canon Don JPI rosi of castal lari d stabia and the priest Don Michelle genti Apostolic missionary of Greg Greg Nano who later on became the zealous
Chaplain of the sanctuary and is today in charge of a royal chap Chapel in Tuscany we were happy and proud to offer them Hospitality in our dwelling the ancient Tavern of Val and to wait on them ourselves and they did not disdained to occupy one of the rooms
Which had but recently been added to the structure what a touching spectacle young and old men and women not only of the valley but from all the surrounding country flocked to listen to the word of God as they could not find room in the little church they crowded
Around the entrance right out in the middle of a provincial Road exposing themselves gladly to the variable November weather in the evening after the sermon these fields a short while ago so mute and solitary resounded with the sweet salutation to Mary while the inhabitants returning in groups to their homes
Scattered to the right and left chanting the Rosary the result showed the power of the Rosary and the pleasure of our Heavenly Queen all reconciled themselves with God and settled their quarrels many old emnes disappeared and nearly all asked to be made members of the confraternity of
Mary it was on the 12th day of November 1875 when the venerable Bishop of Nola monor Don jeppi former ano came to Pompei to administer the right of confirmation at the close of the spiritual exercises it was the first time that I had the pleasure and Fortune of meeting
The prelot and it was then I had made known to him the great longings that had been be burning my heart for three years which was to raise in this land of Pompei at my own expense an altar to the mother of God under the title of
Rosary in order to keep alive in the hearts of this people a devotion so beautiful so useful to the soul so approved by the church and so blessed by Mary having heard my desire and Having learned from the three above mentioned priests the pitiful condition of the
People the holy Bishop his heart touched with Indescribable pity turning to us into the Countess defusco tears really gathering in his eyes pronounced these memorable Words which were the origin of the great work of God in this spot I consider it my duty to raise a church which Shall Gather together for
Divine worship all these poor people and for many years I have been looking earnestly to find find at least one person to help me as this is the most remote point of my dicese but now that you wish to raise an altar in honor of the Rosary I propose that we raise instead
Not an altar but a church seek to find subscribers for a half penny a month and so you will collect a certain sum on your part while I on mine subscription a subsidy of 500 Franks this proposition made to me after three years of vain efforts which I had
Not succeeded in raising a simple altar or of any kind of Brotherhood amongst this poverty stricken people who seemed to so strange and so exceeding my capabilities that I was at first taken aack in fact I turned to Dan and to Canon Don jeppi Rossi saying I fear that this is
An astute tragedy strategy of the evil one in order to dominate or hinder a carrying out of a merely good plan proposes an excellent one and so with the pretext of building a church which would require dear knows how many years comes to hinder the institution of
The confraternity of the Rosary which is already well disposed and ordered but that worthy minister of the Lord thus answered me the Council of our superiors is the voice of God your good will is acceptable unto God but carry out in the instruction of your superiors and and once again the pious
Bishop of Nola having returned to Val D Pompei after 2 days and while under our roof repeated his holy Council it was on the 11 on the hour of 10 on the morning of the 12th of November of the Year 1875 the pastor of the church in Nola
Approaching the window in the middle of the room which looked out upon an old parochial Church of the Most Holy Savior and pointing to a field adjoining the parish in a prophetic voice that is the spot where a temple must be raised in Pompei that Bishop was truly a prophet
But not even he knew the bearings of his words 15 years had elapsed and that Temple not yet completed had had acquired Universal Fame and received its solemn consecration in the hands of a Papal legate delegate and most eminent Cardinal Monaco laeta at the end of 18 years in
1894 that church had begun for poor Farmers received the sanctu of its universality and of its greater glory by being raised by Leo I 13th to the Dignity of a pontifical church and raised a sanctuary of the world under the Dominion of the Sea of Peter in perpetuo the Countess on her part
Refused the undertaking offering as an excuse her sorrow for the recent death of a son and her family CA cares but I whose great object was to end the battle with Satan without thinking of the consequences of the undertaking turned to her and said promise your consent to the bishop
And I will act for both of us place your signature at my disposal put me in contact with your acquaintances and the vi virgin will look to the rest but the wise pelet the man of God well knowing what it immense obstacles the world and the devil generally place
In the way of all the Lord’s Works especially when the erection of churches is concerned turning to us remarked you wish to build a church but are you disposed to be called thieves and brigin to be dragged through the streets of Naples like malifa if so then you will carry out
God’s work for God will bless all your efforts all your intentions otherwise you will fail these authoritative words of the anointed of the Lord the head of the dicese still sound in our hearts and minds and give us courage in the midst of contradiction and he was want to repeat
Them to us as often as he came to Pompei and truly we behold the work of Pompei Triumph Mar marvelously over all difficulties despite the G the hate of hell as was the work of God and not of man yes we frankly confess to it we would never have had the presumption to
Begin the building of a great Sanctuary here in an open and desolate country it had not been for the words words of authority and comfort spoken by that Holy Bishop who E from the outset as though he had been a prophet prepared us to meet future trials and had it not
Been for the still more powerful Aid of Mary who upholds and strengthens us in her constant prodigies in this wise spurred On by The Bishop’s Authority I went to work I made use of the name and influence of the Countess I immediately wrote various letters to her many friends generous
Neapolitan ladies asking their subscriptions of a scent a month so as to build a church to the Living God on the land once given to the worship of false deities and so it is at the Lord to show his power sent down upon the poor human being assailed by Satan the rivers of
His Grace but it is now time to start to State how this image of the Rosary today became famous throughout the world for its Miracles was the first found and brought to this desolate Valley of Pompei the history of the sanctuary of Pompei part four book 3D the miraculous
Image chapter 1 the first entry into ponpe the three missionaries and especially the Reverend Michael gentiy who to whose share it fell to preach the rosary had taught the people to daily recite that form of prayer so so dear to the Virgin so it was that towards the end of
The sacrament sacred Mission I began to see my hopes realized and I rendered solemn thanks to God but in order to establish among this people the habit of reciting the Rosary in common and thus enable them to obtain all the indulgences granted to the confraternity of the Rosary it seemed to
Me to be imperatively necessary to expose to the public veneration some picture of Our Lady of the Rosary at whose feet the people might every evening meet for the recital of their Chaplet a picture of this description was not to be found here save the small lithograph that I had given to the
Pastor as I have already stated moreover a picture to be exposed to public veneration and that admitted of the gaining of indulgences according to ecclesiastical liturgy had of course to be an oil painting to this add what I did not wish the mission to close without my first
Having found in situated in The Devout image so that the three missionaries might leave it behind them as a reminder to the people to gather before it every evening and to recite their beads in common this was the great object to which my desires tended it became therefore necessary for
Me to run to Naples and to find in all haste an oil painting of the virgin of the Rosary and I went to Naples on the 14th day of November of that same memorable year year 1875 I began by asking myself and revolving in my mind whether to turn to
Find what I was looking for it occurred to me that oftimes in passing along the Via Toledo near the PIAA Santo spir Spiro my eye had rested on a shop window in which various oil paintings and pictures were exposed to the public gaze and among others it seems to that I
Remembered one of the virgin of the Rosary I did not know the painter or his name even but he was by surname perhaps because a native of fogia called the foggiano I therefore determined to take my steps towards that shop but I but a certain fear of finding myself very
Embarrassed over very embarrassed overcame me as I would never have been able to bargain and squabble over prices as is the Habit in Naples oh I exclaimed if only I could take father redenti with me he being a Neapolitan knows how to make such Bargains but where and how am I at this
Hour to find him I knew that ever since the monks had been expelled from the San Dominico maior 10 years before he had lived together with two other fathers his companions in a little house they had rented and I was also aware of the fact that it was his custom to celebrate Mass
Every morning in the Church of the Rosary at pora Medina very well thought I I will walk along Toledo if it be God’s will I shall find my friend otherwise I shall act for myself but Providence who with an invisible hand was directing and holding all the threads that were leading up to
An event in which in a short time was to be so wonderful so disposed that just as I reached the square of the Holy Ghost and very near the painter Studio I met the venerable monk this Holy Father was the man sent to me by God in the midst of my stormy
Life on some other occasion for the sake of gratitude I will speak of him and of his virtues until how I met him and came to know him today I will limit myself to the statement that we first met each other in this world’s Exile in the year
1865 and that we were divided here Below in the year 1885 but it was in the interven vening period that is to say in 1875 that what I’m about to narrate took place the friendship with which father renti honored me made me think of him as
The right person to help me in the buying of a painting having as already stated no no correct notion of the value of such an object oh Father I cried no sooner had I aspired him in the square of the Holy Ghost how fortunate I am to meet
You and then and there I began to tell him everything that had taken place in those days at Pompei I told him about the visit of the bishop of Nola about the project of building a church and of establishing a confraternity of the Rosary and finally I told him about the
Picture I wanted to buy the studio of the fanano is near here observed the frier let us go there and together we entered in the front room of the shop there was a canvas representing the virgin of the Rosary but without the surrounding Mysteries and of such small Dimensions as as to
Scarcely measure a meter what is the cost of that painting 400 Franks it is really too much exclaimed father redenti perhaps I would have decided to buy it but the father made me a sign and said come and when we were once more in the street he said why spend 400 Franks
On a little painting when you now have the intention of undertaking the expense of the building of a church do you know do you know that occurred to me while we were in that studio several years ago I gave to Sister Mary conetta de la Tila of the convin converse story of the
Rosary at pora Medina an old painting of the Rosary that I had brought in the secondhand shop of a merchant in the Via Dela sapen and for which I had paid 3 Franks and 40 C go and see it if you like it and if
You think you can make use of any of it as old as it is ask it of her and she will certainly give it to you at any rate it will suffice in the country folk of Pompei for the recital of their beads in the shortest possible time I
Reach the concern obervatory of Porto Medina please to call Sister Maria conetta D lalia said I before speaking to the grading of the Parlor in a few moments I saw the sister whom I had known for a long time enter the room father redent me has sent me to you
To request you if you are so inclined to give me that painting of the rosary that you have I must tell you that in Pompei the poor contadini do not recite their Horizons as they have not an image to arouse their devotion and this very evening I must carry them a painting so
That the missionaries can show it to the people that fervent tertiary who really is a saintly woman and who is still living answered I am only too happy that that poor abandoned picture should serve for such a noble purpose I shall bring it to you directly a few minutes later the sister re
Redescending the painting alas no sooner did my eyes fall on it than my heart stopped Not only was the picture old and warm eaten but the face of the Madonna instead of being that of a virgin all sweetness holiness great seemed rather like that of some coarse rough woman of the
People whoever painted that picture Mercy on us I could not prevent myself from exclaiming with a tone of voice halfway between fright and surprise I felt in my heart that the poor pompeians would find great difficulty in experiencing any sort of devotional influence and feeling any
Kind for the Rosary with such a picture before them to the deformity of unpleasantness of the face must be added the fact that a full palm of canvas was missing directly above the head the mantle was cracked and Thyme and worm eaten and in many places the colors had fallen off
Alog together because of the cracks nothing can be said of the hideousness of the other figures St Dominic on the right more than a saint looked like a street idiot to the left was St Rosa with a fat rough vulgar face who looked exactly like a country girl crowned with
Roses this later Saint as I will relate further on I had later changed into a Saint Catherine of Sienna by the distinguishing Cal Frederico maldarelli and as such as she is today venerated even the historical conceit of in the painting was wrong for the queen of the Rosary was represented as seated
But without any deem on her head and instead of giving the Chaplet beads to St Dominic we are told she did as we are told she did in history she was offering it to St Rose and the child Jes Jesus on the contrary is the one who is giving
The rosary to the Spanish patriarch I hesitated whether to refuse it or whether under the circumstances to accept it I was tormented by the idea that the mission was drawing to a close and that I had unconditionally promised a picture to the three missionaries and the people for that very
Evening and all knew I had come to Naples for the purpose of buying a painting and were expecting me to bring it with me what was I to do do not think too long about it said the sister to me with a sweet accent of reproach take this picture with you it
Will certainly succeed in eliciting a Hail Mary constrained by necessity but much against my will I consented but how take it with me here was another drawback its size measuring as it did a meter in width and a meter and 40 cm in length prevented my carrying it with me
On the railroad coach nor yet had I the time to have a box made or have it sent in any other way as I had promised to bring it with me oh do take it with you gently insisted The Good Sister what matters it
If you do stand up in the coach take the Madonna with you but this proposition which implied my traveling fourth class and so of course standing up and holding the picture did not really suit me at this juncture the Countess my wife in arrived at the entrance and the good
Sister her face quite illumined and with the accent of one inspired said turning to her you must take this painting with you and at this very moment and the Countess in order to gratify her took the picture had it wrapped in a sheet and thus having
Placed it in a carriage we took it to our home which was then in the Via Salvador Rosa number 290 but the great question was to to get it that evening to the valet de Pompei suddenly while thinking the matter over it occurred to me that the
Teamster of Pompei by the name of Angelo tortor the only one who made trips between Naples and the valley D Pompei was on that very day to return home with his load his great business was to empty the Stables of the wealthy families of Naples and to sell the manure to the
Fathers in the country I sent for him to come to us at that hour Angela Angelo Tor had already filled his cart and was about starting on his way to Pompei no sooner did he receive my Embassy then he immediately came to our house my friend said I you must please
Do me the favor to take this picture to the Parish Church of valet this very day as soon as you reach there consign it on the spot to one of the three missionaries that you will find there Angelo tooro was the man who had a large share in my labors during the
First years he was one of the leading men among the farmers of the valley and also one of the best off in this world’s Goods very tall with an exceedingly robust muscles and square shoulders he had a loud and sonorous voice and always talked in such a tone as though he were
Speaking to the deaf I had often made use of his services on my various tours throughout the country when in search of corn and cotton for my feasts of the Rosary and the noisy Raffles it was he who mounted on a bench in the middle of the provincial Road directly opposite
At the parish and under the shadow of the defusco dwelling the ancient Tavern called out with his sonorous and stentorian voice the numbers of the lottery and from this rustic stage he called by name each of the winners of the Rings rosaries and pictures each and all of whom he distinguished in the
Midst of an immense crowd so this was the man from me and I had no need of repeating my request all right he answered took the picture and went away and so while the image was W winding its way along the provincial road towards Pompei on Angelo tor’s cart
I ran to the station to catch the train and proceed with its arrival but what was our displeasure when having reached Valley D Pompei in the evening we learned that Tor had brought the painting by actually laying it on top of the manure in which his cart was already Laden he desirous of
Helping me had not known how to do better but when I called for him to pay him for the transport he refused saying it was enough for him to have carried the picture of the Madonna poor man he never knew that his name would appear in this
History which will last as long as the sanctuary of the virgin of Pompei let us hope that the Virgin will now Ren numerate him in heaven for all he did on Earth for her Temple now who would ever have believed that that old canvas bought for three
Franks and which entered Pompei on a dung cart was in the design of Providence ordained to become the means unto salvation of innumerable souls and was to become so precious as to be covered with the most refulgent diamonds and rare gems and was after a short interval to
Be raised to the richest throne in a Monumental Temple expressly built for it and that would have called to his feet not only the poor country folk of Pompei for the recital of their devotions but a crowd of worshippers and pilgrims from strange lands thus becoming at the same time a center of
Religion of civilization and of glory and that it would have attracted the attention and love of the high head of Christianity to such an extent is to have him place the sanctuary of Pompei beneath the ages of his pap mantle oh we had been able to predict
And foresee it had all those who today are the Beloved Children of the queen of Pompei known it and who come from Malta and Madrid from Liverpool and coent from Brussels and Warsaw from Vienna and blo from Switzerland from Africa from China and from the Americas not to mention our
Own Italy second to none in doing her honor to present unto her together with their supplications the offering of their gratitude oh I had been able to Divine that sub Sublime secret we could have rushed to remove her from the Dirt Pile and we would have carried her in our
Arms we we would have had to brought her to this abandoned spot beneath a rain of flowers admidst the hosana of a thousand voices claiming blessed is she who is sent unto us by the mercy of the Lord chapter 2 the first restoration toror having reached Pompei with his load had immediately consigned
The painting So ardently expected to one of the three missionaries in that little Tumbl down parochial church but when that image was disclosed to the Gaze of the people there present among who we remember the already mentioned three missionaries the old Pastor in person the priest jario and rumaldo
Federico brothers and the family of the count as defusco and several others no one could prevent a certain smile from breathing around the his lips at the sight of that dab which I had brought to expose to public V veneration all agreed that in its actual condition the picture could not
Possibly be placed in the church and so for that evening of the 14th of November I had to be satisfied to see the fruit of my trips placed in a corner behind the altar of the parish on the following day we all met in the church to take C
It was absolutely necessary for the painting to be restored there was not sufficient time to send it back to Naples and have it retouched neither did the old dob seem to Warrant the expenditure even a scent on it I know an old painter broke in D Don giovan cero the old Pastor who
Paints views of Pompei has worked within the walls of the amphitheater a certain Mr William galala he was he is a good Christian and a penitent of mine perhaps he would charge you nothing or at least very little when he hears of the matter let us send for
Him shortly after the painter galela who is still living arrived he having seen the picture asked for time to retouch it as it requires the adding of bits in color and of varnish which had fallen off the canvas this painting was given us as a present I repeated to him in order to
Introduce among these poor toilers of the soul the devotion of the Rosary hence there is neither confraternity nor Parish that can stand the expense of having it restored however I will gladly spend a small sum myself mind this pitcher only cost three Franks 40 Cent but I will give you 12 Franks 75
Centm if you will render it fixed to be exposed in the church and he took the painting the mission was at an end the three good priests had returned to their respective homes rejoiced beyond measure at having gathered such an abundant Harvest unto the Lord a week two weeks 3 weeks pass and
Still no picture fortunately these country people having become docile to the voice of the Miss missionaries continue to meet every evening in the old Parish Church to recite the rosary before the little engraving which I had exposed in the famous Feast of 1874 however I did not wish to let the
Occasion Escape me of founding the much desired confraternity of the Rosary so that no sooner should the image arrive then each member could immediately begin to enjoy the indulgences in order that a confraternity of the Rosary may enjoy all the indulgences and the Privileges granted by the Supreme pontiffs to the Dominican
Order it is necessary that general of the order should send a diploma of foundation naming a director and that the Dian Bishop would approve both the one and the other now I myself who because of the great love I bore St Dominic was already aggregated to his third order of
Penitence and never never allowed any occasion to pass without inducing others to love and venerate the white vestment of the Holy Spanish patriarch who would have desired with all my heart that my friend Padre redenti might have been nominated director of the new confraternity and having returned to
Naples I opened my heart to him on the subject I cannot Escape except answered father redente with his usual gentleness because though the convents are disbanded I still live in community with the other fathers in Naples and I belong to the N dicese of Naples and I
Do not wish to lose my sunship of the convent of San Dominico maiori hence I cannot at the same time be the director of a confraternity in Pompei that is under the authority of another bishop and live in community with other fathers in another diis
Dicese it will be a great deal if you can obtain from the bishop of Nola a permission allowing me to come to Pompei to confess you and the people in this my case my coming every time you shall call me it will be profitable I had to be satisfied with
This answer and he himself wrote to Rome to his General asking for the diploma for the foundation of the confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary in the valley of Pompei and proposing as its director the venerable priest Don janaro feder Rico a resident of those parts nothing in this world happens by
Chance but everything as our great Dante says is well disposed unto a foreseen end the reader will already have recognized in that name the same young priest whom I had first met in Pompei beneath the long rows of populars that line the banks of the Sarno and the general Superior of the
Order of preachers who was the Vicor General father jepe Maria sanito lost no time and sending him the desired diploma bearing the date of the 12th December of that same year 1875 the diploma was sent to NOLA to be signed by the bishop and with these weights the whole month of December
Passed chapter 3 the year 1876 six one the might of the wi of the Widow in the gospel then came the month of January of the Year 1876 of that year the memory of which will never be canel from the minds of men for it opened the era of great
Mercies and wondrous miracles in this land once the home of desolation and death a bright Sun shown in the clear and Azure sky in the early morning hours of the first day of that memorable year the balmy windless air for in this Valley there is generally quite a strong
Breeze blowing made the new New Year Day seem more like Easter this is not a rare occurrence in this part of the country where the fire of vvus and the volcanic sand that forms the under strata of the soil change the rigid cold of winter into a mild and temperate atmosphere a
Single Ray of sun here is enough to change the frigidity of winter into the tepid warmth of spring The Prudent Bishop of Nola had given us two good pieces of of advice the first was not to undertake any building till we had collected a sum sufficient enough to meet the first
Expenses and the second was not to exceed for anyone the quot of the monthly offering which was to be one penny two cents a month said he after a year or two Tire the giver but one set matters nothing to anybody he also suggested our seeking the subscriptions of the peasants not only
To exercise them in Christian duty of almsgiving but also to let them feel that they had a part in the building of the church which was intended for their spiritual welfare I therefore had to begin my paragr naations across the field but this time for a nobler purpose than
Before not to Institute a country Feast but to help build the house of God and so on that first day of the New Year together with the first friend I had met in Pompei the priest father jario Federico I began my journeying from house to home to collect the peasants
Might how it rejoices my heart to this day to reread in a little book I jealously preserve the names of these poor field laborers whose offerings were the first fruits consecrated to our dear Mother the subscribers in Pompei numbered 300 and therefore the Rich Harvest of that year amounted to 15 Franks
$3 and yet at that moment those 15 Franks did not appear to me a sum to be despised nor an unworthy beginning I remembered the Widow’s might and the solemn words of Our Lord recorded in the gospel of St Mark verily verily I say unto you this poor Widow
Has given more than all the rest those 15 Franks heavy as the thousands of the wealthy were the first seed that was soon to produce so rich a harvest the per the poor were there first to give their offerings to that Humble Church that was in so short of time to
Become a world-renowned sanctuary and the poor of all countries have followed that example and the might of the poor the might that draws down such copious blessings from Heaven has helped to increase the majesty and Riches of this Temple sacred to God so it was decreed by an inscrutable
Providence in olden times they were Kings and popes princes and Wealthy abies who backed by their riches undertook the erection of sumptuous churches and the foundation of new Social and religious institutions in Pompei the order of things is reversed a temple has risen that is Monumental and that calls to its
Arms the people of all Nations but its foundation stone was brought with the fruit of the sweat of the brow of humble toilers of the soil it increase will not be founded on any fixed income or capital or on the subsidy of a government or a
Municipality nor on the help of a prince of the church or of the state or on the protection of a magnet or Emperor no but it will be the fruit of the uncertain eventual and spontaneous might given by the charity of individuals and the future oh it will
Rest secure in unshakable in the innumerable benefits conferred by the mother of Believers on the tears dried by her on the Sorrows she will have softened on the sores into which she will have poured her healing balm two the first fruits of the city of Naples I very clearly
Understood that with only the offerings of the peasant folk of ponpe on which to start it would be simply impossible to build a church however small and for this reason I build my my hopes on the numerous acquaintances that the CEST defusco and I had in Naples the Countess first turned her
Steps towards the Largo Petron Al Sal salute where a cultured and Pious young Neapolitan lady Miss Katherine vachelli had founded the pious working Union of gentle ladies intended to help along po Church and the lady upon whom the virgin’s Choice fell for her first promoter was Mrs Maria
Bbeli the wife of Mr Dominico irelli At first she refused or rather excused herself saying she could not succeed well because of her numerous domestic occupations having a great many children and because of the great number of worthy Charities recently instituted in Naples and all dependent on private
Bounty and all founded on the same determined number of charitable people but the Virgin whose intent it was to make use of the erection of her sanctuary of such persons as the world deemed least fitted so blessed her efforts and good will that in a short time hundreds of families inspired by
Her Zeal circumscribed to incipient work of a future Church in Pompei which as yet was more in the desire than in the fact then Madame erbelli was the center towards with all the offerings ped and she was the principal promogator of Naples but not being able to collect all
The sums herself she chose other promulgators and the offering was always as had been decided a penny a month it will be easy to understand that among the first subscribers was the already mentioned Katherine vachelli not to speak of other promoters of the Heart of Jesus among these latter we will never
Forget two really privileged and virgin virginal Souls which now follow the lamb in heaven wherever he leads the first of these was the princess Margarita D santobono the mother of the third order St Dominic and these are days a woman of eminent piety and heroic charity who loved Countess defusco and
Myself with sisterly love the other was the exemplary young girl ernestina Freda whom the Madonna had at an early hour chose as a helpmate to the Countess and for five years she was the latter’s indivisible companion in the difficult task of going from house to house asking for the monthly subscription of one
Penny ernestina Freda always bore with perfect patience and in silence all the hard words and cross faces all the cold and bitter remarks which during the course of five long years in her visits to strangers were directed against count defusco by persons who naturally could never believe that a
Church would be erected with a penny a month and that in the midst of a desolate and abandoned country ernestina Freda though small in her person was the type of a strong untiring woman with an iron and indomitable will and with a body crushed by continual infirmities she continued
Her physical weakness to devote herself holy to the task of laboring for her Lord no sooner did I make the acquaintance of that hardworking Christian soul that I hastened to present her to father redenti and in a short time she became a most fervent member of the third order of St Dominic
And she chose for her field of Labor the poor Church of the Dominican fathers on the Volo for its benefit she consumed the course of her Christian apostleship the name of this Noble tertiary who was a model of Christian modesty and AC of Charity in the midst
Of society will not only remain written in the memories of the Church of St Mary the free on the vomero but also in the pages of the history of the sanct sanctuary of Pompei as to myself I strobe to be equally fortunate at the first house I visited
Was that of the baroness of Castro de R Roa who resided in a Monte molto Palace Via Toledo she subscribed not only for herself but for her whole family and also directed me to the excellent family Richard that lived opposite and when the pious Widow conetta galucho now in heaven heard the
Great news that in the desert country around about Pompei she the banner of the Rosary was to be planted she was so rejected that she hastened to speak of the matter to her numerous friends and relatives and her brothers fathers in the Society of Jesus very soon the
Pendell family and all the party that were want to gather together in their homes in the evening for a conversation described in their names I also sought out these two illustrious families that do honor to the Neapolitan aristocracy and who had a great friendship for me I mean the family of Marquee Francis
Imperal a truly Noble and beneficent type of man man and that of the gentle marchionis of latiano Irene imp imperal who induced her whole family to take a part in the Holy undertaking three the image reblessed the institution of the confraternity of the Rosary in valet de
Pompei January 8 1976 was drawing to a close one day we were notified that galela had come to consign us the painting and such was really the case the poor painter had not been able to do better to all the cracks and spots eaten by time and by worms he implied
Some paint and stucco to hide the Old Wounds and then he had neatly varnished the whole picture so as to make it appear new but the face of the Madonna was still the same common and unpleasant to look at the diadem over her brow was still lacking as likewise the space of canvas
Absolutely necessary to produce an artistic effect to invent the head from touching the frame meanwhile which St Rose was still in the Rubicon fat peasant with crown of roses whose white dress without fold or shadowing look exactly like a heavy board leaning against her chest and throwing her over with its
Weight but at least thus restored it could be presented to the public veneration without fear of its being interdicted by holy visit having received the picture with some satisfaction I turned to the painter with a pleasant matter and asked him for his price 60 Franks what 60 Franks the whole
Thing only costs three Franks and you want 60 for a revation I have said 60 France is my trouble is worth a great deal more what with varnish gypsum and paint that I have spent that sum if that is the case you take the the painting yourself and sell it at your
Own profit I will again expose my engraving until the new church is built but the painter who really was a good Christian when he better understood the destination of the image and the interest that these poor peasants showed in the erection of their little church not not only no longer wanted the 60
Franks but of the 13 I had offered him at the outset he would except 10 and handing me the remaining three said I desire to be the first to help in the building of the new Temple and in fact the three Franks of the painter galela were the first fruits of art
Consecrated to the new church in Pompei oh had the painter galela only known that he was the first to head that long list of artists who by their spontaneous work in this Sanctuary have immortalized their names in Heaven and Earth he would have been much happier had he known that Providence had elected
Him to be the first man to put his hand to that image which was soon to receive the veneration of so many diverse peoples February came the picture was at last ready and the diploma authorizing the direction of the confraternity had returned from Nola with The Bishop’s signature nothing remained to be done
But to have the image re blessed to canonically erect the C confraternity and to Destin an altar for the veneration of the Rosary on which to expose the image of the Virgin and to which indulgences were attached but even here here there are new difficulties to
Meet in the small Parish there were but two altars one the high altar dedicated to the Most Holy Savior where the Most Blessed Sacrament was kept and which as we have already told had recently been rebuilt in Marble at the expense of the above mentioned Pious Union of
Ladies the other had been raised by help with the contributions from the peasant folk and dedicated to St Francis of aisi after a long walk with the pre priests and with the old Pastor it was decided to ask the consent of the bishop of Nola to temporarily remove till till the first
Chapital of the new Sanctuary was build the painting of St Francis and substitute that of the Rosary the country people were well satisfied and as is here customary I notified them by a public crier to all meet in the parish on the 2 Sunday of February the
13th day of the month to found as habitual by voice of the people the company of the most holy rosary I choose that day purposely as it is the feast day of the great tertiary of the third order of St Dominic St Katherine of Richie and I as a tertiary
Chose every opportunity to try and induce others to Love and Desire my beloved third order of penance the day fixed for the great event having arrived and the people gathered together in the small Parish I had obtained permission from the bishop of Nola to have father redenti himself
Already invited by me to come from Naples to re bless the renovated painting and while the crowd applauded he read the diploma of the general of the order which was the priest Don jario Federico was nominated director and the Society of the Most Holy Rosary in Valley de Pompei became a particular in
The D indulgences Privileges and merits of the three orders of St Dominic after which he received into the third order the pastor and father Frederico and 11 other inhabitants of the valley so that on that day the Virgin rewarded my efforts by granting me the greatest joy
Possible which was to see founded here the confraternity of the Ros so dear to her and at the same time to behold the beneficent branches of the third order of St Dominic which is the school for Saints through which to ascend to Heaven planted oh how happy was that kind
Director of my soul when on returning to Naples in the evening he told me the Dominican fathers his companions how the old pitcher he had bought for three Franks had served to erect in Pompeii the the confraternity of the Holy most Rosary thus humbly began that confraternity of the Rosary of Pape
Which in a few years had spread its peaceful ramifications not only throughout Italy but all over parts of the world so as to comprise more than two million members among which figure Bishops and Cardinals princes and queens and the greatest name of the century the rep representative of Christ Leo I
13th history of the sanctuary of Pompei part five chapter 4 the second renovation of the picture of the Virgin but in order to complete the history of the painting So venerated today it is well that I should here Bunch the events that occurred for years after that festal day commendator Federico malder
A well-known Neapolitan painter 3 and a half years later that is to say in May 1879 seeing the daily increase in the v veneration of so many neapolitans and strangers felt for the virgin of Pompei moved by his great piety offered to gratuitously and much more completely renovate the painting which because of
The extreme dampness of the Parish church had almost completely deteriorated and put a certain design of mine to effect which was to have the St Rose changed into St Catherine of Sienna both of these virgins of the Lord belonged to my third order of penance in
Fact the two former of the two is the glory of the Americas the first saint that the newly discovered and christianized World gave to the church but I prefer to behold kneeling near the virgin of the Rosary in the new church by a special patroness that angel of Fon Branda that serap of
Sien the first because an Italian and the glory of Italy and all Christianity and secondly because the mother and most ESP special mistress mistress is of the same order I therefore requested Mal delli to please change the crown of roses of St Rosa into a crown of thorns the
Distinguishing sign of our Italian virgin and also to have two wounds appear in the palm of her hands to recall her venerable Stigmata but there remained one arduous task namely that face like a full moon which if wholly unfitted for St Rosa was simply out of the question for the St
Catherine woman of delicate Constitution and gentle features such as we see in the only portrait of her extent painted by van and preserved in the Church of St Dominic in Sienna the courteous Neapolitan artist promised to do his best to satisfy me so the CEST defusco on the following day
Took the painting with her in her carriage from Pompei to Naples and left it in the bookstore of Senor salvator Festa asking him to see to it that the picture was conveyed to the celebrated painter Studio but already in the course of these three years the queen of the
Rosary had shown signs of her approval and her pleasure in the growing work in this Valley and the erection of a temple sacred to her by many graces and prodigies and many ladies and gentlemen had begun to undertake P pilgrimages from Naples to this Valley to thank the
Blessed Mother for favors received or to ask for new ones so did it not seem to just to me that the person should come to Pompei to render thanks to the most holy virgin and should find no image to venerate moreover the PO the popular devotion which so often takes to a certain
Payon to some special sculpture to some particular color dress or form beneath which it is want to daily venerate the Madonna ran the risk of cooling somewhat what was to be done the Bounty of God which which gives rise to and then completes the Good Will
Of man did not even fail me this time and helped me to find an expedient in which its turn also produced other extraordinary events my favorite Resort in Naples at that time was the dear little Church of the Rosary at pora Medina it was there that together with
My my lamented friend and spiritual advisor father redenti and with Dr jeppi Jani we had as far back as January 1874 gathered together as a society of ladies and gentlemen all belonging to the third order and every month we were want to hold there our Pious meetings and it was because of the
Devotion of Dr Jani and my self to St Cecilia that the 22nd day of every month was irrevocably fixed upon for the sacred conference and the same custom still holds today in the Church of San Dominico maior to which are tertiaries removed in 1885 the soul of this Congregation of
The third order in the Church of the Rosary at Port of Medina was that same tertiary who gave me the first picture of the Virgin I mean sister Maria conetti deala to her therefore did I turn in my perplexity and she told me that father redenti at the same time that several
Years before in Via anti cagula had brought bought for three fanks 40 cm of the V Virgin of the Rosary had also purchased another painting of the same size by the same author representing the nup chills of St Katherine of Sienna now it is well to know that that
Venerable man because of his great love for the rosary and his patronous St Katherine of Sienna though he was following an Impulse of piety when seeing the two objects of his Heavenly love in the middle of a street thrown down among old secondhand wear and wretched pictures he bought them and
Carried them away in order to remove from them such a humiliating position and the sister who also owned this second picture given to her by the good father very well said I you gave me the first first picture so as to plant the love for the Rosary in the hearts of
The peasants and you will also give me the second so that the devotion which has increased not only in their hearts but also in those of the neapolitans shall not suffer dimunition the sister rejoiced to find herself an instrument in the hands of God and thus enabled to benefit distant
Souls and to increase the Devotion to the rosary and to St Catherine immediately brought me down the painting which to tell the truth was as old as the first though not quite so hideous or woe begone it represented the virgin of the V Rosary with the Babe in her arms in
The act of giving the Ring of the celestial n chills to St Catherine St Dominic it is true was missing but there was a certain charm about the face of the Virgin and the saint of Sienna was not as repellent as the St Rose in the other painting so it
Appeared to me to have gained something The Peasants thought I will not mind the substitution after all it is the virgin of the Rosary I am presenting to their veneration but a black discouraging doubt arose in my mind will the favors continue to flow down from heaven when I shall have changed the
Image oh without a doubt answered I to myself it is not the image that works miracles in Pompei but it is the power of God clearly manifesting itself there because he alone can do great and admirable things fit mirabilia Magna Solus the image is but the simple instrument of his
Prodigies but God desires and today more than ever that the most perfect creature ever formed by his hands the Divine mother of Jesus should be honored in this world and he wants her honored and venerated by all peoples with one accent a and with that same hymn the
Rosary it is therefore the rosary which draws such copious benedictions from Heaven it is the Church of the Rosary the Virgin wishes to see built in Pompei as she shows by her Miracles I was not mistaken my new undertaking of thus changing or rather contrasting with the habits of of the
People was crowned with success the second picture placed in the same spot whence the first one had been removed received the same veneration and new in miraculous Graces poured down from heaven on many of though many who Associated themselves to the new work or who came here to explore new
Favors the Heavenly virgin dained to prove to me by facts that she showered her blessings on this abandoned land for the predilection she Bears her Celestial rosary and more especially for the love she felt for the temple which was to rise in honor of her rosary on this Pagan land of
Pompei and even if this image were removed the wonders of the Lord would still be the same among the favors obtained while the second picture of St Catherine and the virgin of the Rosary was in veneration it will suffice for me to recall one which the reader already
Finds published and documented in the pamphlet noina to the Most Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei also in the third year page 34 of the monthly publication the rosary and the new Pompei I mean the blessing granted to myself in person went on bringing this
Picture of the new jills of St Catherine to my room the Blessed Virgin restored me to life and this took place in the evening of the 18th of August 1879 whosoever should desire today to see this second picture will find it at the extreme end of the first doitory of
The orphan girls I wished that the saint of the benan casa family the admirable teacher of all virtues who obtained for me from Mary the grace of my temporal life should be a safe and sure guide to heaven to all these poor or orphans gathered together here one by one and entrusted to
Her I thought no better place could be found for the painting which was the means of the the saving of my life that here in the midst of lonely innocence that composes the real crown of Liles and Roses of the queen of Victories of Pompei Mal deri kept the miraculous
Image today popularly known as the vigin of Virgin of Pompei in his Studio from June until August 1879 he spared no pains to really make a devotional picture of it he found the means of decreasing the size of the virgin’s head and giving a certain air of refine refinement to the enormous
Face of St Rose at the same time thinning it down as much as possible he also gave a gentler expression to the rough features of St Dominic and to the Babe he he lent an air of vivacity which it to this day preserves but the trouble was as he had already
Has already been said that the canvas was ruined in order to renew it Commodore maldarelli had recourse to one of the great artists in that time in Naples seor Francesco chor choro who then had and still has his studio in the lupano palace Selita Muse I remember paid senior chiorello
60 Franks for the canvas alone here with exquisite art according to Modern discoveries withdrew from the painting the old and torn canvas and substituted a new and much higher one which in fact enabled the Commodore maldarelli to add another palm of painting above the Virgin heads a space
That was wholly lacking in the first picture and this he did with such a perfect imitation of antique tense that to make the whole appear at a distance the work of the same Epoch and even the author and so the painting have been retouched for the first time by the artist galela in
1876 repainted by the celebrated Commodore maldarelli in in 1879 the face of the Virgin wholly altered St Rose changed into St cathine of Sienna even the old canvas removed and a new one substituted the head of the Virgin and that of the child crowned with a diadem of diamonds her neck
Encircled with a necklace of precious gems it will be seen that scarcely a trace of the old picture remains th exposed surrounded by a frame of molded bronze that has cost 10,000 Franks with 15 bronze medallions encasing the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary painted by palote forming a crown around it the
Painting has acquired such an artistic appearance that the lovely face of the Virgin appears indeed to be to like to gently trembling Morning Star however we still keep with the greatest pleasure the first pictures reproduced from their first homely painting the fortunate artist whom we first called to pompe was old dolino of
Naples who worked for the book sellers in the Via St Biagio de la and was recommended To Us by our friend s Salvador Festa the editor yet in those first reproductions and lithographic Engravings which today seem so hideous were yet the objects of the greatest veneration and we ourselves had seen
Them elegantly framed in gold and silver and venerated in the houses of noble families more especially in the homes of those who were first to receive us when we went around in Naples singing seeking to find subscribers for a penny a month but even after the second
Renovation the image was not yet in a condition to be photographed and we still preserve as a historical document the first photographs taken which suited no one in the world to be historically sincere and truthful we cannot attribute to the painter maldarelli nor yet would he attribute it to himself a certain
Celestial expression on the virgin’s face which all who today come to the sanctuary notice and which inspires confidence love and devotion at the same time it is at the same time a ray of beauty and gentleness and of majesty that shines down from those eyes making all who approach the the sanctuary with
Life bend the knee before that old canvas while their heart beats with Rapture I am personally convinced that the Virgin by a visible portant has embellished her own face and as many of us as are here concur in declaring that from the very day this painting was removed from the
Old and tumbled down Parish of the Most Holy Savior and placed in the new Chapel which forms a part of the Great Sanctuary on the left a certain Beauty a majesty and confidence inspiring sweetness are to be noticed on the features of the celestial Queen which most certainly were not to be seen
Before and if persons prefer to believe what may be also the case as the Virgin has no need of Miracles and that this our manner of seeing arises from the disposition of our hearts this fact will still remain incontrovertible and out of Doubt as shown by daily proofs namely
That person of all nationalities who come here every day behold in that image something which attracts and constrains admiration not because of Any artistic Perfection as this is certainly not a Madonna painter by Raphael but some secret latent power which draws one almost against one’s will to kneel and
Pray oh yes while praying before that image one feels in one’s Soul The Firm hope that prayer will be answered and such ineffable Bliss is enjoyed as who has never felt cannot Poss possibly understand this is the history of the miraculous Effigy which is venerated in
The valley of Pompei center of the size prayers wishes and supplications of thousands of Catholics who turned to our blessed Queen with perfect Confidence from every part of it Italy Europe and the world chapter five the first miracle well during the first half of the month of February
1875 we were busy founding in valet de Pompei the Society of the most holy rosary and building a temporary altar to the Virgin in order that the faithful might enjoy all the annexed indulgences such an extraordinary event had taken place in Naples that far from
Its very singular in the course of a few days it was in the mouths of many and even re reached the ears of his Eminence the Cardinal who was then CYO riario Forza the rapid divulgation of this event also caused the news that near the
Ruins of Pompei a church was going to be rebuilt to the real God to circulate rapidly and find for its reception a large opening the event was really of such a nature as to be surprising in fact it was a miracle and the precise spot where it was said to
Have taken place was the house number 62 in Via tribunale but the strangest part of it was that this certain something Supernatural had taken place in that house from the day and a certain promise that had been made to help in the building of some Churches which perhaps
Would be erected in Pompei after who knows how many years Those Who Bore witness to the fact were not only a most distinguished family of Naples the luk Elli but also many other dwellers in the same house especially Madame Anamaria lucarelli today passed to a better life
A woman of remarkable virtues a person of letters and an artist a model for all Christian Souls this strange event which we are about to relate was the first evident sign from heaven which at an early period proved to all the neapolitans the favor with which the celestial virgin looked upon the
Building of a church sacred to her on the ground so long held in bondage by Satan it was the first Grace which the Virgin granted to the lovers of her future temple in relating the fact to our readers we will not toart by one word from the written statement made out by
Madame Anna Maria lucarelli and announced from all the pulpits of that immense Town Clorinda lucarelli of Naples a lovely child of 12 years of age but an orphan having lost both her parents had since the month of August 1874 been frightfully tormented with the with horrible epileptic convulsions despite all the remedies of
The medicinal art which were ceaselessly applied the disease progressed in such a manner as to cause the greatest sorrow and affliction to all them household her loving Aunt Madame anamarie lucarelli Who had who took the place of a tender mother to the poor unfortunate child wished to consult another of the
Most illustrious professors of Naples the celebrated commendator Antonio cerelli he agreed with the opinion of the other renowned Physicians namely that the convulsions were of an epileptic nature nevertheless he prescribed a line of treatment but with regret pronounced the hard sentence that he could give no sure hope of
Recovery the poor girl at this sad announcement became silent grows pale and resignedly bows her head but on the first day of May 1875 the girls Aunt wished to take the child to the Church of St Nicholas Tolentino where miracul where the miraculous image of the Immaculate Conception of Lords is venerated hoping
That the mother of God would save her poor niece from the Insidious disease which she was afflicted she had her drink some of the miraculous water had her inscribed in the registers of the pious Mount of the Virgin Blessed Virgin and prayed long and earnestly for the child’s
Recovery after which she returned home her heart full of Faith and Hope but God for all his high ends thought fit to choose another time and another occasion to show the intercessory power of his mother Clorinda Duke GL grew worse and worse the convulsions attacked her with greater frequency and intensity till at
Last they followed each other every three or four days and not unfrequently daily and at various intervals then the change of air was tried but nevertheless despite the wholesome country air and the medicines constantly used she remained as she was for 6 months without the slightest change for the
Better in fact the girl worn out by fruitless use of all medicinal remedies without the knowledge of anyone gave up every sort of treatment towards the end of November 1875 5 her loving Aunt tired and worn out and fatigued by hopes deferred after this suffering of so many woes at last formed the
Historic heroic resolve of sending the Beloved little invalid under the care of a daughter of Charity to France to bathe in the prodigious Waters of the sanctuary of Lords thus hoping to see her return cured but how send away a child that required unceasing care and attention
For now the Dreadful evil attacked the girl not only by day but also by night and often she would fall to the ground with great force often bleeding and always frothing and writhing her delicate little body with constant danger to her life it was on the day of the Feast of
The purification of 1876 in the afternoon Clorinda suddenly escaped the vigil eye of her aunt who almost with a presentiment of some greater ill went in search of her in fear and trembling but she found her horrible to think near the well with her head inside the bucket having perhaps felt a desire
To drink and in that position taken an almost violent attack of con convulsions thus running the risk of suffocating herself and what is more precipitating into the well the following day the 3rd of February the poor child was tormented as she had never been before from morning till evening the convulsions were so
Violent and so frequent that they rendered her almost insensible and wholly incapable of even recognizing the members of her family her poor ant was in a state of dejection impossible to describe when on that same day third of February CEST defusco entered the house and during the course of conversation happened to
Mention the fact that the new church was to be built in Valley de Pompei dedicated to the virgin of the rosary at the same time she informed her of certain singular events which the Lord had marked the beginning of his new undertaking she told her how in a few
Days a Brotherhood of the Rosary would be founded in Pompei and how an image of the virgin of the Rosary would for the first time be exposed on an altar to attract the poor peasants and instill in their hearts the love for the celestial beads she also explained to her how
Forlorn was the condition of these four toilers of the land and how great was their ignorance when The Afflicted lady heard this tale she felt newborn hope arise in her heart and she made a secret promise to help in the work with all her power if only her niece should be cured what
Increased her hope too was the fact that not only she herself but also her niece had for several months been aggregated to the third order of St Dominic’s and were for that reason beloved Daughters of the virgin of the Rosary Mrs Anamaria lucarelli moved by a
Faith and a hope she had not felt for a long time subscribed her name exclaiming Countess if the virgin of the Rosary for whom I feel an immense devotion will grant me the grace of the recovery of this my niece I will here be at your service I will myself to make a
Tour of the houses in Naples seeking offerings for the Church of Pompei here is my offering not of a cent a month but of 10 cents a month and I pay down a whole Year’s amount as the pledge of the offering I will make it I will make if my prayer is
Granted and the queen of the Heavenly roses who saw that the time was ripe for a new manifestation of her power to be shown to the perishing world or perhaps like at the marriage feast in Canaan by means of her powerful prayers obtained from her the son the anti anticipation
Of the hour of her prodigies in the land of dead pagans look down from heaven upon that Pious woman with the eyes of a mother and wonderful to relate from day on which her en Her Image was exposed to the pompeian people from that Memorial Day of the 13th of February when the
Confraternity of the Rosary was erected in Pompei and from that day I say Clorinda was restored to complete faith two famous professors and Mur Mario Castro Novo and Salvador finina who had attended chlorina Clorinda were not at all reluctant to certify certify to the serious state of
The young girl to the perfect inunity of all the medications used in the rapid unhoped for transition from the most s serious illness to complete recovery which recovery not being based on any of the remedies recommended by science and indeed in direct contradiction with all the opinions of science itself but Force the
Minds of the doctors by strength of a logical deduction to admit the intervention had some Supernatural power nothing more was required of them and this was obtained as can clearly be seen from the following certificates one blank I the undersign doctor in medicine and surgery do hereby certify that Miss Clarinda
Lucarelli as far back as the month of August 187 4 she began to suffer from undoubted peroxy of central epilepsy which repeated themselves at longer or shorter intervals up to the third day of February in the year 1874 from which day up to the date here
Below a fixed they can have no longer manifested themselves I cannot admit to state that the diagnosis I made of the malady was completely ratified in a consultation held between myself and Professor commentator Antonio D Martino and confirmed by per professor cerelli and we all three decided upon and prescribed the most energetic
Curative pharmaceutic and hygienic treatment such as country air chosen food Etc but the despite all these powerful medicinal remedies the above mentioned epileptic par oxym uh continued to be frequented intense during all the above stated period and more especially during the latter months of their violence was
Extreme I signed this document in honor of Truth May Naples May 18th 1876 signed martio Castro Nuovo two I the undersigned attendant Professor on Miss clarenda lucarelli daughter of Professor Dominic lucarelli deceased and of about the age of 12 do hereby certify that said Miss had for several years been Afflicted with epileptic
Convulsions which could be attributed to no assignable cause in which despite the most vary treatment continued to torment her at various times by night as well as by day till about four months ago when suddenly without the use of any human remedies she passed from a state of
Extreme illness to a state of perfect health which she is still enjoying to the surprise of all to this I certify on my honor and conscience ready to confirm it with my oath Naples June 4th 1876 Professor Salvadore finina chapter six the Neapolitan nobility at that time it happened that
The Countess met in the streets of Naples Mrs lucarelli who was accompanied by her two nieces Laura and Clorinda the latter in the best of health no sooner did my aunt see my wife then with tears and joy in her eyes she told the Countess about the unexpected Mir
Miracle and here I am she added inebriated with joy for two years I have made the round of all the churches in Maples soliciting public prayers for the recovery of my dear Clorinda now I will return to all these churches to have public Thanksgiving rendered to the Lord for this most
Special Grace and to have it attributed to the intercession of the virgin of the Rosary who desires a church in Pompei at this very moment I am going to tell what had happened to his Eminence the card riario who to whom I have so often turned in my distress acquainting him with my
Sorrow what our joy was on hearing this news from the Countess upon her return home the reader can readily imagine but when the first impulse of Joy had sub subsided and we began seriously to think the matter over the reflection produced such a strong impression on us as to quite Astound
Us but is it possible the Madonna thus bless a work so poorly and meanly begun and then perform a miracle and why for The Rustic Church of poor peasants it would therefore seem that she appreciates our good will if this is so everything will proceed well perhaps the Mad wishes us to begin
The church immediately then we will begin it all these considerations while on the one hand they showed a they shed a ray of comfort on our spirit and on the other hand somewhat agitated us as having the desire to do a great deal at
One time we do not know on what first to lay our hand so as to proceed quickly there is thought we but one safe and sure way if only the aristocracy of Naples which is wealthy and Pious would take a hand and an interest in the new
Work oh then indeed it would go along On Wheels but how to enter those those homes where only titled people enter or titled relatives or titled strangers introduced by other titled persons it was true that we already had among our subscribers The Ladies fonton the noble and Pious Duchess of
Kasima the Duchess of Melania the lady Francis D Dominic chees and the friend of Miss Mrs Bella The Duchess of monar Miss raphaela peria The Duchess of Capra and others belonging to the pious Union of Katherine Vol pelli but then the aristocracy of Naples is so very numerous nevertheless strengthened by
That inner Force which proceeds from the faith and the trust of the supernatural we began to make the rounds of the streets of Naples in order to find subscribers for a cent a month to take part in the work which Heaven already with open Miracles showed to appreciate the pious Duchess Morelli was
Just returning from the meaning of cathine volpicelli the Countess no sooner did she see her then she begged her to become a promogator of the new work and also solicited her in indicate to us powerful families to whom to turn for the prescrip subscription of a scent a
Month do you wish to have numerous and good addresses of wealthy and Noble me Neapolitan families answered The Duchess Morelli then turned to the marionis fasi D Som whom you already knew it is her mother the princess Del coli had had spread through the na Naples
With the devotion of 15 Saturdays of the Rosary the mar marionis is a saintly woman wealthy connected with the finest families in Naples and what is more given to building churches I really could indicate to you no other person who would be as good a guardian angel in
Guide this advice appeared to us to be like the ray of sunlight that scatters the clouds without losing time we directed our steps to towards the Palace of marionas fasi it is sweet to to remember after a lapse of 19 years the conversation which took place that day and whence sprung
The fact that foremost among the social classes the aristocracy of Naples became the first pillar of origin and support of the great work God wished begun in Pompei the noble lady received us with a kind and benevolent familiarity as though she had known us for a long time but when she heard our
Project she was Frank in expressing her opinion you have said she undertaken a most difficult task there are so many charities in Naples and such beautiful Charities that are still barely able to support themselves because they are all upheld by the same persons now how do you wish to add
Another one to the numberless ones already existing and especially the building of a church in a desert country far from Naples in fact outside the dicese of Naples I must honestly tell you that you will find it hard to succeed I a after spending more than 50,000 Franks towards the erection of a
Church in fogia had seen the whole thing left in suspense moreover I know the nature of Southerners they undertake new works with great FV fervor and then they Tire because of the multiplicity of the same and because new ones arise to call their attention marionis answered we we have already
Presented all the difficulties to our holy Bishop of Nola but you do know that he answered you are egotists you are only thinking of yourselves and your own own time churches are not built in one generation St Peter’s in Rome and St Peter’s in Petersburg were only completed after three
Centuries you have the Merit of beginning others after 50 years will have the Merit of finishing the marchus who was truly good Shrugged her shoulders and added to satisfy you and so as to have a little Merit myself I subscribe my name but with only a cent a
Month you will do nothing ladies at least should subscribe for 50 centm 10 cents a month and I set the example shall subscribe for half a Frank every month after which the Maran onus had her daughter-in-law and her son the Marquee Luigi filias subscribe and also her German governess
And other members of her family before leaving she turned to us saying however let me give you one piece of advice call in no architect for this work which only counts on Penny subscriptions and will last dear knows how many years otherwise the architect’s fee alone will absorb half your
Capital I know this by experience after having spent many thousand Franks on the church and convent of fra Ludi ludovico of quesoria and tondo of campod Deon in Naples all work now has been suspended but what is worse poor father ludoo is in litigation with the architect because this latter wishes to
Exact his fee my dear marionis said I smiling and who could think of calling an architect moreover being a church for peasants to be built on a desert land there will be no need of Architects we will do all things ourselves I have already thought of what
I shall do I shall go with my Mason to some town near and look at some church we will take the necessary measurements with some twine and then we will lay the foundations when I ceased speaking she gave us a quantity of her visiting cards telling us at the same time the names
And addresses of many of her relatives and friends to whom to present them in her name and she had her own butler accompany us to the house of the count of gigiano and to the residence of the marionas of rende the Duke of Bonia the princess of terella the Duchess of
Sal the princess of girach the princess of angri where we named Miss Josephine Ana Anastasio promoter of the Duchess of Eboli of Duchess of gallow the marchionis Ruffo the mar marionis C Kenda marionis of of Guida mandre and others and so through these Noble ladies we were introduced to the family of note
As though the excellent Duke of capriata between whom and ourselves there existed a brotherly friendship we had good fortune to become aain acquainted with such Pious distinguished person persons as the Duke of panicha and the count D lur The Duchess of mayo The Duchess of Torah the marchionis
Of latiano mayo the marchionis pisy Chelli the Duke of San Vito the marchionis of salandra the Countess of balsorano the marchionis of AA Vala whose niece Miss Maria Dalia is to this day fulfilling the sweet duties of promoter of the Madonna of Pompei at the same time we were so very
Fortunate as as to interest in the inmate Church of Pompei through ways which providential The Duchess of laurena the count as gani de lenana the marchionis Bonelli the marchionis of St aramo the princess pigoni Del caretto and that English gentle lady Miss Mel leod the instructress of Miss Amelia
Colona the daughter of the prince of Colona of stigliano who now is among the most fervent promoters of the sanctuary of Pompei this is how most certainly by Divine will and counsel the Neapolitan aristocracy was elected by the Queen of Heaven to take a prominent part in the
First beginnings of the sanctuary of Pompei but it is not for us to scrutinize the ways of Providence but one fact impresses itself most forcibly on our minds now that 19 years have passed a fact that constitutes a distinguishing feature of this Sanctuary it may perhaps be owing to
This Divine inter disposition that ever since the annual festivals in the valley of ppei began a certain solemn and noble noble gravity such as is fitted to Divine worship has always been observed even on the occasion of the greatest solemn Aries as the popul as the populace of Naples good and full of
Heart and generosity though it is yet still by Nature noisy and funloving did not take part in them so that the religious demeanor so contrary to all noise and clamorous feasts has become by force of example the habit and custom of this and the neighboring people hence it arises that despite the immense
Crowd of people there is always a profound and religious silence reigning in the sanctuary The Silence of adoration and of of heartfelt prayer history of the sanctuary of Pompei part six chapter 7 the first Thorn Pricks a worthy friend of ours Professor jeppi debonis Parish priest of valac
Corsa has written in the form of a romance the first little episodes that occurred on our beginning the work of God here in Pompei it is named the book pompe and roses and thorns with this title he alluded to a maxim the truth of which is all is constantly
Being proven in the holy and civilizing work that Mary is carrying on in this Valley which is that there is no Triumph without a battle as there is no rose without Thorns this same principle we will keep before us in weaving the history of the sanctuary in which it will find its constant
Affirmation in the very indoctrination we clearly stated this truth writing as we did there has been no Triumph of the sanctuary of pompe without adversity nor Glory that was not preceded by humiliation our great consolations have constantly been preceded by great bitterness but in all our hard trials we have been
Sustained and strengthened then by The Loving hand of the lady of this Valley whose title is the queen of Victories this permitted us to let us start out to narrate our first trials the first days of March of that year 1876 arrived I who had seen the Good Will and
Interest of several noble families of Naples aroused in the course of only one month and had seen the Virgin most effectively strengthen our first steps by a most evident Miracle rendered a thing of public note in that town felt impatient to begin the building of this church especially as I felt an inner
Stimulus which no longer gave me peace or rest when I shall have begun to erect the walls of the Temple of Pompei so thought I there would be no one who will refuse to lend me a happy hand to tell the truth in the strong ardor of my desire no obstacle appeared
To me insurmountable and ignorant as I was of such a like understanding I certainly believed that the evil one who so loves to oppose all his AR artifices to the works of God could not conquer the fervor of my heart nor strengthen of my proposals but I very early found out by
Sad experience how great an energy Satan displays to hinder the building of a temple to his Archen enemy Jesus Christ and also what his power still was over this land of Pompei where for centuries his rule has been peace peaceful and unassailed we will see what troubles and
Contrari the great enemy raised from the very outstart and what bitterness he conjured up to discourage us from our Enterprise it is well known that before building an edifice the foundations must first be laid and you cannot lay a foundation when you not have the necessary plot of
Ground so we began to look around for a plot of ground on which to build the reader will remember how in November 1875 the bishop of Nola looking out of the window of the defusco house and stretching forth his arm had pointed out in an inspired manner the spot where the
New Temple was to rise namely in the center of the valley by the side of the old Parish of the Most Holy Savior in the province of Naples so our first steps were directed towards finding the proprietor of the land adjoining the parish having found out that it belonged to a gentleman of
Bosco real we sent to him the Reverend father jario Federico to act in the matter but despite all the going back and forth it was impossible to come to any settlement as his price appeared to us to be too exorbitant one evening as we were gathered together in the little house at
Val the Countess the Reverend Federico and other friends and myself we talked the whole matter over with no slight preoccupation were in great doubt as to what to do whether to consent to pay the exorbitant price or to turn in the proprieties of other plots and ground but on the following morning lo
And behold our faithful companion in the work the Reverend jario Federico come to us pale and excit Ed saying a most horrible Vision came to me early this morning and thus spoke to me how can you thus throw away the money which is the blood of the poor leave
That proprietor and go to that Pious man and it pointed to a field lying east of the defusco dwelling he will give you the land on which to build the church without any compensation we will not hear enter upon any discussion as regards this Vision we merely mention it for the sake of
Historical Precision because it really caused us loss of time of strength and of money this much is certain that in the condition in which we found ourselves we were anxious to try to overcome to come to terms with other Proprietors so what between the perplexity and the vague hope of
Obtaining gratuitously the much desired land we ran in search of the pious gentleman of bosow real he really was a Pious and agreeable man he received us with all the courtesy possible and with sincere cordiality he told us that the land was not his but belonged to his wife who at
The time was absent but he led us to hope for the best bright and happy we flew back to valy D Pompei to carry the good news of the Countess and the principal inhabitants of the valley the building plot was at least sure and perhaps would be given
Gratuitously the temple was no longer to rise opposite the defusco dwelling in the province of Naples but on the east side of the same in the Providence of Salerno little mattered it to us whether in this or that Province so only we could at last see all the poor peasants
Gathered for the first time in a spacious sacred dwelling or edifice to listen to the word of God and enjoy the sacred ceremonies of the Catholic church that day was a day of rejoicing in valet but several days passed and no answer came from the lady proprietor
But finally it did arrive the lady though with great charm of manner did not consent we were disconcerted we did not know whom to turn to when the Countess came forward with a proposal of her own the land to the west of this dwelling she said I hold it it is true
In common with my younger children defusco but still I do a certain part which I will gladly renounce for the building of the church the solution of all difficulty seems th thus to be found the much desp desired church was therefore not to rise on either opposite
The Parish of the Savior as the venerable Bishop of Noah had counseled nor yet to the right as proposed by the Reverend Federico but on the western side in a vast area with its entrance on the provincial Highway Naples Salerno and immediately Carried Away by Indescribable joy we went to visit the
Proposed site and we began to hastily plant pickets thus drawing thus the design of a vast church with an ample Vester room with a dwelling for the Rector and a thousand little other details let us write to the bishop said the Countess every obstacle has been removed every difficulty
Overcome this advice was immediately followed and the bishop lost no time in answering but he was opposed to the project how can you build a church he observed with great Prudence on a land not properly divided and part and partly belonging to minor ERS when they become
Of age they would be entitled to assert their rights and take the land and the church built on it The Prudent advice of the bishop decided us again to change our plans but our minds OB obfuscated by so many oppositions were completely in the dark chapter8 latiano and Pompei
But not even these contrari sufficed while I was feeling somewhat discouraged I received on the 12th day of that same march three dispatches from latiano in Tera de Otranto calling me thither immediately as my good mother has been taken with such a violent attack on the brain that her life was despaired
Of very often she had been attacked by severe cerebral forms brought on by palpitations of the heart and had threatened her days but this last one had come to end them it was a great blow to me to know that her condition was such as not to be
Able to receive the last sacraments of the church nor yet sign her will on which depended the good Harmony of two families her friends and Physicians of Naples hearing the nature of the disease gave up all hope I then rushed to my little Church of the third order at Porta Medina and
There at the altar of the Virgin were five years before I had received the white scapular of the third order I begged the mother of mercies to once again save my family from so great a misfortune she read in my inmost soul my firm purpose never to abandon the
Blessed work of her church in Pompei the following morning I went to Pompei to see Reverend Federico and to inform him of my great Misfortune and also to tell him to defer any negociations regarding the acquisition of a plot of ground on which to build the church to my
Return but there was another scene of Sorrow awaiting me in in Pompei I entered the home of the feder Ricos almost dark for want of light and I beheld that numerous family had gathered together with tears in their eyes in the perfect Silence of consternation jeppe federo the father at
67 years of age oppressed by a most violent fever having lost all power of speech is mind wandering and his eyes almost glazed was dying from an attack of plop per pneumonia and was unable to receive the sacrament or sign his will the attending doctor having exhausted all human remedies had
Reluctantly informed the family that all hope was lost at that sight struck by the similarity of the two cases and remembering at the same time on that very day 13th of March a full month had elapsed since we had exposed the image of the Rosary to veneration in Pompei
And founded the Society of the most holy rosary it is strange I murmured in a low voice not one but two dying on the very same day my mother and the father of my only companion in Pompei and the work of the new church are brought to death death’s
Door could it be possible that the virgin of the Rosary should Grant her favors to others and deny them to those who are so anxious to work for her glory I spoke a few few words of Hope and comfort to The Afflicted family and also revealed to them the fact that my
Home of latiano had been visited by the same trial immediately the other son also a priest ramol Federico made his dying father pronounce a vow in favor of the new church and the latter not only promised to offer 425 Franks but also to help gratuitously in the work of
Construction this done I left immediately I reached latiano on the evening of the following day I found my my mother is still alive but deprived of speech and motionless nevertheless I did not abandon all hope first of all I besought her to repeat together with me the hail man
Mary and to do her utmost to articulate the sweet words and oh wonderful to say by degrees as she proceeded to stammer forth the words her tongue became loosened after the lapse of 5 days and exactly on on the 19th day sacred to the patriarch St Joseph my mother had signed
Her will had received the Holy Communion and was happily seated at table together with her sons who had come there from various parts of the country to weep over her dead body chapter n in Franco Villa Fontana the pugly who does not love that generous region the Cradle of a people
So Ardent and yet so moderate the land so fertile in its wealth of orange groves and of fine Vines of Splendid wheat that have caused it to be named The Golden Goblet of the kingdom of Naples every since a child I have I learned to love that dear Province
Called by GDI in his poems and berseba of Italy the pugly gave me the first breath of material and moral life I was born in latiano in the province of leche uh Little Town of 7,000 inhabitants it is entirely surrounded by Gardens and Vineyards and lies in a
Smiling plain beneath a lovely sky and is not far distant from the the Brin brindisi my father entrusted my education when I was six years of age to the Reverend fathers of the pious schools who at that time had a flourishing College in francavilla Montana francavilla is a large town of
Over 20,000 inhabitants with Broad Streets and numerous buildings and churches and convents and hospitals and a college for young men of good families ever since I resided there it was one of the most cultivated towns of the province of leche in considering the long time I
Lived there a period of 10 years which I passed in college both from an intellectual and a moral point of view I may recall Frank a villa my second home now since I am here in the pugly I thought to myself when I saw saw my mother again restored to
Life it will be well if I try to make my stay here fruitful to help for the Temple of Pompei so I determined to make a trip to neighboring towns to spread the glories of the Rosary and to seek offerings and subscriptions for the new Temple the first town in which I turned
My steps was my second home Franco Villa I even remember the very day it was the 24th of March of that memorable year 1876 the vigil of the great feast on which all the world celebrates the Divine motherhood of Mary the Feast of the anunciation I had not been to Fran ailla
For 18 years it is true that I had several old friends and college companions among the aristocracy of the place but I was truly afraid that a new generation grown up during my long absence under the modern atmosphere of civil strife and decrease of Faith would receive my proposition of
Building a new church more than 200 miles distance with the utmost coldness I thought it prudent to go first of all to one of the noblest and wealthiest families of the aristocracy of Frank ailla to the commendator Luigi foreso whose son John had been my companion in college the warm reception granted me
Comfort Me Not A little I then told them of the reasons of my trip thither and I asked for a list of families of whom to apply for Aid in my difficult undertaking without having to fear a humiliating refusal fortunately answered commendator foreso foreso our Bishop of Ora is reiding here
He is very wealthy a millionaire and a short while ago he gave 150,000 Franks to the passionist fathers of mandua to build there a church and convent from their very Foundations at this joyful piece of news my heart expanded and in my mind was comforted by a kind of hope that if the
Dicese of my the bishop of my dases had given 100 and 150 Franks to build a church in mandua already so well supplies supplied with sacred edifices how could he but receive well when who is a native of his dicese and was intending to build a church in a
Place where God was so little known and loved it was therefore resolved that my first visit should be to my Bishop I went to his Palace and asked to be received Whom Shall I announce asked a servant the name the lawyer Bartolo Longo of latiano after a few moments there
Appeared the venerable figure of an old man tall and thin who looking me full in the face remained standing in at a certain distance perhaps he did not like my appearance my fa pale face and my hurried excited speech per chance gave him the idea that I might be a doubtful
Personality Noble old man in his long life he had undoubtedly experienced human perversity more than once and it is not to be wondered at if if feebleness and his 80 years of life had made him conscious moreover he was heart of hearing what do you wish who are you he
Inquired with a certain Reserve I am lawyer Baro Longo of latiano answered as loudly so as to be understood I have lived in Naples for many years Providence had led me to Pompei the bishop of Nola had encouraged me to build a church there for the poor peasants who are in need of
One first of all I have come to you Excellency as to my pastor to ask for your help in such a holy work naturally being obliged to speak so loudly so as to make myself understood I became red in the face not to mention a certain delicacy on my part in asking for
Money but those few words were enough to strengthen that holy man in the belief that I had come there to impose upon him besides which I had only come before his presence without his knowing me at all but I also spoke in a decided manner so to give me an answer which
Would confound me and prevent me from going any further he said with significance you have mentioned the bishop of Nola I know him he is wealthy he alone can build a church go go to him but listen to me Excellency go he said raising his voice with lowered head discomforted
Confused discouraged I muttered a salutation took off my hat and went off and went downstairs I have begun well if the bishop has treated me like a thief others can but have me arrested and consigned to the Corr Rob and ears I hesitated whether to return immediately to
Laano or whether to stop over that day and the next in Franco Villa to to try my fortune still further with the inhabitants and to seek out my old friends and acquaintances humiliated and discouraged as I felt I decided to remain so as not to Holy to have lost my
Journey and have returned to my old home in vain I returned to commandor forio and told him of my miserable failure there is certainly some mistakes here he exclaimed our Bishop is not a man to receive you in this manner let the mayor who is a relation of yours
Speak to him and he will change his mind I followed this advice and the mayor Cavalieri giovante galante brought me in response a sum of 20 Franks from The Bishop’s brother accompanied by many excuses however what between that going back and forth and a certain discouragement that had taken hold to me
In consequence of my first experience that day slipped by without any further event worthy of note that little episode taught me that if I intend making a tour of families I must do so in the company of someone who was known I must therefore find a friend who
Not only knew me but who also had the courage and the sang in the sangro to present himself to all the best families of the town without fear of an unpleasant reception all through the evening and the night I was in deep distress of mind
I Rose two hours before Daybreak I was a guest in the house of the mayor chalier Giovani galante which house was not far distant from the largest ch Church in Fran ailla the festive sound of the great Bells peeling forth the angulus of the morning announced the anniversary of
That blessed day when the Archangel Gabriel saluted the pure Maid of Nazareth and announced unto her the great mystery of the Incarnation it was still dark but at the joyful music of those bells my heart opened a new to a feeling of happiness and hope and to a desire of prayer I
Prostrated myself I greeted the Virgin and told her how I too that day needed an angel in human form to be my companion in announcing to the good people of Franco Villa the Glad Tidings of her work in Pompeii at that Temple though I did not
Know it then was itself really a mystery a mystery of love and a Myster of Mercy shown by Mary to this our Century which the more light it receives the darker it grows someday not more than seven years from that time the Temple of Pompei was to be the cause of the greatest
Blessings and benedictions to the same town of Franco Villa as will be told in due time I went out to attend the morning Mass celebrated Before Dawn I found myself among the immense crowd which not only filled the large Chapel of the virgin of the fountain where Mass was being celebrated
But also the whole right Nave during the celebration I besought the Virgin to allow me to meet with some fit companion I then suddenly remembered an old friend by name Louis saler know who was a public teacher and hence known in town and a man of unbiased mind and good religious
Principles but where thought I can I find him at this hour and who knows if he is still in Franco Villa when lo and behold on coming out of church jostled and hustled by the crowd I heard my name called I turned and oh what Joy I
Recognized the very l Lis solerno of whom I had been thinking during mass how come you to be here this was the mutual question we exchanged he then told me that it had never been his Habit to leave his house house at this hour to listen to that early mess but that on
This particular morning he had felt impelled to do so he did not himself know why taking him aside I said to him without any instructions as Frank people always do see here matters stand in in this and this wise you can help me with all my heart I am ready to help
You I will not leave you one moment my friend kept his word and with him I began a tour of the Town entering all the homes of well-to-do families and arousing their pity by my description of the miseries of valley deom and at the same time exciting in them a
Desire to taste of the in inestimable sweetness and Sublime Beauty of the Rosary of Mary I must confess this to the glory of the town of frankville people of every description placed in my hands the offering of their charity and among all of them I remember certain persons who professed themselves atheist and
Unbelievers may this their generosity be the first ring in the chair which shall draw them near to truth and the foretaste of that peace which alone is found in the love of God and in the love of her who was who is his mother and the virgin of the Rosary will never forget
Those dear and good Fran bilans who were the first in the three pugly to concur in the Holy work of pom at the end of two days I had collected in Franco Villa Fontana The Snug little sum of 490 Franks in those early days and in so short a time it was
A fabulous Sun chap chap 10 unexpected help from Heaven miraculous recovery of Madame vasella having made a tour of the town of mesag not to mention my little latiano with excellent results I also as also other places in the pugly I returned to the valley D Pompei
On my return the cre the priest Gario Federico came to meet me with open arms himself full of joy there is said I no time to lose now we must absolutely purchase the necessary plot of ground and begin building of the temple as soon as as it
Is possible we must once more open negotiations with the proprietor of that piece of land which was pointed out to us by the bishop and which lies in the province of Naples adjoining the parish but the proprietor is obdurate he demands no less than 1,700 Franks for 300 ft of
Ground so what will we have left on which to begin the foundations let us turn to our holy Bishop for advice the voice of God will speak to us through the mouth of our Superior it was the beginning of the spring of the Year 1876 a most brilliant sunlight followed
The cold and wet days of March and called into New Life The Humble Fields Flowers and clover which cover the fertile country round valet de Pompei like a green carpet it was the morning of the 3rd of April the Countess and I were in Naples and were issuing from the little Church
Of the Rosary at Port of Medina comforted by the bread of angels and ready to reeg with activity our tour through most Pious families of the town I turned towards to Toledo the countess accompanied by Miss ernestina Freda took a hack and began and turned towards the Vita D
Chi but because of some little trouble with the cabman she changed her mind and had him drive towards the Via of campot Deonte the two ladies having reached the first Square which comes after an Ascent in the street stopped before the maton palace at St Teresa number
81 they had heard that a very charitable and Pious lady lived there but they only knew her surname vasella it was their intention to ask her to subscribe to the Church of Pompei that Palace had s several staircases where does Madame vasilla live they asked the porter this personage with Spanish
Gravity and without moving waved his hand in the direction of the staircase on the left hand side the two ladies began their Ascent but on no door could they find the name vasella inscribed they continued their way up and on the landing of the second floor they read the word
Meio but the door was open and a great many people some consternated and some sorrowful appeared to be going back and forth please asked the two ladies of another who was interesting can you kindly tell us where to find Madam Vella she does not live here you must take the stairway opposite
And to think the porter directed us here ah yes exclaimed the lady he is right Madame vasella is here today because her daughter is dying at such an unexpected announcement the Countess at Miss Freda were about to retrace their steps it was too evident that they would have been considered
Most in Indiscreet and annoying had they tried to speak of the plans of some future work to a mother weeping over her dying daughter unfortunately at that moment a young Miss came out her face was flushed and wet with tears she was another daughter of Madame vasella by the name
Anina when she heard the name of the Countess which was well known to her as that of a promoter of the Heart of Jesus thinking that the two ladies had come for the purpose of finding Associates to the confraternity of the Sacred Heart she invited them to
Enter as it seemed to her that they had been sent by our lady to soothe the Dreadful sorrow of her mother with words of faith and so all three entered the inner rooms where a dreadful scene was being enacted a young lady of 22 years who was
In a delicate condition black in the face and emitting a dread gurgling sound the Forerunner of death having lost Consciousness and speech was writhing in the most horrible contortions distending and then rolling herself up in a manner as to leave no hope either for herself or the child she was
Bearing the young lady’s name was conetta vasella daughter of Giovani and Madame Louise V asella NE pasaro and she was married to Senor Vincento Michio she had been quite despaired of by the doctors among whom they were the distinguished sha Chevalier Novi and the illustrious Professor cantani her parents her husband and all
The family had vowed themselves to God and the promise and the blessed virgin with many Prayers and Promises to obtain her recovery it was near noon and the state of the patient was rapidly approaching its fatal end in fact Dr Novi had candidly stated that the next attack of convulsions would end
All it was thought wise to have her father who was worse than Afflicted completely prostrated leave the room and to call the Confessor little as he could do for a soul laboring under such a suspension of intellect it was at this juncture that the Countess entered the home of the
MOs with without even looking at the patient she asked to be introduced to The Sorrowing mother Madam vestella was Seated on a lounge buried in the deepest affliction and dissolved in tears as soon as the poor lady saw the Countess and her companion she exclaimed weeping I have vowed myself to the Heart
Of Jesus and to the immaculate of Lords but all in vain the Countess then gently told her she venerated both of those sacred devotions as the most miraculous but that she had not come for that but for a new Church of the virgin of Pompei to be built in Valley D
Pompei and briefly stating that the extraordinary events that had transpired up to that day beholding the desolation of that family seeing the tears of their friends and of their mother Madam Louise pizaro beside herself with grief and considered on the other hand what a strange concatenation of
Circumstances she came to be known in that house where she had never been known or knew anybody and where she was not even intending to come that morning having first devised to go to a certain house in chiaa on the impulse of the moment without even looking at the patient and
With great faith she uttered before all present these words I promise that the virgin of the Rosary for whose church I am tramping around and for whom I now find myself in this house I will grant you your request as she already had done with two other families then a gentleman who was
Perhaps the doctor spoke up those are very bold words the patient is near already near her end and the case is very desperate exactly because it is desperate answered the Countess the Virgin can show her power she then invited them to make a promise of some small amount of money
For the new church of valy De Pompei and also to recite the 15 Mysteries of the Holy Rosary concluding with these words have faith ah answered The Sorrowing mother of the dying girl at this present moment I am broken in spirit I have no more faith
All night long I have been I have called on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and made promises but without any result I have made a vow to Our Lady of Sorrows miraculous prot protectress of our family candles have been sent to the virgin of Lords in vain now I am dazed
Make any promise you will for me yourself well answered the Countess promise that if you obtain your desire you will let all the world know of it and will make out a full and true statement of the facts not only will we write about it responded The Afflicted parent but we
Will come to Valley D Pompei to tell our tale to to everyone on the day that the bishop shall lay the Cornerstone of a new church then they all went to see the patient she was in a bath her lips black her teeth clenched her eyes staring her
Whole body body writhing in horrible contortions an ice bag on her head completely deprived of Consciousness or feeling the Countess and Miss Freda left the house in sorrow the Countess returned home greatly agitated and strongly impressed by her recent experience she hastened to relate to all the members of her family the strange
Thing which had occurred that morning how instead of going to chiaa she had been had intended she had gone to Capote Monte how she had mistaken the dwelling of miio family for that of Madame vasella how she had found herself in the house of tears and had seen with her own
Eyes a young mother in a pitiful condition and how she had allowed a promise to escape her lips sure that the Virgin would perform a miracle for the love of her new church and pompe Pompei the doubt I hope the fear of an uncertain reason old communicated
Themselves to the spirits of all of us how were we to know whether the Virgin would really look with an eye of favor on the strong presumption and overconfidence of the Countess in promising a miracle in her name Madam mito’s Mady we reasoned is one that does its work quickly the
Countess left her in a most desperate State hence the day will not pass without either her death or a miracle taking place what a grand thing it would be for the work of Pompei if this other Miracle were to take place here in Naples the bells of the neighboring Convent of s Monica
Were ringing to Vespers our home that year was the Via Salvador Rosa on the square of San Ephraim noovo in the the Palace of s signor pizaro number 290 that the house occupies a dear place in our memories for it was the Cradle of the Holy work of the new
Pompei and it was in that house that they received the first announcement that the virgin of the Rosary had performed a miracle in Naples for love of her new church to be built in bompe I remember to a nice that the first news of the first miracle was
Brought to the house person personally by a very Pious Lady by The Duchess albertini SOI karafa by this time exclaimed the Countess Madame mitcho has either died or has been saved we must find a way out of this uncertainty after called and having called an old and faithful servant Dominico ostuni
By name she said to him go to the Mone Palace at St Theresa do not enter First Look is to see whether the portal be half closed that will be the sign that the lady is dead and without entering or speaking to anyone return immediately but if the portal be wide
Open enter and inquire of the porter as the state of to the health of Madame conetta Mei vasella the servant obeyed his mistress to the letter it was a half hour of agitation and heartthrobs for us but who can tell the exaltation The Joy the tears of gladness the cries of Happiness when
Dominico having returned said to us I found the portal open and the porter told me that Madame conetta was quite well we were beside ourselves we went out to see our friends our relatives to relate to them the strange wonderful and miraculous event the Virgin from Heaven concurred in sustaining our imprudent
Faith e and even the risky steps which we took in the interest of her work meanwhile here is what had transpired no sooner had the Countess and Miss Freda left the miio home then two young ladies Alisa Scotty and Julia Torino began to recite the 15 Mysteries
Of the Rosary and two Souls from that very moment obtained a new life from that instant the convulsion ceased and despite the darkest for boings of a sure Return of the same they did not again renew themselves and in fact a most rapid recovery instantly set
In on the 15th of that month on Holy Saturday Madame conet conetta Michio vasella in perfect health left her house to make her Easter calls on her relatives as is the custom the first of all she visited her mother who on seeing her could not cease to shed cheers of
Joy all with one one Accord declared that the miraculous recovery was due to the promise made to the Virgin in regard to the new church of the Rosary in Pompei but it was not a single Grace bestowed but rather two the virgin of the Rosary who so
Early wished to give Clear Proof in Naples of her great satisfaction as regards the erection of a church in honor of her Rosary in Pompei before yet the spot was known on which it would rise and perhaps also to give us courage and strength to proceed in the arduous undertaking saved two
Lives at the same time that of the mother and that of the child a short while after Senor Giovani vasella came himself in person to felicitate us on the happy result and the Countess returned to visit that family restored to happiness and now devoted to the work of the temple which
Was to be built at in Pompei and at the same time before the Lenton season was over the same signora of vasarelli had the miracle announced in the parochial Church of Monte Santo and full of gratitude as he was he offered me his services for the work of
The church asking me to call on him for any and everything which he could be of use today together with his family and his newly resuscitated daughter he followed me to my dear little church at the rosary of PTO Medina and at the same altar where I had
Declared myself son of the third order of the Rosary they all took upon themselves the same habit and so we became doubly Brothers thus the merciful Queen of the Heavenly roses sweetened the first trials and tribulations of her servants with an in in ineffable Comfort to her
Miracles and today after aasps of 14 years since that event we have seen the whole miio and Vella families comprising the Senora conetta who yet remembers with a feeling the most Lively gratitude how she was restored to life and health by the virgin of Pompei returned to the feet of this
Miraculous Queen here in the valley of her pred elction history of the sanctuary of Pompei part seven chapter 11 the day set by God the extraordinary occurrence that had transpired in the miio vestella household soon ran from mouth to mouth throughout the District of St Teresa of capot Monte and the quarter of
Mont Santo the impression it created was intense the Virgin employed this means to predispose the hearts of the good neapolitans in favor of her work in my heart and in that of the Countess there was an actual fever of excitement burning we thought of nothing all day
Long but the church upon ponpe we spoke of nothing else than of the ways and means to push the word work ahead with the same alacris alacrity with had had been begun our lady said we wants the church and to this purpose she performs Miracles therefore no human or
Diabolical power can stand in its way but how raise the sacred walls without the ground on which to build here we were always brought straight up against the same old obstacle we again turn to our ecclesiastical Superior for a councel so that he might show us what path to
Choose in the name of God the holy pelet on hearing these new Marvels and the wonderful manner in which the Divine Bounty clearly manifested its wishes regarding the erection of a new church could not check the flow of his tears his answer was brief brief and precise so that it United every
Knot after the many attempts made said he to obtain a dimunition of the price nothing remains to be done but to pay the price demanded by the proprietor my advice is to buy the land and at any price and let it be that which lies to the side of the Parish of
The Most Holy Savior of the providence province of Naples the pastor had spoken there was no need of wavering or of discussing we again took up the propositions for the purchase of the land we exceeded to all pretentions of the less SE of the holder and of others
And we fix the day for the making out of the necessary papers before the notary that day pre-established by God and by him destined to open a series of so many and great Marvels must have been a day of rejoicing in heaven in that day we can foresee none
Of the wonderful events which were to transpire nor could human mind soar to the greatness of future portense this is God’s usual way of conducting matters he always acts when man least expects him to even his Mercy reaches and touches man when he is hoping for the very
Least each and every one of us if we only go back a little and question our memory and our conscience can bear witness to this fact God came along his creatures and his Advent was silent and unobserved no one could have believed that the Redeemer of humanity was
Already hidden in that that poor family which had come up from Nazareth to sign its name on the Roman register and was on that same night to appear to the world another mode of divine operation is silence God works in Silence the generation of the Eternal Word takes place in
Silence in silence God descends into the bosom of a creature of is and becomes the God man and in perfect silence does he perform the greatest Miracle of Grace when he changes his heart of the sinner Into the Heart of a saint and in silence Jesus performed his greatest Wonder AR
Argument of his divinity his resurrection and so too the greatest works to which man may lay his hand on are conceived in silence noise is peculiar to man who tries to help himself by a high sounding Voice by violent galations and by great efforts signs of his own
Impotence so that the more man withdraws into silence the closer he draws to God the more easily he finds God whoever had seen a few individuals in a room before a not Republic sign an instrument of purchase of 12 acres of land could never have foreseen to what a
New era of Mercy shown to men from the abandoned waste of Pompei the simple Act was a forerunner were it not that as Faber remarks all great and Divine Events when about to take place so fill the spirit of man that without his own knowledge he becomes a
Prophet and our spirit inundated by a new imp powerful Joy filled with the burning thirst to see the temple of the Lord soon built feebly divined that something strange and unaccustomed was about to in transpire it ought to have been for us a day of rejoicing and a worthy of note
Such as it was on the 30th day of April 1876 day sacred to my beloved St Katherine of Sienna the deed of purchase was signed by which we obtained the ground on which to build the house of the real God in the land of Pompei my sweet Saint did not forget
This little sign of my love 3 years later as I will relate in the history I received by her intercession a new lease on life chapter 12 the Archangel of Mount goo the deed was not yet signed when I proposed to the bishop of Nola to fix
The day for the solemn consecration and laying of the Cornerstone of the Temple of ponpe we must choose a feast day remarked the venerable prelot so that the farmers of the Valley can be present at the ceremony and it appears to me that the first Sunday of next May which
Will be the seventh of the month would be a suitable day no if you permit me I answered for myself I should choose the Eighth Day of may even though it does not fall on a Monday as it is the day sacred to the Archangel Michael and as as that Celestial Prince
Thrust Lucifer the rebellious Angel out of Heaven’s courts so am I sure he will will he Chase Satan from valy De Pompei where he has reigned for so many a century but this choice of a day sacred to The Apparition of the Archangel of God which I felt inspired to make for
This first and great solemnity Forerunner of so many others did not only arise from the feeling of deep devotion which I have for the noble Spirit of heaven but really from a higher reason whosoever stands in this Valley and looks towards the South naturally rests his eyes on the mountains that form an
Immense barrier to the south of castal lari of Grano and of Le but one mountain among all the others attracts his special attention first because more Majestic than the the others also like a giant custodian in the valley and secondly because its Summit is divided into three
Peaks which present the shape of a thumb and the first two fingers of our hand and the third Peak which is the highest Rises to heaven and again branches out into three other points the very name of of the mountain contains a mystery it was anciently Garo
Which as some would explain it meant GAO that is Joy or better as others would have it Oro Golden Mountain of gold the faithful changed this name into that of Monte San Angelo Mount of Holy Angel in the consequence of the following event in which church
Celebrates in the office of the Feast of St catello on the 19th of January it was the seventh century of the church a saint St catello was Bishop of castala Mari who is now venerated on the altars as protector of that City that Holy Bishop was want often in
The night to retire to the recesses of the mountain in company with the Abbott sento who was then St Antonio of the order of St Benedict there to pray together one night while they were praying there the Archangel St Michael appeared to the bishop of castal lari
And told him to build a church in his honor on the summit of that mountain on the spot which he would indicate by The Apparition of a flame and the flame appeared on the highest point of the Three Peaks of Mount Garo after innumerable difficulties and adversities which he had to surmount and
After being insult insulted and falsely accused in Rome so that he was even imprisoned the whole Bishop of castal lamari succeeded in accomplishing the work enjoined on him by heaven and immediately there appeared on that high peak a fresh mountain of crystallin and salubrious water which first served in
The works of the building and then served to quench The Thirst of the numerous pilgrims who every year in the month of September went to venerate the Archangel St Michael on the spot of his aarion in the temple erected by St catello when on my first coming to valet de
Pompei I learned this beautiful story of The Apparition of St Michael on Mount Garo from the Reverend jario Federico I soon Divine that the greatest Prince of Heaven had some Divine Purpose to fulfill in this Valley but as that time I was ignorant of the purpose only it seemed evident to me that
That St Michael was the natural protector of this spot that he had honored with his aarion and the signs of his patronage for this reason with my heart full of such sentiments I did not hesitate to make my proposition to the bishop of Nola as I have already
Stated St Michael the Archangel added I addressing the worthy pelet was the guardian angel of the Blessed Virgin during her life on Earth St Michael is the patron of all the temples of the Living God and St Michael shall be the guardian and protector of the Temple of
Pompei the bishop of Nola to please me consented my presentments were not wrong the powerful and glorious Prince always kind to us has repeatedly allowed us to feel the beneficent effects of his protection innumerable may have been the victories gained by St Michael on this spot over all the enemies visible and
Invisible both of ourselves and the sanctuary his aarion in the 7th Century indicated the preparation for the reign of Mary in this desolate unknown and abandoned country the that had one day been under the rule of sin and Satan the great Archangel came to chase Satan from
The land of the Gentiles where a new era of Grace was to begin and a new son of Mercy to rise however matters May stand this much is certain that inspired by the reading of this Apparition we propose to the bishop of Nola that 18 76 that day on
Which the Cornerstone of the sanctuary of Mary was laid and should be the eighth day of May because sacred to the glory of the Angel who was the guardian of Mary on Earth and is the defender of all the sanctuaries of Mary throughout the world and who having appeared in this
Valley should by good reason be its singular protector and now during the course of 17 years we have always on that eth day of May called with faith upon the first Angel Of Heaven to celebrate together with us the glories of our common Queen and in each year we celebrate two solemn
Epiphanies the greatest Prince of Heaven whose name is glorious manifested himself to to Earth choosing as a scene of his wonders the peak of a mountain the greatest queen that heaven and earth have ever had has manifested herself to The Sorrowing sons of Eve choosing as a
Center of her Marvels the humble Valley of a buried city but the Virgin wishing to still further strengthen our faith in her protection and give a new VIs bigger to the Reliance on her so that the future battles which we were to encounter should not discourage us or turn us from
Our undertaking wish to perform still another miracle a fifth one before our laying the foundation stone chapter 13 a fifth sign from Heaven before for laying the Cornerstone of the sanctuary the Reverend Anthony Veron 56 years of age and residing in the Naples and in the Vico Paradiso ala salute number
65 towards the middle of April of that same year was attacked by malignant typhus complicated with erus and internal and external canr which does which latter extends down to the from his knees to his toes and hideously per deforming his hands his face his whole mouth and even his tongue
Made him an unpleasant sight to look on and so going from bad to worse on the 23rd of April at the end of his strength and despaired O of by the doctors he took the last sacraments the attending physician Dr Veneno marcelia continued to draw from his
Mouth strata of can creen during his absence the assisting friends did likewise a consultation was held with the professors Raphael valieri and Clemente Del gdio and all declared that nothing more was to be hoped for from Human Art that divine of power alone could save him from inevitable
Death various persons present at the consultation were aular witnesses to these words all the inhabitants of the immediate neighborhood and of the entire city district of the salute were very sorrowful at the thought of the eminent loss of this priest beloved by all who knew him and all inquired with with the
Greatest anxiety from their windows and along the street for news whenever the doctor passed Don Federico caprioli hearing of the many miraculous favors obtained in Naples through the offering made to the new church in Pompei still felt a hope and that very day which was a Sunday he begged the
Countess to go to the house of the man and obtain from him a vow in case of his recovery the Countess enters the house and finds it full of weeping persons she did not know among them were the mures Veneno Baroni ero Santino venzo maano the priest Veneno
Varale the Reverend Raphael googly Mani the Reverend Pasqual Baron Joseph leano and many others who were expecting every moment the now inevitable death of their friend the count has approached the bedside of the dying man who with his face hideously swollen half purple half black his mouth open his lips black and
Turgid his breast heaving per appeared to be breathing his last at such a sight a certain shudder of horror ran through her but overcoming her feelings she said father the virgin of the Rosary of Pompei is performing miracles for her new church WIll you promise me to
Publish the fact to all people and to leave a written document if you obtain your recovery at these words the patient wept and with difficulty answered I will fulfill everything you promise in my name and he joined his hands as though in prayer while all the bystanders on their
Knee recited a Hail Mary to the virgin of the Rosary of Pompei all were weeping and the Countess added have faith our lady will grant you your request the evening of that very Sunday low recovery set in the canr began to attach itself and the body
The face and the mouth to be covered with new skin even the fingers began to grow new Nails restored to health and thinking all to have been a dream even the visit of a lady who had spoken to him of some church to be built in Pompei he thought to fully satisfy his
Devotional Duty by celebrating a Thanksgiving mass in the Church of St Nicholas toleno where the Virgin where there is a virgin of Lords greatly venerated and thus reasoned with himself it is all the same lords or Pompei the Virgin is the same and I will save myself a trip to
Pompei but the queen of the world who for some high purpose had chosen this spot to be particularly honored in preference to so many others and wants her children to come here to pray to her allowed that we will now pre relate to happen it was the 12th day of June and
The Countess together with ourselves having been informed of the priest’s recovery went to see him in order to obtain the promised document and such offerings as been able to collect from the faithful but to our great surprise we learned and afterwards saw with our own eyes that the priest was again a bed
Tormented by a raging Fe fever and severe pains surprised and sorrow and sorrowful we asked the cause of this new in Illness but no one could give any reason we asked him what he had done for the Church of Pompei and learning that he had given the matter no thought we
Did not hesitate to remind him of his Pro promises and begged him to carry them out so as to regain his health he then promised to publicly announce the miracle and to go to Pompei and related to the bishop and all persons there and that night when it was feared
He would grow worse he suddenly became perfectly well so that in the morning he rose and left his house to celebrate Mass on the day of the Feast of the Rosary the Reverend Antonio Veron was in valet de Pompei he celebrated mass and during the celebration with tears streaming from
His eyes he told all of the wonderful event chapter 14 the 8th of May 1876 the Cornerstone of the sanctuary and the much longer for and much contested day arrived the day sacred to the prince of the Angels the 8th of May and it fell in that year as
We have already said on a Monday we raised a tent on the ground recently and purchased and covered with grass and furrows and beneath this tent on two barrels on which rested a plank covered with a cloth and hangings we formed a table and an altar a crucifix in Six Candles this was
The gorgeous array which was to serve at the beginning of the foundation of the Temple of Pompei which was so shortly to become Monumental of worldwide Fame at the back of the tent above the high part of the altar in a gilded frame was hung the old image of the Rosary not
Yet retouched by Mal maldarelli but still as it has been restored by the first paint painter who was Senor Gala as we have already stated the bishop of Nola In whose diocese lies Pompei accompanied by his vicer by cannons and by the curate of Nola and by other priests from barious
Parts came the solemn pump to this Valley for the touching ceremony of laying the Cornerstone of the temple of God it was an enchanting day the sky was Serene without a cloud and out in the open country fragrant with sweet field flowers and Brilliant in its dress of green opposite Mount
Vvus that majestically raised its crest of smoke and near the amphithe the which at the time was not yet hidden from the Traveler’s view by the Earthworks with which it is today surrounded the most beautiful and tender rights of the Catholic Church were performed by means of which this abandoned spot was
Soon to be changed into the holy habitation of God and this desert land into a sanctuary into a road to heaven the witnesses to such solemn rights were only poor peasants and a little crowd of about 300 Neapolitan ladies and gentlemen among whom several had received
Favors among others who were to be seen the fam families of the Mur micho and velli together with madame conent restored to Life by the Madonna of Pompei there was also the family of Madame anamarie lucarelli of Naples Who Bore witness to the first miracle granted by Heaven at
The intercession of the Most Blessed Virgin invoked by the totally new title of Pompei there was present Joseph Federico already mentioned and all his children who were fulfilling their promise ernestina Freda The Duchess of massanella the marchones ruo with her family and the Mur Marina and lavorgna of Naples surrounded
Us oh how dear to all who were so happy as to come here on that day May 8th 1876 is the memory of that day who can call how great a temple it be to God in men to build a temple on the ancient land of Pompei dedicated to the Virgin
Mary but who can adequately appreciate the immense advantages which shall acre to all these inhabitants for the course of future centuries from this new church of Valley D Pompei no doubt a great crown of Merit awaits in the next World all those generous Souls of the faithful who with Catholic
Charity have brought their offerings here strange coincidence of human events to the foolish and the incredulous who cannot understand the ultimate scope and reason of certain facts such matters appear to be but a simple chance but to the believer in the light of the philosophy of History The Perennial law of order and
Of Divine Providence will be manifest that so admirably rules over and ordains all human events on that same day at that same hour by an unforeseen coincidence a huge man of war the duilio is launched into the Waters of the C Castel Lamar D stabia and at a distance of four miles
As the valley de Pompei another mystical ship is begun and baptized with more glorious and Triumph title than the queen of the Rosary Yonder over that product of Earthly strength and Glory a prince of the world Prides here in his humility and at the same time his majesty over a work of love
Only and divine Glory Prides a pastor of holy church the bishop of NOLA who invested with the authority which comes to him from Christ and changes the cold marble into a holy thing and with it it lays hands onto the edifice which unites the sacred bonds of love in Heaven and Earth
God and man Time and Eternity again that formidable vessel Ironclad is intended as an instrument of death this holy vessel a work of love and peace will be the means of giving eternal life to many Sinners who will be here be cleansed in the fountain of penance to many Afflicted mothers and
Widowed wives who will here obtain Eternal peace for the souls of their beloved departed too many sink and languishing Afflicted and dying who will here find the lifegiving ballom for their wounds relief for their anguish help in all their their trials and the return of ebbing life in Castle lamare an immense crowd
Of people from every part great movement and bustle great Confusion by land and sea banners and decorations joyful Applause in the happy strains of Music flowers and light gay apparel and the display of fleeting Beauty in valet de Pompei poor peasants and the simple women crowds of bright and active
Children and people of a ripe old age on Whose face shines the pure joy of the soul and an an an affectionate and tranquil piety no other sounds but the Lively ringing of two small bells which from time to time with their gay peels announce a religious Festival to the
Surrounding valleys No Cry of enthusiasm no noise of any sort but the sweet and warmful Silence Of The Verdant Fields interrupted only by Placid and fervent prayers of the faithful who Moved even to tears unite their voices to the eternal chance of the Angels who certainly glorified God in the same spot destined
To become his Sanctuary his Abode the Throne of his mercies the Learned holy and inspired prayer recited with intense fervor by that distinguished orator poino anti antelo the canical can canical curate of Marano so moved the hearts of all present that they were offered on the spot more than 500 Franks towards the
New building a gentleman presented a cross of gold and a poor young girl having not else to give generously took off earrings and laid them down to help the building in the house of the Madonna it was 11:00 in the morning and the bishop was blessing the Cornerstone the air was
Tranquil not a breeze blw all was wrapped in the religious silence when suddenly while cutting at this point of the knife the sign of the holy cross on the marble there was heard a creaking of branches a murmur of wind which blowing about the bushes and growing stronger and stronger
Like a small Whirlwind soon developed all an intense cloud of dust it was as though all nature felt the power of the Cross of Christ shortly after we all who had been prostrate on the ground arose in forming a sacred possession we followed the good Bishop of NOLA who surrounded by the
Levites went to place in its cavity the first stone of the sanctuary of Mary in toning the lony of the Saints at that very moment the boom of the cannon Was Heard which saluting the Earthly King in castal Amari the resounding through the valley de Pompei seemed with its deep voice to venerate
The accomplishment of so Celestial a ceremony and to salute in its language that Cornerstone on which was to be built the Church of God thus on this desolate land was planted the banner of the Cross emblem of blessing of civilization and of redemption in the cavity dug for the
First Fundamental P pilaster of the temple which was which is the first pillar of a great Arch to the left beneath the first stone of the Divine edifice we placed some gold silver and bronze coins acknowledging thus the Supreme Dominion that God has over Earth as well as heaven over us and our
Belongings in the same brass casket containing the coins we placed in a glass tube our written name that of the Countess and of the Reverend Federico and others who in their Early Times gave us valid help it was an expression of filial confidence in the patron of
The mother of God it was a symbol of faith in Christ Our King Master Redeemer and judge beneath whose ages we Wanderers combat and in whose omnipotent name we will be crowned Victors today whosoever enters the sanctuary of Pompei and looks to the left where large aisle ends and the base
Of the pilaster supporting the Copa can read this in description that recalls that day in solemn ceremony and indicates the spot where the Cornerstone of the temple was laid on the eth day of May by Joseph for missano Bishop of Nola and in the presence of the founders Baro Longo
Esquire and wife Countess Mariana defusco and a codie of citizens and patricians of Naple the Cornerstone of the sanctuary was here laid for the use of the poor peasants which ceaseless favors and miracles have made it made to reach its present Splendor not far from the amphitheater
Of Pompei belonging to the city once so gay with gentle amusements and polluted with the worship of idols and of demons and now made mute and desert in ruin and Devastation there arose finally on the day sacred to the prince of angels silent but Sublime the cross of the Christ
God Prince of angels silent but Sublime the cross of the Christ God ever bearer of life and true civilization to All Nations and people there the tired Wanderer and weary peasant will sometimes rest beneath the window of the altar dedicated to the virgin mother who with
The infant savior on her arms and the Rosary in her right hand shows them the old remedy for all ills the destruction of heresies The Help of Christians she from this new Throne of Mercy holding in her hand the emblem of her love and Dolores namely the rosary of the Cross
Turns to Mortals and say oh all of you who are wearied and oppressed by sorrow take the remedy for your wounds here is my crown of heavenly roses gge your heart with it offer it up every day at my feet and I will save you from death
Your life on Earth is an exile a pilgrimage you are dust but my roses cannot fade in our lifegiving and I who am the mother of Sinners will come to my come to Crown you on the day of your Agony now the formidable Ironclad the duilio is launched to fulfill its
Destiny and this mystical ship is nearing its completion and needs those who shall complete it for the former a thing wholly material and perishable exposed to a thousand perils millions of Franks were spent for this a work who wholly Celestial and spiritual and infinitely Superior and more
Beneficent a subscription of a only a cent a month has been asked but the Virgin Mary is omnipotent by Grace more than two millions and a half Franks have all been already spent on this Temple Mary who in these days wishes to save Souls with that same Rosary with
Which she saved Civil Society in the 13th century in which she herself recited there on the mountain of Lords our sweet and merciful mother wishes this Temple to be named after her and after the symbol of her love for men the rosary and the extraordinary events that
Have taken place during the last 20 years and the favors she grants to the faithful of every class and of every nation only so they help in the building of her Temple so dear to her give amp security of this and open the heart to the sweetest
Hopes Book fourth the foundations of the temple chapter 1 May 1876 part one the design of the sanctuary the Cornerstone of the building that was one day to become the house of of the Lord in the desert land of Pompei has been solemnly laid and in the great and glowing desires of our
Heart seems to us as though we had overcome all the great difficulties that had Arisen since the first hour of the undertaking and had at least reached the ardently longed for day when we were to lay the foundation of a temple to the Living God on the land of pagan divinities
But the festivities over and cold reason having claimed its rights we began to foresee greater and more numerous difficulties than any we had encountered before and in this first place how large was this new church going to be how broad how long how many altars and chapels was it to contain
Evangelical Prudence counseled not to undertake anything over and above our strength a warning from the holy Bishop of Nola was in every wise similar do not spend any more than you hold on that other hand however we well remembered another wise saying of that worthy pelet which was the fruit of his long
Experience when a church is to be built from the very foundations it is not the present number of inhabitants of a place that one must consider but the increasing number they will amount to 20 years then in view of these words forsight would counsel the building of the church
Ample enough to accommodate 2,000 persons calculating a 10 at tenfold the increase in the population in 20 years but how conciliate and two contrary dictums monor for for missano himself had found The Simple Solution do not lay your foundations all at once but little by little according to the amount of money you
Hold then you will then you can begin to raise two walls on these suit pieces of foundation later on Arch then a vault between the two lateral walls temporarily rise a third one to enclose them and behold a little church is built and ready in the year following you can
Throw down the temporary wall and continue to build your foundations then the walls together with Arch is in another Vault and behold the problem is to the length of the church resolved thus from year to year by tearing down the temporary wall and raising the permanent walls you can
Lengthen your church to your heart’s desire wholly ignorant as we were of the science of architecture this proposal seemed most wise as it appeared to conciliate the councils of prudence with those of foresight but there was still another problem to be solved how were these foundations to be built they were
To be one solid mass of concrete or were they for economy sake to consist in Arches and pills and supposing the question of economy was to be considered how broad were these arches and these pilasters to be and and again what form of a church
If a church was to be built would be most fitted to contain a future hypothetical population of 2,000 peasants or in The Words which style was to be chosen columns or pilasters one Nave or three Latin or Greek cross the A vault of masonry or a
Ceiling of Woodwork and a roof of TI all these problems were for me no of difficult solution to make a long story short some kind of architectural drawing was necessary before any work could be undertaken but have recourse to an architect Heaven forfend marchionis Phil filosi and Manor formisano had warned uh sufficiently
Against calling on the services of an architect for a rustic church for poor peasants then it would have required more than half the sum collected with so many difficult with so much difficulty merely to pay the forers fees and traveling expenses better than out pay out money to an architect
It would be so reasoned we to employ the sum in the building this had become a kind of conviction with me yet nevertheless a drawing was absolutely necessary what was to be done obedient as ever to the words of the pastor we decided to follow his
Counsels and to build peac meal in this wise we could circumvent for the present the first difficulty which was decide upon the length of the church but how broad was it to be I could not leave the width undetermined or else how could the lateral excavations be
Begun I did not lose my Courage the Acme of all my designs was to build a church to the Living God in this for Fen spot and to lead this newborn population to invoke the queen of Victories to their aid with the precious Chaplet of the Rosary the result would be the same
Whatever the style or shape of the church hence it was unnecessary to worry over that matter for whitewashed walls where all that was necessary and a simple whitewashed Vault and the the country folks could enter in and worship God besides which I had another thought
In my mind I had seen near scafa a church quite spacious enough capable of holding more than a thousand persons dedicated to our lady with a single Nave in the shape of a Latin cross whose whitewashed walls lent it an air of joyfulness and purity oh how happy I would have deemed myself
To have seen a similar Church in my Valley D Pompei I immediately asked for information and was told that it had been 30 years in building and had cost less than 30,000 Franks 30 years of Labor 30,000 Franks down that was enough to frighten one at the very
Outset and who could collect collect such a sum among the poor peasants of the valley de Pompei and those who was to assure me so feeble of Health that I would live that number of years do not be selfish our Bishop had often times repeated do not think of
Yourselves but of posterity you begin others will finish these words rang constantly in our ears we were to begin without dreaming dreaming of beholding the com completion therefore faith in the aid of Providence and to work we will begin others will finish Let the Church of our
Lady and scafati be the model even of the future Church of Pompei was to be very humble copy having come to this decision and not knowing what what else better to do we invited our Master Mas pasquali vello to accompany us to the church at scafati and one fine day together with a
Countess and a priest who was a friend of ours we be took ourselves thither and with a roll of twine we took all the measurements as the length and breadth having discovered that Don janaro had a natural bent for mechanics I requested him to make me a drawing of a church
Similar to the one we were measuring he without loss of time made me a drawing on a piece of paper of an edifice supported to be a church with a single Nave in four chapels to be perfectly Frank that drawing must have been been very grotesque as having shown it to several
Profess professional Architects and it roused the greatest hilarity it but to us brimming over with impatience and sorry to loose even an hour it appeared more than sufficient to begin the work on John Don janaro proposed besides in the order to economize not to pay the laborers by the
Job but by the day and added that he and his father who had promised to lend his gratuitous Aid would themselves superintend the work and see that all matters proceeded regularly and we also resolved still having an eye on to economy that the foundations should be made with vaults and
Pters part two the first Stones carried on men’s shoulders in order to carry out the work with as little ex expense as possible the old pastor of valet D Pompei whom we have already presented to our readers decided to invite on the following Sunday all the farmers and Teamsters of the valley to
Offer some of their labor on holidays other a cartload of stones others still a little mortar and uh any other building material not more than 500 yards from the spot where the church was to rise a small Quarry of volcanic Stones had been opened by one of the custodians of the
Excavations of Pompei Petro po Pao V vitiello by name who at his own expense and in order to build himself a house all already prepared a certain provision of these stones and when he witnessed the ceremony of laying of the Cornerstone and of the new church he decided within
His heart to offer this holy work 12 cubic meters of stones and merely awaited the carts to transform transport them on the Sunday following the 8th of May having gathered together all the population of the valley the Reverend Pastor Rose to preach and thus addressed the congregation God my child has taken a
Pinion taking pity on you and has just toos that a church rise in your midst while you can worthily congregate and become good Christians it is most meritorious in man to build a church to the living God and hence every one of you should feel honored to help as far
As in him lies towards the bu building of a house wherein it is to dwell the most high and the custodian of ancient Pompei has offered to furnish a certain quantity of stones it would be most meritorious work of pet Penance and piety if you were to transport these
Stones on your own shoulders as a symbol of your subjection to the god of Heaven and Earth the words of the priest fell like good seed on fertile ground every single person there men and women young and old followed the desires and example of their Pastor the venerable curate took the
Lead and behind him follow as though in a procession the two Priestly Federico Brothers then the Countess with her four children all the Servants of the house all her farmers and the mingled crowd of the inhabitants of the valley boys and girls comprised it was indeed a touching sight
To behold so many persons of all ages returning along the provincial Hiway that was from Naples leads to salera all bowed beneath the weight of stones that with humble and sincere Faith They carried on their shoulders regardless of all human prejudices I too was among the number of
Those fortunate ones and carried my stone on my shoulder and per chance that Noble family had borne me the fruit of having the infinite joy to behold the house of the Lord almost completed the Countess and her daughter Joan also carried their Stone and 12 years later the latter was to owe her
Life to that very Church a stone towards the building of which she had carried on her arms the firstborn son count Francesco defusco had the same honor and he too 15 years later through prayers offered up in that very Church returned from life from Death unto life oh how bountifully God rewards even
Those in his life those who serve him and with what a paternal lie does he look upon to help raise temples and altars to his name each and every one of us in that moment was animated by the in in expressable faith our minds could most certainly not foresee the future
Destinies of that rustic church about to be erected for poor peasant folk no but all the absorbing thought was to have God adored in this spot where he was so little known and to remind unto him those acts of homage love and adoration which the very creature owes to his
Creator oh how one’s heart exalts today at the memory of any Act of humility and Penance one was led by God’s grace to perform on that day of mercies to think that we with our own hands placed a stone stone in the foundations of a
Temple to the Lord and of what a temple of a temple that only 18 years afterwards was to be declared by the visible head of Christianity a pontifical sanctuary if on that Sunday the 14th of May 1876 some skeptic had beheld a certain person on the country highway from
Naples to Salerno with heaving chest and wait wet with perspiration because of the burning rays of the mace son stopping from time and time to take a breath and to deposit the heavy Stone he carried on the parapet at the side of the road then he again lift the weight and
Hurry forward as though impelled by some unseen force that septic would undoubtedly have mocked and derided him well he at that time absorbed by one sole feeling that of Faith would most probably have a disregard have disregarded the result today 19 years from that date after the numberless signs of Mercy
Shown from the Temple of Pompei to the world one would lay down one’s burden by the wayside and with gentle Force lent by love of our Lady draw the scoffer here to the feet of her our mother to behold the wonders of the Lord in the land of the
Gentiles the Serene and kindly glance of our Queen would not suffer him to depart without a blessing and the blessing of Mary is ever the harbinger of faith and of Peace even when it appears to bestow therewith a martyrdom blessed indeed is he who loves and so honors so gentle so sweet a
Queen the history of the sanctuary of Pompei part eight three false beginnings and their lamentable consequences thus the first pile of stones was made with which to begin the foundations of the Church of Pompei and another example of the zealous custodian was followed by Proprietors of stone quaries by lime vendors and by
Teamsters so that nothing more was lacking and digging could be begun the hand was laid to the spade and the ground was broken but in order to present to our readers a clearer idea of the difficulties we had to encounter it will not be out of place for us to give a
Description of the volcanic nature of the land that that was to receive the foundations in this portion of the valley it is in layers and the upper soil is not deeper than a yard indeed in some parts less this is formed by ashes from Vesuvius thrown out in the Years
Following the great eruption of 79 it had been rendered most fertile by the constant industry of the peasants assisted by frequent irrigations due to the canal and the river Sarno so that this warm soil refreshed by copious streams readily yields the patient cultivator four harvests a year but beneath this very fertile layer
There lies another hard and sterile formed of ashes and iron kneaded together with the boiling water ejected from vivus in the famous year 79 it was in this subsoil that the modern pans were accustomed to lay the foundations of their houses beneath this tasso as the geologist call it lies buried a stratum
Of lailly small white stones light and porous as sponges and that nevertheless a sufficed to bury a vast City entirely such was the quantity that rained down from the fiery Mountain destroying the Pagan Abode of luxury and pro profy this layer of lail is from three
Or four yards deep and is from time to time interspersed with others of tasso about half a yard deep this deep Strat atom of lail rests on the soil once cultivated by the ancient pompan which is redish and F fertile various objects of Interest have come to be discovered in this substratum
Of of Earth near Pompei coins skeletons of birds and the skeleton of a slave to judge from the chains on his ankles from the state in which the soil was found it was easy to infer the mode of cultivation on the ancient pompe who divided the ground in Broad strips
Intersecting them with little canals such as can be seen to this day in the swampy lands near Naples beneath the lapilli sometimes in the middle of them are to be found veins of water in some parts most fresh and drinkable in others iron and magnesium IIA abound in
Excess and now having given an idea of the geological formation of these parts Let Us return to our history Joseph Federico who was an enterprising man and experienced in business matters having observed that the Master Masons of scafati demanded higher pay than those in bcat Tri case a
Master Mason of that town Luigi cillo by name was called in to commence the foundations of the new church but kurillo not thinking of the weight that these would be called upon to Bear sunk them only two and a half FS deep into the second layer of C tasso before
Described being quite uncertain as to whether or not we were doing the right thing with regard to the building we felt absolutely obliged to consult an architect and the Countess knowing an old engineer in Naples Sig Francesco arator a most Pious man architect of the new home Miss Katherine
Volpicelli had had built for the Sisters of the Sacred Heart we one evening went out to call on him as soon as he heard the m our manner of proceeding he greatly marveled at our not having consulted a competent Authority on the subject we besought him
To come to Valley D Pompei for a day at least and to examine the freshly opened foundations but he excused himself alleging his old age and infirmities but offering to send in his stad his young Assistant two days afterwards the latter came to Pompei to look at the excavations already
Begun needless to say that he was completely disapproved of all that had been done your foundation pilasters he remarked if you wished them to be solid and firm must be settled below the water it was therefore necessary to undo what had already been begun and to dig
Down still further and to place the vaults underground so as to render them immovable for a Church destined to contain 2,000 people the pilasters were weak and the Arches too superficial time at least if not money had been wholly wasted this was a sore trial for our hearts and as is the usual
With everyone whose peace of mind is Disturbed we begin to consider to whom we should turn to unburden our cares and anxieties it seemed to us that no one could better Comfort us than the bishop of Nola to him therefore we immediately sent the Don the priest Don
Janaro to inform him minutely of all that has occurred the good Bishop at first was taken sadly by surprised and not knowing what course to choose he remarked suspend all work until I send you master Salvador he will decide what is to be done and then I will come in person to
The valley of Pompei four disappointment Salvador ttio was a Mason of Nola some 70 nearer 70 than 60 years of age a man of integrity and experience in his trade therefore monor formisano had had recourse to his services in restoring part of the Seminary such was the esteem in which he
Held him that the worthy prelate never began any building without first having recourse to his old and trusted Mason on the other hand such was the veneration tadeo felt for the old Bishop that he never descended a jot or title from the latter’s opinions on the day fixed we all
Together we all gathered together in the brink of the excavations the Countess and myself the freder RICO family Father and Sons The Master Mason of Bosco trit case Luigi cillo and master Salvador the chief Oracle it may please the reader to hear the conversation held on this occasion
As it will go to prove still further how the sanctuary of Pompei had it been the work of man alone would still to this day not have Arisen above its foundations what say you master Salvador are these foundations well laid I asked oh yes quite well but the assistant of
The architect of Senor arator had observed that they are superficial and hence should be relayed well yes are superficial but are you of the opinion that by laying pillars deeper we should be more sure to build well oh yes perhaps it would be better to do
So but it is not the fear of our Bishop well founded namely that an eruption of Vesuvius would cause the building to collapse with such foundations yes there is a danger that Vesuvius might be the cause of a catastrophe then would it not not be any wiser to lay the foundations in
Concrete in that case would an interruption be destructive to the building no then there would be no fear of danger how are we to decide upon the length and width of the concrete foundation his lordship had told us to build by peac meal two walls now next
Your add another one and so on year by year as Providence sends us the money what say you that would be well too one was obliged to exercise so much self- controls not to lose the little patience still remaining in order not to offend the old mason I laughingly changed the subject
And made a sign to my companions turned away from the broken up ground and left for Naples most sadly disappointed at heart five how Professor Antonio Kua of the University of Naples offered to gratuitously direct the building of the sanctuary while I was thus sorely tried and embarrassed God who was Provident
Guiding the threads of his own work drew me from my perplexity in a most surprising manner I went to the house of the Cavalier tarino furores an intimate friend of mine and professor of mathematics in the military College of nun nun atella he though young in years possessed such artistic taste and
Knowledge and his Noble and sincere characteristics are to be greatly remind admired it is needless to to say that he and all his family had been amongst our first Associates in the schemes connected with the future Church of Pompei the morning I went to call on him
I found him surrounded by his family and friends amongst them an elderly gentleman of venerable Maine wholly unknown to me nothing could be more desirable to me than to find strangers in the homes of my friends as I was thus offered the chance of finding new subscribers to the Church of
Pompei and so preoccupied solely with my all absorbing thought and without waiting for introductions I began to relate to my friend all that had recently happened to me in the valley of Pompei The Stranger after listening to me for a while interrupted me by saying pray who is the architect who directs
Your works oh answered I with a smile and shaking my head we have no Architects what exclaimed the gentleman greatly surprised for the church you are building in laying the foundations you have no architect to guide you you at least have an architectural design oh that yes I answered and pray
Who designed it we ourselves that is to say a young friend of mine a priest who copied it from a plan of a church nearby I should like to see the drawing remarked The Stranger with a certain air of superiority as as of a master towards a delinquent
Scholar and I who always carried my dra drawing with me ready at any moment to show it put my hand in this pocket and Drew forth the famous paper my readers already know as soon as the gentleman beheld the drawing a smile of compassion passion overspread his
Features but why inquired he is an undertaking of this kind not have recourse to a person competent in this manner because the fees and expenses of an architect would absorb half the money collected with so much difficulty oh that is an exaggeration answered the stranger becoming serious moreover there might be some
Architect who would lend their services gratuitously I would never accept the offer I said interrupting the bishop of Nola Marion Phil fasi and father ludovico of CA found themselves in a heap of trouble on that very account we must distinguish facts Gravely remarked The Stranger Not all men are alike nor all cases
Either give me your drawing and I will make it a new for you according to the rules of architecture I who was intensely prejudiced through ignorance and inexperience against all Architects and had not the slightest idea as to who the gentleman was felt quite taken back by
His Pro proposal to make me an artistic drawing gratuitous ly I almost feared I was being made fun of and looked most significantly at my friend tarquino he understood me and exclaimed bolo this gentleman is the Cavalier Antonio Kua an illust an illustrious professor of mathematics at the Royal University of
Naples he is one of the best men in the world he offers to lend you his grat it as Services rest assured you will have a satisfactory plan this to me was like a revelation and slightly bowing bowing my head I whispered Providence has led me to meet
An engineer who is the senior professor of the university for it seemed to me that heaven had lent me a visible sign of its protection I felt quite overcome here indeed thought I is a thread God had placed in my hand without even my seeking it thus while thinking I uttered a few
Words of thanks I felt quickly impelled to speak on the Merit there must be in God’s sight for anyone who builds a temple to the Lord and cited the Wonders performed in a short time by the virgin of pom in fav favor of those who had helped towards this work of Charity and
Salvation Professor Kua whose heart was as Noble as his mind exclaimed well as you are building a church for poor peasants and with pennies not easily collected I not only will give you the design but I shall myself and without any renumeration whatsoever superintend the work of the building at
Pompei when I go to and fro the cost of traveling will be mine beside myself with joy I immediately wrote as follows to valet dear Don jinaro suspend all work the Lord has stretched forth his hand to help me he has brought me in contact with an in engineer a
Learned professor at the University who has offered to direct the building of the church without without fee or compensation and what is more generous still he does not even wish to have his traveling expenses refunded it is therefore plain that the Lord assists us visibly let us take the
Courage I shall come to valet next week in the meantime our undertaking is to be announced from the pulpits of some of the churches in Naples where larger congregations assemble fair you well yours Baro Longo thus at last a substantial beginning was given to the building of
The temple which was within so short a time to rise a very Marvel of beauty and Splendor chapter 2 June 8th 1876 the first Apparition of the virgin of Pompeii Madame giovan MTI meanwhile I left no stone unturned still further to spread information regarding the work that has been
Undertaken in Pompei among the Neapolitan people but Providence itself as ever was my best co- aditor it was the 1st of June of that same year 1876 the Countess and I were visiting many different Neapolitan families to collect the monthly Penny subscriptions in order to continue the building of the
Foundations of all our friends and acquaintances we asked the names and addresses of good and generous persons who would be willing to subscribe a penny a month among others we were told to apply to a wealthy and charitable family lagaza by name residing uh in Via Street thither we bent our footsteps
This was on the 6th of June but kindly as the ladies received us on hearing our request they seem unable to credit our statements and to prevent further in Opportunity exclaimed it is impossible to build a church on Penny subscriptions as much as to say abandon such utopian
Ideas then in order to win them over to our side we began telling them of the various wonders performed by the virgin of the Rosary in favor of those who helped in the work with these simple Penny subscriptions oh if our lady would but but vouchsafe to perform a Wonder
Exclaimed Madam Caroline mother of the family today would be the time to manifest her power our good friend Madame giovina Muti has left our house in the most critical state of health to go to the V Villa Doria on the vomero and the owner of the house
Knowing that she must die of consumption there has as has inserted in the contract that payment must be obligatory for 3 years upon the decease of the lady the whole apartment will have to be renovated at the expense of the family her physician has today told us there is no hope for
Her all her friends and we among them are oppressed with this sorrow her affectionate husband Ferdinand MTI is inconsolable she will leave behind her five orphaned children if this be so we answered tell your friend to have recourse to the virgin of the Rosary who for the building of her
Church in Pompei today grants most singular favors if you only knew interrupted one of the ladies how many vows her husband has made how many gifts he has presented to various churches and all in vain he has now lost all hope we ask no vows or gifts we answer
Induce your friend to try what others have tried so efficaciously here is a sheet of paper for promoters so saying I drew forth and placed beneath the lady’s eyes a sheet of printed paper bearing this simple headline for a temp temple in Pompei let the patient inscribe her name
At the head of the page with the small offering of a sue a month for the new Temple of Mary and seek to find the other subscribers in other words let her begin to act as a promoter of our lady who never fails to recomp recompense all
Those who labor for her and at the same time promise to public the miracle should it be granted her that same evening the MS lagaza sent a letter to their dying friend beseeching her to vow herself to the miraculous virgin of the Rosary of Pompei and making her promise to
Inscribe herself as promoter of the new church there to be elected Madam giovan m n saato lay indeed at death’s door such indeed was the state of her health that not only had her doctor given up every vesage of Hope but many had already thought her to be
Deceased it was in this sad condition of things that the poor lady received the letter written her by the M leaza on reading the lines of her friends in the program of the Church of Pompei in en closed in the letter her heart was deeply touched and she
Immediately wrote her name on the subscription sheet then called her mother her maid and so on all her family and such was the sudden Faith she felt in her heart scarce had she written her name that from that very moment she felt sure of the desired
Miracle it was the eth day of June but a month had elapsed since our relation lady had with a smile of blessing looked down upon the humble Valley of Pompei where a work had been begun that heaven and Earth alike were to lay their hand to Madam Muti fell into a slumber during
Which she seemed to behold the virgin of the Rosary Seated on a throne with her infant on her arms and the Rosary in her hands but without a deem on her brow it was th indeed that the Virgin was depicted in the old painting renovated in Pompei but of this fact the invalet
Knew nothing as she had never beheld the picture it seemed to her that the Virgin gazed most tenderly upon her while she besought her with tears and groans to free her from her sufferings and to obtain her recovery from her Divine son and while weeping she pointed being
Unable to speak to the babe as though imploring her health through the intercession of the Virgin when lo and behold the merciful mother Mary smile and look at her steadily and throw a white ribbon to her on which were written some words which she hastened to read the virgin of the
Rosary of Pompei has granted her request to the invalid giovina Muti oh mother of the Rosary oh mother I hope so sayest thou true shall I indeed be spared will I not die thus she spoke in her vision the vision vanished she scarce could believe herself it all appeared to
Her in a dream but she had not been but it had not been a dream for she had heard heard the words and the movements of the people who were in The adjoining room was it then really an apparition of the virgin of the Rosary but how was she
To explain the fact of the virgin of the Rosary being seated in without a deom on her brow whereas she is always depicted everywhere standing in a queenly attitude and with the Royal di diadem on her brow that meant then this usual unusual attitude the poor invalid could find no
Answer to these questions yet nevertheless she felt as though New Life throbbed in her veins she felt elated as though with a sudden and intense Joy her emotion did not allow her to relate what had occurred and yet how hard hide it why not rejoice the hearts
Of her dear ones with the Rays of a hope they no longer felt taking courage she called to all to surround her and then related her vision instantly all fever and the obstinate cough disappeared while the fortunate woman was still relating with growing warmth and vividness what had happened to her
Ferdinando Muti returned home as soon as the latter beheld his wife whom he already wept is dead seated in bed and conversing with a voice never interrupted by that suffocating cough and telling of the strange occurrence overcome by emotion he flew downstairs to the Stables mounted a horse and
Dashed off towards Naples to learn all the facts of the case from the lady’s Lea on entering their room he fell on his knees before Madame Carolina and moved to tears thus spoke you have restored unto me my wife and forth withth he told them of the vision and of the sudden Improvement
Asking at the same time the meaning of the words Virgin of Pompei the pious Mrs leaza quite overcame with the surprise could offer him no other explanation than the visit of two strangers who had come to solicit subscriptions for a so a month for a
Church to be built in Pompei and to be dedicated to the virgin of the Rosary nothing else did they add nor say that the virgin in the image was not crowned and the like but there the fact was Madame MTI had seen the virgin virgin as she was
Depicted in Pompei and from a dying condition had instantaneously returned to New Life full of holy Joy the M leaza feeling that the Madonna had made use of them to accomplish a miracle hastened to give notice of what had happened to Reverend father altava who they had heard a few days
Before pronounced from the opad of the Church of St Dominico Sorano words of enthusiasm concerning a c Catholic Church in Pompei to be erected with monthly subscriptions of a so father altavia rejoiced at hearing such glad news hastened to inform the Countess and myself thus all three of us on June
31st book ourselves to the V Villa deor Doria on the V vomero to hear The Marvelous tale from the lips of the the invalid and Madam Moody most frankly like a person in perfect health repeated the facts to us on August 30th the fortunate lady returned to Naples completely cure and
Free from all ailments arousing Universal Wonder in all who knew her with her own hand she wrote the history of the case and father altavilla read the same to a number numerous congregation in the Church of St Nicholas of Tolentino Madam mti’s mother offered 50 Franks towards the building of the
Temple her son Pietro Muti a priest’s Cape a silver lamp and pics inscribed with the name of giovanini Muti are kept in the sanctuary as a Perpetual meory memory of the first Apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary under her new title of Virgin of Pompei Apparition that took place on the
Eighth day of June 1876 a month after laying of the Cornerstone of the Temple of Mary Madam Muti is still living today 19 years after that date and all who visit her and knew how she was on the brink of the Grave cannot refrain from marveling and praising God
And nothing rejoices her more than to relate the miracle received and attributed to the most miraculous virgin of the Rosary of Pompei chapter 3 an offering for the first altar Madame Rachel de hippolas it was evidence then that he Heaven wished to encourage and strengthen us and teach us to stand firm
Whatever seeming adversities and contrarieties might arise and behold before the expiration of the month of June Mary granted still other favors and Graces amongst the pious listeners to father alava in the Church of s Dominico Sorano on the morning of May 24th was a certain gentle woman rashelle de hippolas by name who
Resided in Via espu de Palazo number 41 her son lay Gravely ill with a complication of diseases on hearing from the lips of the fervent orator that the Virgin had lavished daily favors upon all those who took an interest in the new church in Pompei she felt New Hope kindled within
Her and said to herself oh if the virgin of the Rosary of Pompei would but give me back my son I would offer a thousand Franks with which to build the first altar of that church and the and the queen of mercies poured her Heavenly balsom on the sore Heart Of The
Afflicted mother Madame de hippolas had not yet returned home and her son was already out of danger and in a short time he was restored to perfect health but the love of a mother when the health of her children is in question is always dubious and inclined to fear the
Worst thus Madame de hippolas cannot believe her own eyes she is in constant dread of a bitter disillusion she wants to ass certain whether the recovery of her son will be able to Brave and withstand the rigors of the following winter so she allowed the year 1876 and
All of winter 1877 to roll by but when next May returned and still found her son enjoying perfect health she felt the sting of remorse for not having sooner kept her promise to Our Lady and decided in her heart to repair to repair her failing generous
Ly I will not only give a th000 Franks Thus Spoke she to herself but the interest on the same for a year 150 Franks besides and so as to render still more signal witness to the favor received she went personally to NOLA and placed the sum of
1,150 Franks in the hands of the venerable B Bishop with the request that he send them to the founders of the temple for the first altar to be built in the Church of rose of rosary of Pompei chapter 4 the foundations strengthened towards the first days of July the illustrious professor professor
Antonio Kua betook himself for the first time to Pompei carrying with him the architectural drawing of the new church which had been o obliged to accommodate the dimensions fixed by me with the excavation of the first foundations first of all he showed us the great error of building an edifice
Especially the foundations by peac mail if you next year should lay a new foundation and on them construct a new portion of building you will find that in joining the new construction to the old they will separate for the first part is buil built will naturally settle before the new building
Part which when in its turn comes to settle will naturally draw away from the older portion and thus inevitably produce a damage it was therefore necessary to open all the Foundations at once and as they were to Bear an enormous weight for the stones to be used in the building were Volcan
Iic it was but prudent to construct them of solid masonry those already built were solidified so as to render them perfectly secure but for the execution of his design he needed a more able Mason hence pasquali vidello the Master Mason of scafati who had measured the Church of Our Lady of
The maroli with me was recalled work on the church was resumed under the direction of engineer Cavalier Kua on the 10th of August of that year and up to that date two thou th200 Franks had been spent besides the gratuitous Gifts of stones martyr and and labor
Chapter five the first Feast within the enclosure of the foundations six months had not yet elapsed from the day of the laying of the Cornerstone of the new Temple and already The Fountains of the house of the Lord had been laid toward the middle of October the super superfoodies of the great
Underground Mason work had already reached the level on which the holy habitation was to rise and the whitewashed surface performed formed a pleasing contract to the dark Earth laying about it the reader will remember that for four years past I had never allowed the month of October to go by without
Festing the queen of the Rosary with the present folk of the valley therefore it was more than ever right and just to celebrate her festivity now and within that rough enclosure the feast was to consist principally of offering to God the first sacrifice on that land brought for the
Manifestation of his glory two barrels were placed at the further extremity and across them were laid planks covered with linen and drapery thus an altar similar to the one El erected on the 8th day of May was was improvised on it were placed a crucifix Six Candles and Sacred
Stones above the altar against a background of white and blue draperies hung the old image not yet retouched by malder and hence not very pleasing to the sight but dear indeed to me as the S signal of Victory and by many venerated as a source of divine consolations
The feast was ordered for the last Saturday of the month which fell on the 29th Fair indeed was that morning on which the queen of the most holy rosary was FedEd For the First Time by her children on the spot chosen by herself as her new dwelling place as a throne of her
Mercies on the area of the growing Sanctuary on that land where in days of your the de the the demon had been adored beneath a h humble tent the bloodless sacrifice of experation and the love to the true and living God was for the first time offered
Up round about in the Open Country scattered over with volcanic Stones stood a mly crowd of Nobles and plebians who had come from Naples and the outlying towns and who in the presence of the venerable Bishop of Nola devoutly recited the 15 Decades of the most holy rosary of
Mary the sacred orator whom I invited to preach during that strange yet poetical service celebrated by the side of a provincial Highway was the same father altava who had by his sermons aroused such a flame of devotion in Naples towards the virgin of Pompei with the most tender words of
Love and faith the eloquent or orator recalled The Perennial Triumph of the cross over barbarism over heresy and paganism and as constant companion of every new victory Mary sweet mother of mankind he observed how she had not chosen a great deal a great and populous
City in which to be duly honored but had wished to plant her seat in a Barren country on Gentile land amongst the toiling children of the soil oh all those who were present in that hour did indeed Taste of the ineffable Joys that True Religion imparts to the soul opposite Rose Mount
Vesuvius with its towering crest of smoke but to the left of the amphitheater was its ruins of pagan civilization and behind the same all the broken remains of a dead City still bearing the imprint of its Gentile Customs beneath our eyes an enclosure of Mason work still damp with the Early Autumn
Rains and there beneath our gaze a crucifix that has the power to renovate restore all things and above it another image the dear sweet image image of the mother of the crucified and mother of the redeemed as well precious tears coar down the cheeks of the listeners those tears were the words of
A believer’s heart speaking to God in a voice of mingled love and sorrow it was the voice of Sorrow at the the sight of so many modern impieties and heresies it was the voice of love and gratitude to God who dains to accept for his glory
The Works of man and openly marks his acceptance of them by means of the Miracles granted at the invocation of the virgin of the Rosary of Pompei such was the impulse of love and faith aroused in that hour in the hearts of all that the holy Bishop of Nola himself unable to master
His emotions descended from his seat and placing himself in the midst of the people with burning words exhorted them to the Catholic faith and in ton the Apostles Creed in which all present joined him oh our religion in the Grandeur of its truth is indeed surrounded with enchanting Beauty chapter 6 The Year
1876 that Feast marked the close of the first year of the origin of the sanctuary as it was against the interest of economy to build during the winter when the days are short and rains and storms frequent but all the more so as I paid the workman by the
Day besides which the Countess and I spent the W winter months in an effort to procure new Associates I find in my primitive registers that up to the 15th of November I had spent 7,370 Franks and 10 centim now the amount of the offerings collected was 4,945 Franks and 85
Cenms hence there was a deficit of 2,434 Franks and 35 Cen to pay for Stones mortar and so forth on the day of the feast I exposed a tablet bearing the names of all contributors and the amount of their contribution besides the sum total of both income and outlay signed
By engineer chaler Antonio Kua at sight of the great difference between my income and my outl outlay the good Bishop of Nola was greatly taken aback and remonstrated with me recalling his precept never to spend more than one has in hand but as far back as that time time I
Felt within me a strength and vigor which certainly were not natural for while my body was weak and feeble because of severe infirmity sustained my spirit was dominated by a holy enthusiasm which allowed me but to think of the Temple of the Lord in Pompei I beheld it rise pure and holy in
My mind’s eye and the profound conviction laid hold on me that if was God’s will a church should rise on that spot and that hence were men willing or not nothing could imped his designs and so I quickly tranquilized The Prudent prelate by assuring him that
I gladly took the debt and all other debts that come upon my own shoulders sure that heaven would not have forsaken me from that day to this I have unflinchingly followed that line of conduct results prove that I was right certainly I was acting most contrary to the dictates of human
Prudence but I reason thus not according to the worldly philosophy but according to that of the Saints when from the start God reveals himself in an undertaking by an extraordinary intervention and that by the voice of Miracles then through his infinite goodness and in ineffable Mercy the man
Whom he places at the head of his Works becomes an instrument of his Providence and he inspires him together with a great desire of good with a certainty of success neither does he allow him to to be frightened by obstacles but invigorates him with the vision of the final
Outcome thus it was that through through mere Divine Mercy I took no need in those days of men’s judgments of me and of my undertaking which naturally according to Mere appearances seem strange to say the least or the result of religious enthusiasm the events of that memorable year alone influenced me from that
Moment realizing that I was but an instrument in the Char ing out of a Divine Design I fixed my eyes unflinchingly on him whose work I felt it to be and trod the path laid out for me hoping all things from above in the second volume of this
History of this Sanctuary the reader will easily gather how well founded was my faith end on beholding the works of the Lord will realize how small and insignificant art man and his lands then truly will his heart exalt and he will Acclaim with the psalmist come and behold ye The Works
Which the Lord have brought
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