How to recite the supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii

The Virgin of the Rosary is celebrated on 8 May. Today, we shall dwell upon the foundation of the Shrine of Pompeii and how to recite the supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii.

As we know, the month of May is consecrated to the Virgin Mary. Never as at this time of the year are festivals and special devotions dedicated to Our Lady. Even Mother’s Day falls on the second Sunday of May, and this celebration is also linked to Mary, to her role as Mother of Jesus. Today in particular we want to dwell on the Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii, a devotional practice composed by Bartolo Longo, which is recited on the occasion of 8 May 8 and the first Sunday of October. In particular, the choice of the date of 8 May is linked to a very specific event: it was the day of the beginning of the works for the construction of the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of the Holy Rosary, in Pompeii, later elevated to a major papal basilica by Pope Leo XIII in 1901.

The supplication’s recitation on these dates takes place before the image of the Madonna of Pompeii, a painting dating back to the seventeenth century that represents the Madonna and Child Jesus: the first offers a holy Rosary to Saint Catherine of Siena, patroness of Italy, while the Child offers one to the founder of the Dominican order Domenico di Guzmán, the saint in love with Christ, who lived his life dividing between preaching and prayer and received from the Virgin Mary the Rosary as a weapon of prayer and preaching.

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Saint Catherine of Siena resin statue 30 cm

The Catholic statue of St Catherine is depicted with flowers and a book in her hands.

The image of Our Lady of Pompeii and the Shrine that guards it attracts more than 4 million pilgrims from all over the world every year.

What is the supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii?

Bartolo Longo, an Apulian lawyer who lived in the second half of the 19th century, was the apostle of devotion to Our Lady of Pompeii. A proud anticlerical and passionate about spiritualism man, at some point in his life he embraced the faith, joining the Third Order of St. Dominic. He took a vow of chastity, quit his job and dedicated himself to works of mercy and help for the neediest. Following this new vocation, he went to Naples where he met the future saints Ludovico da Casoria and Caterina Volpicelli, also engaged in charitable works, and the Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco, a very rich widow of whom Longo became administrator of the assets and tutor for her children. United in their love for one another and their willingness to help one another, the two married but continued to live as good friends, in brotherly love and chastity.

The Countess had rich possessions near Pompeii, and there Longo went, realising the miserable state where the Parish of SS. Salvatore was witnessing, and the terrible living conditions of the local inhabitants. On that occasion the man was urged by a mysterious voice that told him to spread the Rosary, to obtain Salvation. Inspired by that warning Bartolo Longo began to preach devotion to the Holy Rosary of Our Lady of Pompeii. It was always he who recovered the painting of Our Lady of the Rosary, which after many restorations became the symbol of his preaching and was from the first exhibition the protagonist of many extraordinary events and miraculous healings. At the suggestion of the Bishop of Nola, Bartolo Longo and the Countess began to raise funds by signing “a penny a month” to erect a new church. Precisely the fame of the painting and the miracles linked to it allowed them to collect all the necessary money in a very short time and on 8 May 1876 began the construction and the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii was inaugurated on 5 May 1901.

It was Bartolo Longo who wrote the plea to Our Lady of Pompeii, the prayer to Our Lady of Pompeii that was recited for the first time on 14 October 1883 in front of twenty thousand pilgrims. But Longo did more, improving the living conditions of all the local inhabitants where the new church was rising, with the construction of useful services and houses and providing aid to orphans and in particular to the children of prisoners. In a short time, he managed to transform a desolate and hostile region into a modern city, beautiful and equipped with all the comforts, for the well-being of its inhabitants and the tourists and pilgrims who would soon arrive.
Bartolo Longo died in 1926 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 26 October 1980.

Our Lady of Pompei printed picture 27x19 in
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Prayer to Our Lady of Pompeii: the text

As preached by Longo, the Rosary of Our Lady of Pompeii is considered a secular remedy, effective against diseases and evil in all its forms. Here is his plea:

O Augusta Queen of Victories, O Sovereign of Heaven and Earth, in whose name the heavens rejoice and the abysses tremble, O glorious Queen of the Rosary, we your devout children, gathered in your Temple of Pompeii, on this solemn day, pour out the affections of our hearts and with the confidence of children we express to you our miseries. From the Throne of clemency, where the Queen sits, turn, O Mary, your pitiful gaze upon us, upon our families, upon Italy, upon Europe, upon the world. May you take pity on the anxieties and travails that embitter our lives? See, O Mother, how many dangers in soul and body, how many calamities and afflictions compel us. O Mother, implore mercy for us from Your divine Son and win the hearts of sinners with clemency. They are our brothers and your children who cost the sweet Jesus’ blood and grieve your most sensitive Heart. Show yourself to all who you are, Queen of peace and forgiveness.

 Hail Mary
 
It is true that we, first, although your children, with sins we return to crucify Jesus in our hearts and pierce your heart again.
We confess it: we are deserving of the harshest punishments, but you remember that on Golgotha, you collected, with divine Blood, the testament of the dying Redeemer, who declared you Our Mother, Mother of sinners. Therefore, you as our Mother, are our Advocate, our hope. And we, groaning, extend our pleading hands to you, crying out: Mercy! O good Mother, have mercy on us, on our souls, on our families, on our relatives, on our friends, on our deceased, especially on our enemies and on so many who call themselves Christians and yet offend the loving Heart of your Son. Today we implore mercy for the misguided nations, for all of Europe, for the whole world, so that you may repent and return to your heart. Mercy to all, O Mother of Mercy!

Hail Mary, be gracious

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O Mary, hear us! Jesus has placed in your hands all the treasures of His graces and His mercies.
 You sit, crowned Queen, at the right hand of your Son, shining with immortal glory on all the Hearts of the Angels. You spread out your dominion as far as the heavens are spread out, and to you the earth and all creatures are subject. You are the Almighty by grace, so you can help us. If you did not want to help us, because we are ungrateful and undeserving children in your protection, we would not know whom to turn to. Your Mother’s heart will not allow you to see us, your children, lost, the Child we see on your knees and the mystical Crown that we aim in your hand, inspire us confidence that we will be heard. And we trust you fully, abandon ourselves as weak children in the arms of the most tender of mothers, and, today, we await your sighing graces.

Hail Mary

We ask for Mary’s blessing.

One last grace we now ask of you, O Queen, that you cannot deny us on this most solemn day. Grant us all your constant love and in a special way your motherly blessing. We will not leave you until you bless us. Bless, O Mary, at this moment, the Supreme Pontiff. To the ancient splendours of your Crown, to the triumphs of your Rosary, where you are called Queen of Victories, add this further, O Mother: grant triumph to Religion and peace to human Society. Bless our Bishops, Priests and especially all those who are zealous for the honour of your Shrine. Finally, bless all those associated with your Temple of Pompeii and those who cultivate and promote devotion to the Holy Rosary. O blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet chain that binds us to God, the bond of love that unites us to the Angels, tower of salvation in the assaults of hell, safe port in the common shipwreck, we will never leave you again. You will be our comfort in the hour of agony, to you the last kiss of life that goes out. And the last accent of our lips will be your gentle name, O Queen of the Rosary of Pompeii, O dear Mother of ours, O Refuge of sinners, O Sovereign Comforter of the Mesties. May you be everywhere blessed, today and always, on earth and in heaven. Amen.

Hail the Queen

Padre Pio and the Rose at Our Lady of Pompeii

We have recounted in another article the profound devotion of Padre Pio to Our Lady of Pompeii. The Saint of Pietrelcina was very close to Our Lady and an authentic apostle of the Rosary. During his life he went on pilgrimage several times to the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii and, at the point of death, he wanted a red rose, a gift from one of his devotees, to be brought there as an offering to the image of the Virgin. That rose miraculously did not wither and even today it is possible to admire the bud in a reliquary where it was placed after the death of the Saint.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Pompeii

As we have already mentioned, the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii was built at the behest of Bartolo Longo and his wife using the conspicuous offerings sent by the faithful from all over the world. The Shrine, dedicated to Universal Peace, has received over the years the visits of three popes, from John Paul II, who visited it twice, to Benedict XVI, to Pope Francis.

Large and majestic, with a bell tower 88 metres high, it has undergone expansion work, as the flow of pilgrims increased, over the years. It survived the eruption of Vesuvius in 1944 and the Nazis who wanted to raze it to the ground.

Since 1962 in the square in front of the Sanctuary the monument to Bartolo Longo has been erected.

The Shrine is visited every year by more than four million pilgrims, in particular on the occasion of the celebrations of 8 May and the first Sunday of October, when the Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii is recited with a plenary indulgence.

The painting of Our Lady of the Rosary deserves a separate article. Found in a miserable state, corroded by moths and worn down by time in the Conservatory of the Rosary of Portamedina, he arrived in Pompeii on a cart used for the transport of manure. Displayed in the parish of Santissimo Salvatore it was restored several times and moved to the chapel of Santa Caterina inside the Sanctuary under construction. The visiting faithful began to adorn the image with precious stones as a sign of devotion and as thanksgiving. The stones were removed with the last restoration, in 1965. Since then the painting has been placed in the Basilica of the Sanctuary of Pompeii, although it has been exhibited in St. Peter’s Square and in the Cathedral of Naples, to welcome the veneration of thousands of faithful.