Dublin, 19 October 2025
For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness
behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
(Luke 1:48-49)
To all Provincials and Vice Provincials,
To All Members of the Dominican Family
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
With gratitude to God, the Giver of all good things, the Dominican Family rejoices in the canonization today of our brother Bartolo Longo (born in Latiano, Italy, on 10 February 1841 and died in Pompei, Italy, on 5 October 1926). In the Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, St. John Paul II acknowledged that “By his whole life’s work and especially by the practice of the “Fifteen Saturdays”, Bartolo Longo promoted the Christocentric and contemplative heart of the Rosary, and received great encouragement and support from Leo XIII, the “Pope of the Rosary”. Providentially,
Pope Leo XIV, presided over his canonization today, within the Jubilee Year.
Bartolo Longo was a member of the Dominican Laity, who was called an Apostle of the Rosary by Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. Bartolo preached on the importance of the rosary in our journey towards holiness of life: “Just as two friends, frequently in each other’s company, tend to develop similar habit so too, by holding familiar converse with Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, by meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary and by living the same life in Holy Communion, we can become, to the extent of our lowliness, similar to them and can learn from these supreme models
a life of humility, poverty, hiddenness, patience and perfection”.
During his pilgrimage to the Pontifical Shrine of Pompeii, Pope Benedict acknowledged “the apostolic dimension of the Rosary, a dimension that Blessed Bartolo Longo lived intensely, drawing inspiration from it to carry out on this earth so many charitable initiatives and works of human and social promotion”. Bartolo founded an orphanage in 1887, an institute for sons of prisoners in 1892, and in 1922, an institute for the daughters of prisoners. In Bartolo, we see the realization of our Holy Father’s desire that “all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor” (Dilexi te, 3).
In this Jubilee Year, the Dominican Family is blessed with two new saints, St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Bartolo Longo. Indeed, the preaching of the Gospel in manifold ways, according to the different states of life within our Family – friars, nuns, apostolic sisters, lay and priestly fraternities – is truly a path to holiness. May all the holy men and women of our Order intercede before the Lord for the whole Dominican Family.
fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP
Master of the Order