by Rita Piro, Special to The Tablet 

“I want all the attention on the Blessed Mother.” 

That is what John Cordi, Brooklyn native and lifelong parishioner at the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette in Dyker Heights, recently told people at the parish’s celebration of the Rosary of Our Lady of Pompeii. 

A longtime member of the Holy Name Society, which sponsored the event, Cordi is the chairperson of the annual feast day celebration that includes a Mass followed by a dinner dance. This year’s event was held on Sunday, Oct. 6 — one day before Our Lady of the Rosary’s liturgical calendar feast day. 

The Cordi family’s dedication to Our Lady of Pompeii dates back to the foundation of the original 1891 church, which is now a basilica. Located in Campania, Italy, the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompeii is located just beyond the ruins of the ancient city famously destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. 

Cordi’s great-grandfather, Alfredo Berriola, did the electrical work for the basilica, and his grandmother and her siblings grew up in the parish. Both knew and interacted regularly with Blessed Bartolo Longo, who inspired the devotion to Our Lady of Pompeii and established the church. 

A lawyer in Southern Italy, Longo had arrived in Pompeii in 1876 to do legal work for some clients. After falling away during college, he returned to the Church and dedicated his life to Jesus and Mary, promoting the rosary. 

While in Pompeii, he took a particular interest in a local church sorely in need of renovation — both physical and spiritual. With financial support from his clients and guidance from local Dominican friars, Longo personally undertook the restoration of the church, giving it to the Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii. The church was consecrated on May 7, 1891 by Pope Leo XIII. 

Longo had searched all over southern Italy for an image of Our Lady of the Rosary that he thought was fitting for this new devotion. He settled on a torn and tattered painting (which was all he could afford) he found in a convent in Naples. Over the next 90 years, the painting would be restored three times, with the final work completed in 1965 and brought to the Vatican to be presented to Pope Paul VI for a blessing. 

“Just as the image of the Virgin has been repaired and decorated, so may the image of Mary that all Christians must have within themselves be restored, renovated, and enriched,” the pontiff said before placing two diadems on the heads of Jesus and Mary. 

It is this painting that hangs today over the altar of the basilica. 

Bartolo became a Dominican tertiary and was also involved with the Franciscans. He was awarded a papal knighthood of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. On Oct. 26, 1980, Longo was beatified by Pope John Paul II, who called him the “Apostle of the Rosary” and “The Man of Mary.” His feast day is Oct. 5, which marks his death in 1926. His writings have received Vatican approval, and his body lies in the basilica in Pompeii. 

During the 1980s and ’90s, the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette regularly held the traditional Day of Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii on May 8, commemorating the blessing of the original church’s cornerstone in 1876. 

Each May 8, the parishioners would place their image of Our Lady of Pompeii in the sanctuary and gather for Mass and prayers in the evening. Interest in the practice ended in the mid-’90s after the death of the event’s organizer, remembered only as “Signora Ida,” and the beloved parish painting was moved to the basement. 

In 2019, 25 years after the last Day of Supplication took place, Cordi decided to reintroduce the devotion. 

“The first thing we did was to look for the parish painting,” Cordi said. “I covered every inch of the basement but could not find it anywhere. I was so sad at the thought that our painting was gone.” 

“It was no accident that the painting was found in May, the month of Our Lady,” he said. 

Since 2019, the Day of Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii has steadily grown. Cordi couldn’t be happier or prouder. He and his wife, Maria, director of religious education at St. Bernadette Catholic Academy and, like her husband, a graduate, have made three trips to Pompeii with relatives. 

“It is absolutely my favorite church in the world,” Cordi said. “I think of my great-grandparents, grandparents, and aunts who knew Blessed Bartolo Longo, and I feel so blessed to have that connection. 

“Like him, my wish is to bring Our Lady of Pompeii and the Rosary to as many people as possible.”