EWTN Live - Bl. Bartolo Longo - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ with Fr. Matthew R. Mauriello - 06-15-2011

a devotion to the rosary and the Blessed Mother brought a satanic priest back to the Catholic faith of his youth and now this apostle the Rosary is inspiring new devotion in the hearts of Catholics throughout a story of hope and faithfulness to Our Lady of Pompeii we'll bring you that story tonight so please stay with us thank you thank you and welcome I'm father Mitch Pacwa and welcome to EWTN live our chance to bring you guests from all over the world before we get to tonight's guest I want to mention that a good friend of the network father Richard Hogan pastor of st. Raphael's parish in Crystal Minnesota died yesterday from complications due to diabetes father Hogan was on my Wednesday night program EWTN live about three years ago father Hogan had worked with Bishop John Lavoie of New Ulm Minnesota to author one of the first authoritative books in English Blessed John Paul the second theology of the body he also worked with Mary Jo Smith a Twin Cities lay woman to help produce the image of God children's catechetical series which was the basis for the long-running and popular children's TV show image of God which began here on EWTN in 1989 father Hogan was only 59 years old and a good and faithful priest we pray for the repose of his soul and the comfort for his family and st. Raphael's parish in Crystal Minnesota now tonight we have a guest as we usually do he's a Catholic priest from Greenwich Connecticut his efforts are to increase Catholic devotion and they have brought the story of Blessed Bartolo long ago and the image of Our Lady of Pompeii to the Catholic churches around the northeastern United States to tell us more about this devotion please welcome father Matthew mauriello father mauriello well good to have you here with us thank you for inviting me father sure uh one of the things that people don't know much about is the devotion to Our Lady the roji of Our Lady of Pompeii and you know this is something that is you know it's known in the Italian community the italian-american community somewhat but the general community doesn't know much about it tell us something of the story of how they got to be an Our Lady of Pompeii well there's a story goes back to a young man whose name was Bartolo Longo he was born in 1840 in the south of Italy not the side of the boot where like Naples is the other side by like the Adriatic on the way to Greece okay in Brindisi and although he was raised in a Catholic family and was devout when he went to college in law school he got involved with bad people and they said oh this religion stuff is bunk he got involved with the occult he got even ordained a satanic priest so he was so far away from the church that he became a satanic priest correct Wow so what happened is one day he came to his senses and he did he went into a deep depression he says I've ruined my whole life I ruined my soul he said I'll never get to heaven he went to a priest in Italy and south of Italy Naples he was on that side now and he went to confession and as all priests say your sins are forgiven go and sin no more you have a clean slate right but he always had his doubts and the time continued he says even though I went to confession I did something so bad I could never get to heaven so since he was a lawyer he was involved with observing the land holdings of a certain person in the area of Pompeii a Contessa and her husband had died she had a lot of lands but she had workers and they tried to make sure that they were doing their work and he had to go to oversee things and so this is around 1872 and he was in the valley of Pompeii looking over the grounds and he was in a deep desperation and the Blessed Mother spoke to his heart and said if you promote my rosary I will guarantee you get to heaven I will guarantee your salvation so he said I'm gonna do right here in Pompeii so he went to the local people he heard there was a dilapidated chapel he started to rebuild the chapel he asked the people to come pray the rosary and at first two people came then another year later he had another rosary rally like five or six people came so basically he trying to say okay now we're gonna make this something big and he says we're gonna have an image of our Blessed Mother Pope a of the rosary rather so he heard there was an image in Naples and abandoned image in a convent and he went to Naples and it was a confident UNH's and he they said if you want it you can have it it's it's it's it's repulsive so that's what the nun said why did they say was repulsed well the faces were were distorted it was moth-eaten it was moldy it was musty it had been in the basement and he sought he says oh my gosh this is the ugliest thing I ever saw but he said well I promised the people an image so he brought it back to Pompeii this was November 13th 1875 the day that Mary in the image and child came to Pompeii and the only way to deliver it was on a cart of cow manure that was going from Naples to Pompeii and they residency set a tray that they had back then very a very high market for that over there Pompeii was farming area okay so a very humble way for the Blessed Mother the Queen of Heaven to get to Pompeii our new home so brought to the Luongo had it restored had it patched up and brought to the chapel and all of a sudden there was something about that image that the people were drawn to it was very consoling to them it was very peaceful it was very inspiring we've got a picture of it on the screen it has st. Dominic who is credited with giving the rosary and st. Catherine of Siena correct and in fact I have a gift for your father one for or for your collection oh thank you so here's st. Dominic and he died in 1220 and of course Bartolo Longo was born in the 1800s so he's the new apostle of the Rosary so you can have this oh thank you thank you so then all of a sudden people were coming in droves to the chapel miracles began to happen people were feel that you were getting healed spiritually and physically and more people came and before you know it that people says all the Blessed Mother deserves a bigger Church than this little chapel so they started to build a bigger Church and then another bigger church until it's a big papal basilica and Bartolo Longo died in 1926 and was beatified by Pope John Paul Blessed the pope john paul ii in 1980 called the apostle of the rosary and said how he he was a beneficiary of mercy of god yeah I think it's very important to see how far away but all along Gogh had gone from the faith right you know I mean to go to all it's not just neglecting the faith he was actually worshipping Satan and for him to be brought back and then to become an apostle of the Rosary is a real deep conversion and that's a you know there are people today there's a church of Satanists you know in California out in San Francisco and there are other a satanic groups around the country this is an important story to give hope for the conversion of these people that they're not permanently lost and that they might be able to come back exactly that's why this is a beautiful devotion because Mary brings us the means she brings us two beautiful gifts she brings us her son and the rosary right Mary is the one who brought us our Lord Jesus from the very beginning when the God the Father sent the Archangel and she gave her consent at the Annunciation she became a collaborator in our Redemption and in Latin is like Scioscia which means the associate right in the work of our Redemption and then she continued in Bethlehem and the Holy Family of Nazareth in everything you know his public private life Cana his public life even in Calvary and even in Pentecost Mary was collaborating in the work of our Lord and even in her even in her last message her last verb verbal message recorded in the gospel what does she say listen to my son right just like John the Baptist I must decrease he must increase do what he tells you see that's the message of Mary pointing to her son playing - the way the truth and the life exactly and she gives us in one arms her son and the other arms the rosary which is what Bartolo long ago said the the Dulce cadena which means the sweet chain the sweet chain which links earth to heaven and through meditating upon the twenty mysteries of the rosary you mated upon the the gospel right how many people have said you know Pope Paul the sixth said it's a compendium of the gospel of the rose mysteries of the rosary you know this devotion to Our Lady of Pompeii which was an abandoned ruins as you know this is the same Pompeii that was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius wasn't it correct and and that uh was a ruined right that was farmed over and exact you know people you know didn't really rebuild the city of Pompeii but it was a small rural area but it's called the new Pompeii now because it's it's from because of the basilica and expanded of course oh is that right yes there was it was all farmland but because of the basilica people came and then came industry and came hotels them came places the people came in droves you know there's 3 million people that go to Pompeii every year 1 million pilgrims its largest Marian shrine in all of Italy Wow so see that's that's amazing because you know I I lived in an italian-american neighborhood for a while in Chicago and there was an Our Lady of Pompeii Church there right know for that sir the Italian community you know why there are so many churches to our lady Pompeii here in the States well this is the this is a very good question because what happened is when there was some financial difficulties in the south of Italy in the area of the province of Campania the region of Campania rather which includes the provinces of Naples Caserta Avellino Salerno and Benevento all those provinces are in the region of Campania what happened is those people are the ones who really came to the to the United States right my four grandparents were born in Italy uh-huh you know and then my one grandfather came here as a teenager got his citizenship went back and married my grandmother and came back and my mom was born here the other grandfather had four children Italy came here earned the money for their passage they all came over the wife and the children and then my father was born the first fruit of their of the American life so what happened is when they came over on these boats they knew they would never go back and see their families they would never go back they would get yeah that was true that immigration people didn't go back to Poland and Italy and the others like the way that you can today travel wasn't easy it took eight days ninety eight hours to get back to Europe so what they did was they brought this we love the beautiful devotion to their their Blessed Mother of Pompeii from that south of Italy area so even during the lifetime of Bartolo Longo he brought the Blessed Mother the first time in 1875 by 1880s there was a church in Greenwich Village in carmine street vidiq eternity of Pompeii by the Scalabrine fathers and then they brought it to to New Haven they brought another church where I was pastor a lady the rosary of Pompeii in Bridgeport Connecticut and the one in Chicago was also by the Scalabrine fathers exactly so they brought with them their love for the Blessed Mother Pompeii and they knew that that was something which was consoling to the Italian Americans from the south of it was like like that word via to comb via take home go with you you know bring your dear mother with you and that's what this mission has been to bring the dear mother of Pompeii to the people okay and it's a reconnection with their heritage with their roots with their their ancestors now I also understand that you've been involved with a group from Italy including an archbishop correct who are spreading this devotion tell us a little bit about how that started and what they're doing well as I mentioned I was pastor of a parish in Our Lady of Pompey L any of the Rosary of Pompeii in Bridgeport Connecticut I arrived there in September of Oh - and in October Oh - we began our centennial year and pope john paul ii gave us the rosary encyclical so what I did was I went to Pompeii and I took you know my regular vacation time and I went over there and I said oh I said we're having our centennial it's ending next October 7th the Feast of the Rosary and you know we were founded from the Scalabrine and there's a connection from Italy to the to the New York Church and when we were founded from that New York Church so I said when when we have our Centennial next year could you write us under the letter of congratulations I'll read it from the pulpit something to have a connection from the from the homeland sure and with that they got to know me and I speak Italian from growing up sure and we kept in communication and every once in a while since all too I would return to Italy visit relatives I have still relatives in Italy and every once in a while take the train from Rome to Naples go to Pompeii see all those priests and and get to and get to reconnect and they said oh one day we are going to probably come and bring the missionary image to America will you help us we'll come to your parish in two parishes or lay the Rosary of Pompeii I said sure but this was a know two or three and they called me in 2010 seven years later and he says we're ready to come to your parish I said well no longer there I got transferred that's okay you can help us anyhow so happy just what some other right yeah I mean you have to keep her happy right right you know and like everyone you keep your mother happy you know when mommy's not happy nobody's happy right right that's maybe a man has said that that's right now what one so did you bring it to your new parish or to Our Lady of Pompeii parish your old parish so what happened is we and I wrote I wrote to all the bishops of the East Coast my first might be ship in Bridgeport then I went to Hartford Brooklyn Paterson New Jersey Archbishop Dolan in New York Long Island Philadelphia all the East Coast area and I said we're having this image come please give me some ideas of which parishes in your diocese or archdiocese might be interested so then from from 7-8 letters to 7/8 bishops they I got like 20 names of parishes and then I counted all those pastors and said the images coming are you interested you know we can they're gonna be here from May 31st until June 26th of 11 and this is all done like last year last August last September because they came in novella this this kind of thing takes a while and you know it's always a letter trail you know and and finally when they came in November I had all these appointments set up in Newark New Jersey in Paterson in these different places and the Bronx Mount Carmel etc and we went with them with a calendar and a big calendar and I says ok we'll block you in for these days and because they're going to like in 28 days 15 different parishes including st. Patrick's Cathedral in the Basilica in Washington but it has to be all worked out logistically and sure when they go to Washington we have to make sure they have places to sleep and eat and you know etc so it's been a logistical experience to be honest sure but it's been great I have to be honest it's been wonderful has there been a good response from the folks all it's been it's been so beautiful I can't tell you it has been so touching the people go to the image there they're so full of happiness tears of joy coming down there they're there to write down their cheeks it's just so touching you know you know when you're in the little parishes it's more tender and and moving because when you're in st. Patrick's Cathedral for instance it's like you know people are on there in the morning for mass and they have to go to work I mean so it's not like it was a big big parish event but we had some beautiful beautiful experiences in fact I went to visit Jason and I brought my laptop and he flashdrive Jason is my producer yes he's an Addington right and I must say I think I'd really admit yeah he's a good guy and I thank everyone who's worked with me Lee south and Jason and even Rosie the housekeeper everyone's been so kind and and sweet to me so I showed Jason some photos of these different events the first event was in my parish st. Roch in Greenwich because that's my first responsibility I'm a shepherd of souls that's my great-great duty but these little side things well if the Blessed Mother asked me to give her a hand you know if the Lord chose me our lady chose me you say I'll do it I'll do the best I can you know but of course as soon as those priests land in May 31st our three funerals that week so keeps you busy it's like you know you say yeah you know right now this week they plopped on my lap what you're gonna do but it's fine it's all fine now this do you find that people are reviving their devotion to the rosary by the presence of this image actually I find it's an image of hope for them because a lot of the parents and grandparents have children who are far from the church unfortunately here I mean and then they're estranged from the church I always tell my people do not give the devil a crack to come in do not even open a crack because he gets his slimy little tail in there and he will swirls around and he makes things difficult right I say don't read the horoscope don't do anything that's suspicious because that's all putting your trust in stars and all this other stuff which is that from God right matter of fact you know something like the horoscope is condemned in the scriptures and right you know I love that line in Isaiah which says 47 go ahead consult your monthly prognosticators in your horoscopes may you burn like chaff along with them not a strong recommendation from the Bible no so we but see the thing is unfortunately the way the society is now some some children even though their parents brought them off in a good way and a great way they've sent them to Catholic school catholic high school Catholic college but sometimes they get on their own then you hear I hear as a priest 23 plus years how many parents all my children I brought them up well they're living together father and all this I need to say pray pray I say don't nag him just pray and tell them you're my son I love you I want to see you do the right thing in God's eyes maybe they'll touch them right you know like encourage them the spiritual works of mercy right exactly you know exactly and and again I think it would be useful to invoke the intercession of Blessed Bartolo long ago because he knows what it was like to be far away from Christ and to be in the world and of the occult and of the evil one and if anybody can help to bring back and intercede for those who are lost in New Age and the occult and all these other things it would be blessed but all along go well you know this is reviving that whole story the way I mentioned it tonight maybe some of these people never heard of this story before you're not sure and in fact the image I gave you is a very smaller version the actual image that came from Italy is about 60 by 49 49 across in 60 high and it's the missionary image so the one in Italy never leaves the Basilica right but this is a large image and it's been traveling and it's been the source of devotion and and maybe renewal of faith for people right this is one of the things that is very much needed you know I've certainly noticed that over the last three decades in particular there have been a number of revival movements and one of them has been a Marion revival you know back in the 80s especially because in the 60s the late 60s and throughout the 70s Marian devotion was put on a back burner at best and in the 1980s a Marion revival began around the world and is really brought back many people to a deeper love of the Blessed Mother a deeper love of Christ and a deeper commitment to their faith well Marian devotion should really be Christological it should focus Mary too to help us bring it to her son right I mean even as I mentioned Mary always even in Fatima what does she teach the children Oh My Jesus forgive us our sins save us in the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven especially those in need of thy mercy so she's Mary is invoking and asking the children to invoke her son exactly for his merit for his mercy as a matter of fact that's one of the things that I love about Fatima it helps us by praying the rosary and adding that prayer to each decade of the Rosary it brings us closer to Jesus Christ and to interceding from him and this is a great in a merciless world like our own the 20th century was merciless and to pray for Jesus of mercy is very important father I can't agree more I in fact we just had a beatification of the great mercy Pope exactly May 1st right he wrote that the happiest day of his life was the day he be either canonized Saint Faustina right who he he was chosen from what by our Lord to bring this devotion excuse me from from his native area of Krakow which he knew about and being thrust into the worldwide stage he said now's the time this is the time for mercy you have to bring the Merce to the Lord and we're continuing that work of mercy I don't know if you know but I'm involved with the world app installer Congress on mercy oh yeah yeah I did read about that in your book which is called Mercy's remembered I read in your book about this Congress tell us a little bit about it what happened is when Pope John Paul the 2nd Blessed Pope John Paul the 2nd passed away April 2nd 2005 his successor Pope Benedict wanted to continue the work and spreading the message of mercy so what happened is Cardinal schönborn the Archbishop of Vienna was approached and said let's have a congress of mercy and they went to Pope Benedict and he said wholeheartedly we'll do it so it opened up on April 2nd of 2008 the third anniversary of the death of pope john paul ii and what happened is god's been very generous to me i got a beautiful gift because what happened is Cardinal schönborn sent a letter to all the Episcopal conferences of the world and he sent one to the United States and my Bishop Bishop Lauri in Bridgeport got the letter because he was the head of the doctoring committee at the USCCB and they said well Mercy's doctrine maybe you could take care of this for us so he came back to Bridgeport and he called me up and he said I have a job for you and you know how can you say no to the bishop you know not easily no I mean you know you know it's it's bishop whatever you want that's there always the right answer right exactly so the job was to go be the North American representative to bring delegates to the mercy Congress and where was that held held in Rome st. John Lateran but I couldn't do it by myself we have a wonderful support team at of the Marian Fathers and a whole team at the National Shrine of mercy in Stockbridge Massachusetts right so by June of oh seven we started pulling this together and there they work so hard we had the Congress in Rome April of a way at the end of it Pope Benedict who came to the window and the Sunday the 6th I believe he says go forth now and bring the message of mercy to your own homes proclaim the Lord's mercy to all so we said after we came back and get over jetlag from Italy you know we said we'll do a North American Congress our mercy which we pulled together for November of Oh 9 and again I was supported by the wonderful support team in Stockbridge and now the second world apostolic Congress our mercy is going to be in this October in Krakow Poland by the tomb of st. Faustina right so that's going to be tours run through the Marian's of Stockbridge and I gave Jason Addington all the website information and we'll try to get that off after the break right and so the word mercy work is to bring forth the message that what mercy of God is always replenished you can never run out right and the message is not only to learn mercy learn about it but to live it see you're learning about the mercy of God but you have to incorporate it and then be merciful be compassionate exactly you know I mean it's one thing to it's one thing to read all these beautiful things and the other thing to put into practice exactly that's one of the things that we have to do I'm gonna give information about that that's WWE Congress org mercy Congress is one word WWE Congress org and you can find out more about that Congress in October of this year in Poland and I'll give Nikki near Krakow Poland all right we say that good you said you're very good we spill groan home going up at home so we learned those words that's great we have to take a break we'll be back in just a couple minutes we want to get some of your questions and your comments about Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii as well as about this mercy Congress so please stay with us thank you thank you and welcome back we have a nice group of folks busload of folks from Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky as well as folks from other parts of the country and we'd love to have you come and join us whether you come as a bus group from your parish that's what a lot of people do or if you come as individuals with or with your families please contact our pilgrimage Department at two zero five two seven one two nine six six two zero five two seven one two nine six six or go to our website wwlp.com bidet shion's the scheduling for Masse's programs tours of the network maps to get to Hanceville to see the sisters and all of that so we'd love to have you come and join us and also I want to let you know that the the next stop for the u.s. Marian mission of Our Lady of Pompeii is at st. Lucie parish in Newark New Jersey that will be June 16th to the 18th then on June 19th we'll go to the Church of Saint Rocco in Glen Cove Long Island so if you are in those areas at that time st. Lucie parish in Newark New Jersey that's June 16th to the 18th and then st. Rocco's Paris in Long Island you can go and also express your devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii at those places and the image will be the missionary mission image will be at those places ready for some questions sounds good alright let's start off with Mary Ann hello Mary Ann I thought upon how are you fine were you from New York City great and what is your question my question is I was curious if there have been any apparitions of Our Lady of Pompeii and also if there that any divine revelations or instructions from for from our lady to help increase our faith and provide comfort and love and all the things we need in this world right now okay thank you very much Mary Ann so have there been any apparitions of Our Lady of Pompeii no father as far as I know it's the image and it spoke to the heart of Bartol along go right over the years there have been miracles numerous miracles but there's no specific image except she she said to him promote the rosary and I'll assure your salvation right so yeah there's there's no other you know visionaries and locutions and things like that this is just that very simple message promote the rosary and I'll assure your salvation that's I think that's pretty good that's pretty good all I'm for it all right let's get a question from our studio audience sir were you from from Cincinnati Ohio great good to have you here welcome and what is your question well the Fatima international virgin virgin was his travels internationally it was just the Cincinnati not too long ago and I was wondering if you ever thought of collaborating with that association to enhance your exposure of Our Lady of Palm Pompeii so would you have a collaboration between the image of Our Lady of Fatima and your lady Pompeii you know I have to say the Our Lady bless the mother Fatima I think is more Universal I think the the appeal to a lady of Pompeii is more for the Italian American communities I mean I'm just saying the way that I like it just a whole vote would be beautiful and a Polish parish sure and yet it may not quite be the thing for you know Hispanics who are more devoted quite a Lupe I think we have a very limited scope but an important important one because I think for those Italian Americans who came from the Campania know to have a sense of you know bringing that devotion with them and helping to know people of this country to know stay devoted to the Rosary and I'll show you get to heaven you know that would be a great great message and when we've gone to these different parishes where I've had the experience in Paterson New Jersey and other places I've had an opportunity to go with the priests they've preached in in Italian I've preached in English and the thing is at the end of it you have Italian Americans who are a third fourth generation won't even know Italian right you know they knew this is from their grandmother this is all that medallion my grandma used to wear and now I know what it is she had to bus the mother there were two Saints on the side you know and the grandmothers you know passed away 20 30 years ago but it's partly their heritage and that we read fighting to we ignite the devotion to love the understanding of the message of a Blessed Mother Pompeii and because there is that link you know between the grandparents that came from Italy to the young people they have a sense of being able to relate to the devotion correct that's why there's been so many tears because I think when people see the image they think of their grandmother and grand parents who are now gone and right you know I'm enjoying hopefully the eternal happiness of the kingdom of heaven and sure and or these are people have come from Italy as children and you know they haven't seen Lydia Pompey there are 60 years old maybe these last time they were there were there were 10 so 50 years later they see a dear friend who's arrived and they feel you know how wonderful is to see our dear Blessed Mother sure sure alright let's have another call and vision on the line hello Vincent hello father hi were you from New York State great and what is your question actually I have two concerns and maybe father could comment on them my first is some deny that st. Dominic received the rosary from Our Lady in spite of the fact that 18 popes have affirmed that and secondly on Sister Faustina during the great reign of Pope Pius the 12th her diary was on the index of forbidden books under Cardinal Ottaviani I wonder a father could comment on both of those things I'm going to hang up and let him and hear his comment okay well the first thing is that traditionally over the centuries the is attributed to st. Dominic the rosary and there were other forms like because the 150 dec Hail Marys correspond to the 150 Psalms you see so there was a sort of a chaplet that was contemporary but I believe the Blessed Mother and st. Dominic it was a finally finalized shall we say yeah there was a competing type of rosary in Eastern Europe where 150 our fathers instead of 150 Hail Marys and so st. Dominic got the form that we have today erect so they're already worth chaplets but exactly he got the form that we have today and the reason they call it rosary was that they said each Hail Mary was like a rosary given to the Blessed Mother like the rosarium I was like you're giving her a crown of roses every time you say Hail Mary the second question is I heard about the the Diary that it was it was a faulty translation and that was the problem when they translated from polish into wasn't quite a faulty translation first of all it was not put on the index of forbidden books that did not happen they were told not to publish it and so they didn't they obeyed so it didn't get to the index of forbidden books right because when they were told not to publish it the nuns obeyed correct and the the problem was that one of the sisters had no changed st. Faustina's original manuscript to make it into a more flowery type of Polish and those changes you know no adulterated the text so they had to go and weed those out and get to the original text and then later after they did that it was put up for publication again and then approved thank you yeah that's great yeah yeah that's that's an important thing because but it was not put on the index of forbidden books you know did they were obedient when they were told not to publish it they were obedient and they did not publish it we have a studio question next young lady were you from Atlanta Georgia Atlanta Georgia just down the road from us good to have you here sweetie now what is your question well I know that our Lady of Guadalupe is the Petrecca touch put protectors of the unborn right babies so is our lady of Pompeii known for protecting any specific people okay so is there any specific you know part of the devotion of like a lot of times you know certain images of Our Lady are know for protecting certain people for instance that Lourdes it was especially some women who had certain diseases were were like lupus we're healed at Lourdes is there anything specific about Our Lady's role to heal or to pray for somebody for Molly to Pompeii as we mentioned before the healing is spiritual for those who have gone astray in their faith for those who have abandoned their faith gone down the evil path right we're all invited to choose the path of light we know we're all sinners and we all need the light of Christ them you know when you go into the path of darkness you get in trouble so she reached out to bartylla long ago and had them walk the right path right that's a very important thing and you know we need that today a lot because there are so many people who have you know gone away from the faith that they we need to have an image of Our Lady to help us with that process of praying for the return of people back to the life of the faith this is part of what John Paul called the New Evangelization and we we can't do it by ourselves we need our ladies help we have another question from our studio audience ma'am were you from I'm from Carthage North Carolina good to have you here welcome and what is your question my question is about the original tapestry that you mentioned that Bartolo long ago got from the nuns and I wondered if since that was down in the basement or somewhere does someone know who the original artist was or did they attribute it to a certain time period I'm curious about the age and the artist it's very interesting you should say that because as I had mentioned we had several of these priests from Pompeii visiting and they were staying in my rectory in Greenwich and I asked one of them I said I said did anyone ever figure out who was the artist and they said it's a tribute to the school of Luca Giordano Luca Giordano will lived in the 16th century so be the mid 1500s but when you say the school like for instance the school of Michelangelo when he painted the Sistine Chapel hidden to the whole thing by himself right you know they were scaffold and you know he was directing he was painting the important things the features but you know to color in some of the backgrounds he had his his students so Luca Giordano is a famous a Neapolitan artist that's oh they say it was his school right and that was typical of the day Raffaello had his own school and so on and it had all these apprentices who learned how to be painters by working with the master and they'll and they paint it in his style too right they emulated his style you know that was the medieval thing when the young men were sent to the trade you know Lera da Vinci was sent to a Verrocchio's studio and learn these things and all these people then took their the best methodology from the great masters right right and then and that that's where this comes from a 16th century school so it would be a 16th century painting approximately but it's restored several times the Vatican which had to restore to all the Stellarium all the crown of stars the crown with Mary are all genuine diamonds in Italy genuine diamonds at the end of the day and they have the exaggeration of the Blessed Sacrament the rosary around 7:30 p.m. then it's the solemn good night every night in Pompeii the the organ goes to a great crescendo the incense the image and there's a big door that comes down which is made of steel to protect the Blessed Mother and everyone stands to their stands and claps and applauds and and wishes to plus some other a beautiful good night and it's so moving really is it's so beautiful well that's very nice we have another question from our studio on it's ma'am where are you from I was in Kentucky good to have you here and what is your question my question is about your order father where and when and give us a little background of your order well to an order I'm a diocese and priest and nor do the priests in Pompeii belong to an order they're all diocesan priests it's under a personal prayer that your personal archbishop you know the Holy Father is its papal territory so the archbishop has 40 priests the big Basilica and five parishes within that little territory it's like almost Vatican City and this is so busy with 3 million people a day they have hours and hours of confessions they have mass morning noon and night so we're just ashes in priests really I don't mean just by I mean no like I'm not like you're a Jesuit and here we have the friars Franciscan but we're them where the man in the trenches of a parish life you know right but and I think she might have been referring back to the Scalabrine fathers who started some of these parishes right of Our Lady of Pompeii who were they well they were founded by John the Baptist judge Ivana Baptista Scalabrine who was a bishop of Italy Papa chenza and he had a special apostolate to outreach to the Italian Americans in the in the New World just like mother Cabrini st. Francis Xavier Cabrini she's founded the missionaries of the Sacred Heart and she went to Pope Leo the 13th she went to go to China and Pope Leo the 13 said all know mother Cabrini you're not going to the east you going to the west I want you in New York there's a lot of Italians there so that little that little beautiful nun who was seasick crossed the country course the ocean twenty-three times started admissions in in Chicago every time you hear a Columbus Hospital was founded by her New York Guatemala she became a US citizen in in Seattle Washington she was powerhouse right and and she worked especially with the the very poor Italian immigrants making sure they could get medical care catechism for the children and all the orphanages schools and she's not one of my favorite Saints she's one of my favorite Saints because her motto is Philippians 4:13 which is my favorite expression I can do all things in Christ who gives me the strength right that's how I can do a parish mercy work bless some other work I said God you know I'm doing it for you give me the strength right and when you're busy guess what you don't have time for temptation in the devil right God willing I have my parish and my parish Mass at 7:30 p.m. Finance Council at 8:00 that's over 9:30 and at 10:00 till men that I'm right into all these bishops throughout the world and priests were setting up Pompeii and then by the time you go to bed you know you're just so exhausted you can't even think of anything that's the temperature you know right in the meantime I found time to write up a little book was this a temptation or an inspiration an inspiration it was fresh three hundred sixty pages on the mercy of God and what happened is as we all know there was some difficulties in bad press with priests you know so every time that happened I said what about the rest of us guys we're trying to do the best we can we're trying to glorify God and persevere in prayer and and and do the good thing I said someone has to let everyone else know how we're trying to do our best so I looked over my whole life and I saw it was so many things was the hand of God his mercy in my life whether it was my childhood my priestly work so many little yes these are 70 short stories about people I've met and they've touched my life and I've been the instrument of God's mercy in their life so you read one of the stories found a few the stories in fact you know and if you want to get a copy of that you can is called Mercy's remembered my father mauriello you can contact st. Rock Church which is a 10 st. Roch Avenue that's easy yeah 10 st. Roch Avenue Greenwich Connecticut 0 6 8 3 Oh 0 6 8 3 Oh or you can also call 2 0 3 8 6 9 4 176 now don't call him tonight because he's here that's right wait think it's home and then call or you can email him by writing to father met Maury and it's fr ma TT ma you are ie at aol.com and you can get a copy of the book from him and it's a nice nicely done little book all right we have another caller on the line father grace can to see you there yes I am hi were you from I am from New York State great it's good they're a lot from New York today yeah what's your question I was wondering if Our Lady of Pompeii well specifically is a saint who was responsible I don't remember his name for initiating this devotion to her can could you use that pray to that same for intercession for people who may be dabbling around with things that are sort of in the forbidden realm as you mentioned earlier and also you know CS Lewis and hulking they were famous Catholic writers and they gave us wonderful fantasy fiction but as happens with so many things the devil has created his own counterfeit and now there's a lot of fantasy fiction out there which is all around devils and demons and Dragons and Celtic religion and Dru and I'm just wondering how safe we are with reading some of that stuff specifically Katherine good good questions alright so first of all the would it be a good idea to pray to Blessed Bartolo Luongo for people if you're gonna pray for people who are involved in the occult would he be a good person to pray to I would say absolutely after all he did it himself so you say listen let's support a little Longo you you know what it is to go up astray you know what it is to do the wrong thing you know what it is to feel that your soul is lost you know even if the person doesn't know that their soul is lost even if they're doing the wrong thing if it's their mother their father their cousin you you you intercede you intercede but support all along go you know go to Jesus because the Lord is the miracle worker the Saints are just our helpers you know even the Blessed Mother she's not divine we say Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners right you know of our death amen Mary doesn't grant the miracle she goes to her son exactly so you know she tugs on his beard and say hey you know you owe me wait a minute I thought she was Jewish not Italians I no comment now the second question is also an interesting one you know fantasy writing was begun by George MacDonald a Christian and CS Lewis a Protestant and jr. are talking a Catholic imitate and they they were very conscious in following his example of using fantasy mm-hmm to teach the Christian faith and so CS Lewis wrote space novels out of the silent planet and peril and row and such and junior Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings and Lewis wrote thee not Chronicles of Narnia and they teach the Christian faith but there are a lot of other fantasy writers today who are writing that not in a Christian mentality is it safe to be reading some of these non-christian fantasy writers father I must say I know a lot about a lot of things but I don't know anything about that stuff father I must I must plead ignorance I have I have not ever been involved with any of that stuff okay you even know names and people but none of that really ever appealed to me because it didn't the little I had involved with it didn't listen to it it just turned me off like and I know it's like something that I'd say that doesn't sound right it doesn't seem right it doesn't feel right so I never got involved with any of that stuff and I would say this it's it's a very positive thing to read some of the fantasy novels of George MacDonald CS Lewis jr. are talking and I would begin by reading them mm-hmm and you can learn a lot about you know the Christian faith through them right and they they as one as CS Lewis put it they helped to baptize your imagination so that your imagination has a Christian character to it and that's a positive thing but I would be very concerned about a lot of other fantasy now there's some fantasy that is completely innocent but there's a lot of fantasy writing that tries to get you to a darker side werewolves would call Count Dracula and vampires and all that that stuff is of the evil exactly that's of the evil side they try to focus on evil and I would discourage strongly discouraged those kind types of fantasy that I have to do with evil I agree you know so we have to be discerning just like you have to do with any other novels there are some great pieces of fiction but some of them are very evil and some of them are very uplifting well around is this I'm sorry oh you're not our fresh New Yorker what can I tell you exactly what I would father I'm afraid we've run out of time it's been thank you very much for having me for being with us great to have you here and if you would join me in giving a blessing to our audience may Almighty God bless you and keep you and cause his face to shine upon you may lead you in all your ways by his peace and by the intercession of the Blessed Mother come to know him in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen and I want to remind you this network is brought to you by you we don't have resources coming from anywhere else except you and that you make the Apostle for us to bring follow the Matthew on to the air and to do the other programs that we do and right now we're we're hurting we're down a few hundred thousand dollars so please keep us in between your gas bill your electric bill in your cable bill and we'll pay all of our bills thank you you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 14,966

Rating: 4.8829269 out of 5

Keywords: EWTN Live Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ Fr. Matthew R. Mauriello, Catholic

Id: 5CBwD34RQGw

Length: 56min 30sec (3390 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 16 2011