his now-abandoned church of San Giovanni Battista. Close to the Accademia Delle Belle Arti, it had become home of the Confraternità dei Professori di Belle Arti after the Dominican Sisters had been expelled from the site in 1865, and was even used as a theatre (Illiabato II, 96).
How does this church intersect with the life of Bartolo Longo? Amongst the Confraternity’s members was the painter Federico Maldarelli, a devout Christian who would later restore the holy image of the Madonna of Pompeii (and who was also famous for views of ancient Pompeii). It was Maldarelli who advocated the devotion of the 15 Saturdays, which had fallen into disuse until the publication of Longo’s book.
Photo: By I, Baku, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2489090
The Fifteen Saturdays was an older devotion. Marchess Giuseppina Filiasi was an early supporter of Longo, and she also had a translation made and printed of a French copy of this devotion.
After early copies sold out, Longo suggested that he write another version of the book, which addressed some shortcomings in the original. Published on 15th August 1877, the book was useful because it gathered together the mysteries, the gospel stories, and provided a clear way of teaching the Rosary and - through that devotion - the basic catechism. His book was divided into three parts, (1) a defence of the value and beauty of the Rosary, (2) encouragement on the advantages of saying the Rosary, and (3) the ‘practical method’ for completing the 15 Saturdays.
authored by Blessed Bartolo Longo. It involved making a vow, and then devoting fifteen consecutive Saturdays to praying the Rosary - one week for each mystery, and putting this into daily practice. At Pompeii, this is before…
He included a few pages on the early history of the sanctuary, and the miracles that had happened in the first eighteen months.
2000 copies first printed, which sold out in the first 9 months. Orders came in from Piemonte, Lombardy, and above all Milan, this latter thanks to a zealous Mother Superior at the main hospital called Giuseppina Brambilla Carminati, who gave outmedals, devotional books, rosaries, and copies of the 15 Saturdays. She also sent copies to Africa and asa, and went on missions in India (Illibato p. 75 - and see her letter in ABLP sez XV fast 536).
By 1887 the book was in its seventh edition - now looked quite different and was in two volumes.
But back in 1878, the devotion of the Fifteen Saturdays had just started being revived again in certain Neapolitan churches. And this is one of the Churches where it was revived.
References.
Illibato, Antonio Vol II, pp. 71ff
