OUR LADY OF POMPEII

Day 360: May 08

Our Lady of Pompeii, Pompeii, Naples, Italy

Bartolo Longo, in his intent to propagate the practice of the Rosary among the Pompeians, went to Naples to buy a painting of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary (Madonna del Rosario). The idea was to buy one already seen in a store, but things didn't go that way.

By pure chance, in fact, he met Father Radente (his confessor) in Via Toledo who for this purpose suggested that he go to the Conservatory of the Rosary in Portamedina and ask, in his name, to Sister Maria Concetta De Litala for an old painting of the Rosary that he himself had entrusted to her ten years earlier. Bartolo followed this suggestion, but was soon taken by dismay when the nun showed him the painting: a canvas corroded by moths and worn out by time, lacking pieces of color, with Our Lady in an anti-historical attitude, that is, with the Virgin offering the crown to St Rose, instead of to St Catherine of Siena, as in the Dominican tradition. Bartolo was on the verge of declining the offer, but withdrew the gift anyway at the insistence of the Sister.

In the late afternoon of November 13, 1875, the image of Our Lady arrived in Pompeii, on a cart driven by the carter Angelo Tortora and used for the transport of manure. It was unloaded with its worn roof in front of the dilapidated Parish of the Most Holy Savior, where the elderly parish priest Cirillo, Bartolo and other inhabitants were waiting for it. The dismay that had initially seized Bartolo, also seized all the others present, when the blanket was removed, the painting was shown. They all agreed that the painting could not be exhibited for fear of interdict, before even a partial restoration.

The first restoration was the work of Guglielmo Galella, a painter who reproduced the images painted in the excavations of ancient Pompeii. The old canvas, exhibited in the parish of the Most Holy Savior, in the following three years, underwent further deterioration. It was thus restored for the second time and always free of charge by the Neapolitan painter Federico Maldarelli, who also took care of transforming the figure of St Rose into St Catherine of Siena. Another Neapolitan artist, Francesco Chiariello, replaced the shabby canvas, lengthening it by a palm, before Maldarelli made the second real restoration.

The painting was no longer placed in the parish of the Most Holy Savior, but on a temporary altar, in a chapel (later called Santa Caterina) in the Sanctuary under construction. The image of Our Lady was soon covered with precious stones, offered as attestations of graces received. Pope Leo XIII in 1887 blessed the wonderful diadem that encircled the Virgin's forehead. Among the diamonds and sapphires that formed the halos on the heads of Our Lady and Child could be seen four very rare emeralds, a gift from two benefited Jews.

The last restoration was carried out in 1965, at the Pontifical Institute of the Olivetan Benedictine Fathers in Rome, a highly scientific restoration, during which, under the colors superimposed in the previous interventions, the original colors were discovered that revealed the hand of a talented artist of the school of Luca Giordano (seventeenth century). In this restoration, almost all the precious stones were removed, in order to avoid damage and perforations to the canvas. On that occasion, the image of Our Lady was exposed to the veneration of the faithful for a few days in St Peter's Basilica and on April 23, the painting was crowned by Pope Paul VI.

The return of the Icon to Pompeii took place in a solemn way, with a procession of ecclesiastics and faithful that grew larger as they crossed the cities, along the Rome-Pompeii route. Late in the evening, the painting arrived in Naples where it was welcomed with illuminations and torchlight processions and then continued with a large retinue of Neapolitans to Pompeii, where the journey ended triumphantly with a great demonstration.

In 2000, for the 125th anniversary, the painting stopped for five days in the Cathedral of Naples, where it was venerated by thousands of faithful. The return to Pompeii was made on foot, following the route of 1875, with several stops in the cities of the province. Throughout the day, hundreds of thousands of people crowded the thirty-kilometer route that separates Pompeii from the capital.

On October 16, 2002, the painting returned to St Peter's Square, at the explicit request of Pope John Paul II who, next to the "beautiful image venerated in Pompeii," signed the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

The painting, after due restoration, was placed for the veneration of the faithful on February 13, 1876. On the same day, in Naples, the first miracle took place through the intercession of Our Lady of Pompeii: the twelve-year-old Clorinda Lucarelli, judged incurable by the illustrious Prof Antonio Cardarelli, was perfectly cured of terrible epileptic convulsions.

The Little Salesian Sisters, scattered in Italy and abroad, have a singular devotion to the Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii; indeed, those living in Lecce have consecrated the chapel of the Deaf and Dumb to the Virgin of Pompeii, and have placed a beautiful image in veneration.

In 1885, among other unhappy mute girls, a girl born in Molfetta, named Maria Petruni, was hospitalized in that Pious House of Lecce: just eight years old, who fell when she was two, had injured her knee to the point of no longer being able to walk. She was diagnosed with a "white tumor" or gonarthrocace. They tried to operate on her, but the situation worsened and not only physically, but also morally. After the consumption they thought they had to amputate her leg. The Child did nothing but cry and a nun named Rosaria advised her to turn to the Virgin of Pompeii.

On March 24, 1889, Sister Rosaria saw her sadly watching her friends play and impulsively said to her: "Walk, the Virgin of Pompeii will make you walk!" At that incitement the child gained strength and felt her strength flow within her and realized that she was instantly healed! Her classmates were amazed, they looked at her with astonished eyes; then they approached, touched her, as if they could not believe their eyes, celebrated around her, and raised a hymn of glory and blessing to the Virgin of Pompeii.

This fact published in the periodical IL ROSARIO E LA NUOVA POMPEI, in the October notebook, year VI, 1889, was accompanied by the medical report of Dr Oronzio Fiocca of Lecce, declaring the miracle, the certificate of the Director of the Pia Casa delle Sordomute of Lecce, Rev Fr Don Filippo Smaldone, and the signatures of the witnesses, including the Superior and the other Religious of the said Pious House, the Superior of the Daughters of Ivrea and the other Sisters of the Kindergarten near the Institute of the Deaf and Dumb, and of noble ladies from Lecce visiting the Pia Casa.

St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Behold, O Most Holy Mary, O Virgin Mother of God, whom we implore especially every day for the grace of perseverance in our vocation and mission! You who accepted your calling without hesitation and immediately brought the benefit of your vocation to the house of Zachariah and Elizabeth, protect our vocation and our Congregation and make of it a spring of holiness so that we all may be saints and sanctifiers according to our vocation and mission."

(Justin Russolillo, Devotional, Vocationist Editions, Pianura, 2009, p. 234)