Marian Mission of The Rosary
“The Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin…; and the virgin’s name was Mary” (cf. Lk 1, 26.27). Luke narrates this way the beginning of the mission of the Verb in the history of men. The event of the Incarnation is also at the basis of the mission of the Church, which is, by its nature, missionary: “Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations…” (Mt 28, 19) […] Proclaim the Gospel to all creation” (Mk 16, 15). Evangelization is the permanent engagement of the Church. On the strength of this main identity, the Church does not stop, in any time, to carry on its mission in the world: to announce and re-announce the good news of the Gospel to all men, those who have not yet been reached by the grace of faith and by the truth of salvation and those who have already experimented the joy of the encounter with Christ. This engagement of mission and evangelization has had a particular paradigmatic connotation in the religious and ecclesiastical history of Pompeii. Just at the beginning of his path of faith and of apostolic testimony, the Blessed Bartolo Longo, being by then at the end of his way of conversion, found out unequivocally, as he himself narrates in the “History of the Shrine” written by himself, the concrete engagement of his call: “If you spread the Rosary, you will be saved”. To spread the Rosary meant therefore to announce Christ. That was why the young advocate became a missionary, first among the simple and ignorant peasants of Pompeii, then among the very numerous crowds of devotees of the Virgin of the Rosary. From that missionary spirit has arisen the New Pompeii, which realizes its task by welcoming the pilgrims from all over the world and moving towards all the hearts of the earth. It was to accomplish this specific vocation that in the 50s of the XX century, the Marian Mission of the Rosary arose, whose pastoral proposal is founded on the most known and popular Marian prayer. This prayer, addressed to Mary and recited with Mary, is a simple but profound prayer, which goes at the heart of Christian faith and is very relevant in front of the challenges of the Third Millennium and of the urgent involvement in the new evangelization. At Pompeii, this topicality is especially pointed out by the context of the antique Roman City buried under the ashes of the Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Those ruins speak. They ask the decisive question about what is the destiny of man. They are the testimony of a great culture of which they reveal, together with the luminous answers, also the disquieting open questions. The Marian City arises in the midst of these open questions, proposing the Risen Christ
as its answer, as the “gospel” which saves. Today, like in the antique Pompeii’s times, it is necessary to announce Christ to a society, which is deviating from the Christian values and is loosing even the memory of them. At Pompeii this announce is made also through the Rosary. What is in fact the Rosary? A compendium of the Gospel. It makes us come back continually to the most important events of Christ’s life in order to let us “breathe” His mystery. For this reason the Rosary is also a privileged way of contemplation, it is Mary’s way. Whoever knows Christ and loves Him more than Her? The Blessed Bartolo Longo, apostle of the Rosary, was persuaded of this paying a special attention just to the contemplative and Christological character of the Rosary.
Thanks to the Blessed, Pompeii has become an “international centre of spirituality of the Rosary”, a place of prayer for peace, for the families and the youth, as John Paul II affirmed during his pilgrimage to Pompeii on October 7th, 2003. In this programmatic wake are fit the Marian Missions of the Rosary, organized by the Shrine of Pompeii. During them, a reproduction of the venerated Icon of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary is taken in the parish communities, which ask for it, in order to live a deep time of prayer and of evangelization.
Through an attentive and accurate catechesis, inspired to the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, the Marian Mission of the Rosary proposes to approach in a joyful and authentic way all categories of people and associations present in the community, showing and recommending them a privileged way for salvation: the path of contemplation of Christ’s mysteries, through the attentive and solicitous glance of Mary, in order to realize both a common and individual experience of conversion, of mission, of charity service and of building of peace, as it is in the Church of Pompeii’s charism.
Director:
Don Andrea Fontanella
Piazza Bartolo Longo, 1 – 80045 Pompei (NA)
Tel. (+39) 0818577260 Fax (+39) 0818577487
Cell. 335 1674755
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
as its answer, as the “gospel” which saves. Today, like in the antique Pompeii’s times, it is necessary to announce Christ to a society, which is deviating from the Christian values and is loosing even the memory of them. At Pompeii this announce is made also through the Rosary. What is in fact the Rosary? A compendium of the Gospel. It makes us come back continually to the most important events of Christ’s life in order to let us “breathe” His mystery. For this reason the Rosary is also a privileged way of contemplation, it is Mary’s way. Whoever knows Christ and loves Him more than Her? The Blessed Bartolo Longo, apostle of the Rosary, was persuaded of this paying a special attention just to the contemplative and Christological character of the Rosary.
Thanks to the Blessed, Pompeii has become an “international centre of spirituality of the Rosary”, a place of prayer for peace, for the families and the youth, as John Paul II affirmed during his pilgrimage to Pompeii on October 7th, 2003. In this programmatic wake are fit the Marian Missions of the Rosary, organized by the Shrine of Pompeii. During them, a reproduction of the venerated Icon of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary is taken in the parish communities, which ask for it, in order to live a deep time of prayer and of evangelization.
Through an attentive and accurate catechesis, inspired to the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, the Marian Mission of the Rosary proposes to approach in a joyful and authentic way all categories of people and associations present in the community, showing and recommending them a privileged way for salvation: the path of contemplation of Christ’s mysteries, through the attentive and solicitous glance of Mary, in order to realize both a common and individual experience of conversion, of mission, of charity service and of building of peace, as it is in the Church of Pompeii’s charism.
Director:
Don Andrea Fontanella
Piazza Bartolo Longo, 1 – 80045 Pompei (NA)
Tel. (+39) 0818577260 Fax (+39) 0818577487
Cell. 335 1674755
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it