Bruno Cornacchiola (1913–2001), born in Rome, was baptized Catholic, but later converted to Protestantism and became a stubborn enemy of the Catholic Church. He constantly uttered blasphemies and obscenities. Before an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Bruno would write in pencil: “You are neither Virgin nor Mother.” His hatred toward the Catholic Church was so great that he was planning to assassinate Pope Pius XII on September 8, 1947.
His role as husband and father left much to be desired: he was firmly opposed to baptizing his children and was continually unfaithful to his wife.
It was a Saturday after Easter when Bruno decided to take his three children — Isola, aged 10; Carlo, aged 7; and Gianfranco, aged 4 — on a picnic to Lido Ostia. But after missing the train, they decided instead to go toward Via Laurentina, in the area known as the Three Fountains, famous for the martyrdom of Saint Paul the Apostle.
Bruno searched for a quiet place to prepare the speech he was to give the following day: “Mary was not always Virgin and Immaculate.” The voices of his children interrupted him:
“Daddy, the ball is lost, can you help us look for it?”
He began searching, and suddenly the children fell to their knees one after another before a dark grotto and, with folded hands, repeated:
“Beautiful Lady, Beautiful Lady…”
A veil fell from his eyes, and he too saw the “Beautiful Lady,” standing barefoot upon a block of earth. She had a sadly gentle gaze, black hair covered by a long green mantle like the grass of spring meadows; her white dress was fastened at the waist with a pink sash.
She spoke to Bruno and revealed two great truths:
“I am She who is in the Trinity — Daughter of the Father, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, and Mother of the Divine Son — and I am the Virgin of Revelation.”
Then she said to him:
“You persecute me. Enough now. Return to the holy fold (the Catholic Church). The nine First Fridays of the Sacred Heart will save you.”
She taught him that the sure means of salvation for him and for all humanity was prayer, especially the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary.
The Mother of God held in her right hand a gray-colored book — the Sacred Scriptures — and with her left hand pointed toward the black cassock of a priest lying near a broken cross. She also entrusted him with a message to deliver personally to Pope Pius XII.
The vision slowly faded away. Mary smiled, took two steps, and departed toward Saint Peter’s, while a sweet fragrance filled the grotto.
To give Bruno certainty that the apparition was real, the Virgin told him:
“You must look for a priest who, when you say: ‘Father, I need to speak with you,’ will answer: ‘Hail Mary, my son, what do you want?’”
Bruno went to his parish and, hiding in the sacristy so as not to be recognized, encountered a priest and said:
“Father, may we speak?”
Father Frosi answered:
“Hail Mary, my son, what do you want?”
This was the confirmation.
Bruno and his family returned to the bosom of the Catholic Church on May 7, 1947. From then on, the visionary spent the rest of his life defending the Eucharist, the Immaculate Conception, and the Pope.
