LONGO, BARTOLO. — Lawyer, founder of the sanctuary of Pompei, born in Latiano (Brindisi) on 10 February 1841, died in Pompei on 5 October 1926. Shaken in his faith, and brought back to it by dear friends, he abandoned the legal profession, which he had begun with brilliance, in order to devote himself exclusively to works of religion and charity.
In 1885 he married the widowed Countess Marianna de Fusco, when already, since 1872, he had promoted in Pompei, which was almost abandoned, the teaching of catechism and devotion to the Rosary, establishing the confraternity there in 1876. On 8 May of the same year he began, with the offerings of the faithful, the construction of the temple, now world-famous, around which splendid works of charity and redemption flourished over the years: nurseries, recreation centers, workshops, schools, a printing press and factories, the orphanage for girls
in psychic reactions; intelligence is good, of an intuitive, synthetic, fantastic type, with a schizoid orientation. In particular, in the hyperthyroid and hyperadrenal varieties, individuals are emotional and irritable; in the hypergenital and hyperpituitary (hyperhypophyseal) variety, they are more capable of control and reflection; among hyperthyroid subjects, intelligence is excellent, and among hyperhypophyseal subjects, memory is robust.
In the asthenic-hypotonic l. biotype, the disharmonious development in length of the trunk and especially of the limbs gives the individual a frail, hypotonic, drooping appearance, with evident curves and humps (kyphosis and lordosis) of the vertebral column, particularly in the cervicodorsal and dorsolumbar regions; the muscles are frail and hypotonic, and fat is scant; the sexual characteristics are poorly developed. Endocrinologically, there is hyperthyroidism with hypogenitalism, hypoadrenalism, hypoparathyroidism with spasmophilia; the hypoadrenal variety is particularly predisposed to tuberculosis. Psychically, such individuals are neither tachypragic nor tachypsychic; their emotional tone is sentimentally depressed; intelligence is often very good, at times brilliant, but rapidly exhaustible, of a fantastic type, neither concrete nor practical.
the destitute, and homes for the sons and daughters of prisoners, especially for the daughters of condemned mothers. All these works subsequently passed under the direct governance of the Holy See. To him is owed the establishment of the Sisters “Daughters of the Most Holy Rosary of Pompei.” He helped to arouse throughout the world the Assumptionist movement, and spread devotion to the fifteen Saturdays, the novena, and the supplication, all composed by him. His cause of beatification has been introduced.
He complemented his apostolate with various publications of a popularizing nature, including a Storia del santuario (Pompei 1890), which remained unfinished; but more important for evaluating his pedagogical method are: Per l'educazione morale e civile dei figli dei carcerati (ivi 1894); Quaranta figli di carcerati (ivi 1895); L'opera di Pompei e la riforma morale dei carcerati (ivi 1895); Memorie per il Congresso di Bruxelles (ivi 1899); Nuova memoria (ivi 1899); La guida del carcerato alla sua morale riabilitazione (ivi 1905); L'ultimo voto del mio cuore (ivi 1925).