Belladonna spent 40 years as a witch, deep enough in the occult to help found the first coven officially recognized by the U.S. government on an Army installation at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. But when her husband became seriously ill, she hit a wall. “I could not see any way that I could possibly help him get better,” she told Patrick Conley and guest Fr. Allen Hoffa on The Inner Life.
And then something unexpected happened: “Out of literally nowhere, I received an incredibly strong prompting… to start praying the Rosary.”
She didn’t even know how.
Raised in a Sicilian Catholic household but long disconnected from the Church — so disconnected she had forgotten that she’d been baptized in the Church — she still recognized what a rosary looked like. She went to a Catholic shop, bought a rosary and a pamphlet, and began praying every day for her husband. The experience shook her.
“The Blessed Mother literally just took me directly to Christ,” she said, her voice catching. “I literally said, ‘Okay, Jesus, I’m yours.’”
And yet, she still had so many questions about where to go next: “Like, what church should I go to? Just for the love of God, please don’t make it the Catholic Church.” Three years later, it was the Catholic Church.
Belladonna and her husband entered the Faith fully, married in the Church, and worked through three annulments to do so. She called it a hard, but purifying blessing, like God was asking them to show that they mean it. Even that process, she said, deepened their faith.
Fr. Allen Hoffa affirmed her testimony as a vivid reminder that God is always calling, but never coercing. “God is a God of invitation, not of imposition,” he said, explaining that suffering can become redemptive when it opens a heart to grace. When we finally give God permission to act, He moves, sometimes with startling mercy.
Belladonna’s witness ended with a promise to anyone who doubts Mary’s role: “For anybody that wonders if the Blessed Mother takes you to Christ, I promise you, she takes you directly there. And the Rosary was utterly instrumental in that happening for us.”
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