By John Pintabona
On Monday 5 October, Perth Auxiliary Bishop Nelson Po will join the Saint Mary’s Catholic Church community in Leederville to celebrate the feast day of Saint Bartolo Longo, the great Apostle of the Rosary.
Born in Latiano, Italy, in 1841, Bartolo Longo experienced a profound conversion before dedicating his life to prayer, Christian education and works of charity.
He helped to establish the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary at Pompeii, promoted the Rosary throughout the world, and founded charitable institutions for orphans and the children of prisoners.
Pope Saint John Paul II described him as “the apostle of the rosary” and praised his lifelong service to the Church in the name and love of Mary.
He was canonised by Pope Leo XIV on 19 October 2025, during the Jubilee Year, highlighting his conversion and his dedication to spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
5 October also recalls the day on which Saint Bartolo Longo died in 1926.
The celebration will commence with Holy Mass at 6:00 pm, followed by the solemn blessing and presentation of a first-class relic of Saint Bartolo Longo. The relic will then be reverently installed and preserved in the church for the public veneration of the faithful.
The evening will conclude with a Rosary procession, inviting the faithful to walk together in prayer and devotion to Our Lady.
Leaders and members of local Saints Associations are warmly invited to attend and are encouraged to bring their banners and participate in the procession as a visible witness of faith and devotion.
Fittingly, members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem will be represented at the celebration as Pope Pius XI conferred the Grand Cross of the Order upon Bartolo Longo in recognition of his life and service to the Church.
