I am personally intrigued by one of the Church’a newest saints. I mentioned in yesterday’s post that Blessed Bartolo Longo will be canonized (no date set, yet.) He was a satanist, turned Catholic, and not only that, spread devotion to the Rosary so much that Pope St. John Paul II referred to him as the “Apostle of the Rosary.” He also developed a new devotional practice called “The Fifteen Saturdays of the Holy Rosary.”

I looked up information on him today and found this tidbit:

From Bartolo Longo — School of Faith: (Emphasis is mine.)

Bartolo Longo had the habit of meditating on the whole life of Jesus and His teachings, not limiting his meditation in the Rosary to the 15 mysteries…Hmm… sound familiar….And this practice of Bl. Bartolo inspired St. John Paul II to add the Luminous Mysteries to the Rosary. Regarding the influence of Bl. Bartolo, JPII, in his letter on the Rosary writes:

In the spiritual journey of the Rosary, 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 described in terms of friendship. We are thereby enabled to enter naturally into Christ’s life and as it were to share his deepest feelings. In this regard Blessed Bartolo Longo has written: “Just as two friends, frequently in each other’s company, tend to develop similar habits, so too, by holding conversation with Jesus and Mary, by meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary and by living the same life in Holy Communion, (that is, in friendship with them) we can become, to the extent of our openness, similar to them and can learn from these supreme models a life of humility, poverty, hiddenness, patience and perfection”. Rosarium 15

Who said personal relationships end with death? Bl. Bartolo’s pious devotion to the Rosary and his meditations on the life of Christ “in Mary’s company” influenced a future Pope to transform one of the most fundamental Catholic devotions. 

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