Blessed Bartolo Longo was born to a devout Catholic family in 1841. His formative years were a tumultuous time for Italy, and he was swept up in nationalistic fervor. Many of his college professors were actually ex-priests who took a dim view of the Catholic Church.
Bartolo started to dabble in the occult. He eventually embraced Satanism. He was consecrated a Satanic priest and promised his soul to a demon. To his family’s dismay, he preached against the Catholic Faith and presided over blasphemous rituals.
His mental and physical state deteriorated until he couldn’t deny that he needed help. He began to talk to a Catholic professor from his university, who referred him to a Dominican priest. The priest met with Bartolo for three weeks before he was able to offer absolution.
Bartolo became a third-order Dominican, but he was still plagued with guilt about his past life. He was especially traumatized by the experience of promising his soul to a demon and doubted that God would accept him after having done something so heinous. These thoughts nearly drove him to suicide. But then he remembered a homily he had heard on the power of the Rosary.
“Falling to my knees, I exclaimed: ‘If your words are true that he who propagates your Rosary will be saved, I shall reach salvation because I shall not leave this earth without propagating your Rosary,” he said
Read more: 6 Inspirational Stories about the Rosary – Ascension Press Media
