SAINT FEAST DAY 26 NOVEMBER: ST LEONARD OF PORT MAURICE

SAINT LEONARD OF PORT MAURICE, PRIEST

Saint Leonard of Port Maurice was a preacher and ascetic writer; he was born on December 20, 1676, at Porto Maurizio on the Riviera di Ponente.

The son of Domenico Casanova and Anna Maria Benza, he joined after a brilliant course of study with the Jesuits in Rome (Collegio Romano), the so-called Riformella, an offshoot of the Reformati branch of the Franciscan Order.

HE JOINED THE RIFORMELLA

On October 2, 1697, he received the habit, and after making his novitiate at Ponticelli in the Sabine mountains, he completed his studies at the principal house of the Riformella, S. Bonaventura on the Palatine at Rome.

After his ordination he remained there as lector (professor), and expected to be sent on the Chinese missions.

SICKNESS CROSSED HIS PLANS

But he was soon afterwards seized with severe gastric haemorrhage, and became so ill that he was sent to his native climate of Porto Maurizio, where there was a monastery of the Franciscan Observants (1704).

After four years he was restored to health, and began to preach in Porto Maurizio and the vicinity. When Cosimo III de’ Medici handed over the monastery del Monte to the members of the Riformella, St Leonard was sent hither under the auspices and by desire of Cosimo III, and began shortly to give missions to the people in Tuscany, which were marked by many extraordinary conversions and great results.

His colleagues and he always practised the greatest austerities and most severe penances during these missions.

THE MONASTERY OF ICONTRO

In 1710 he founded the monastery of Icontro, on a peak in the mountains about four and a quarter miles from Florence, whither he and his assistants could retire from time to time after missions, and devote themselves to spiritual renewal and fresh austerities.

In 1720 he crossed the borders of Tuscany and held his celebrated missions in Central and Southern Italy, enkindling with zeal the entire population. Clement XII and Benedict XIV called him to Rome; the latter especially held him in high esteem both as a preacher and as a propagandist, and exacted a promise that he would come to Rome to die.

ABUNDANT CONVERSIONS

Everywhere the saint made abundant conversions, and was very often obliged both in cities and country districts to preach in the open, as the churches could not contain the thousands who came to listen.

He founded many pious societies and confraternities, and exerted himself especially to spread the devotion of the Stations of the Cross - the propagation of which he greatly furthered with the assistance of his brethren - the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the perpetual adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and devotion to the Immaculate Conception. One of his most ardent desires was to see the last-named defined as a dogma of faith by the Holy See.

THE POPE CALLED HIM TO ROME

Besides the celebrated stations in the Colosseum at Rome, St Leonard erected 571 others in all parts of Italy, while on his different missions. From May to November, 1744, he preached in the Island of Corsica.

In November 1751, when he was preaching to the Bolognese, Benedict XIV called him to Rome, as already there were indications of his rapidly approaching end. The strain of his missionary labours and his mortifications had completely exhausted his body.

He arrived on the evening of November 26, 1751, at his beloved monastery of S. Bonaventura on the Palatine, and expired on the same night at eleven o’clock at the age of seventy-five.

NUMEROUS WRITINGS

Pius VI pronounced his beatification on June 19, 1796, and Pius IX his canonisation on June 29, 1867. The Franciscan Order celebrates his feast on November 26, but outside this order it is often celebrated on November 27.

The numerous writings of the saint consist of sermons, letters, ascetic treatises, and books of devotion for the use of the faithful and of priests, especially missionaries.

Source: Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Leonard may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

BL. RICHARD NEWPORT, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY Saints celebrated on the 30th of May WELCOME! BLESSED RICHARD NEWPORT, PRIEST AND MARTYR Richard Newport, alias Smith , was born in Northamptonshire and performed his studies abroad, partly in the college of Rheims (if he be the Richard Smith whom I find in the Douay diary sent to Rome in 1586) and partly in that of Rome, where he was made priest. From thence he was sent upon the English mission, and behaved himself in such a manner as justly to acquire the character of a laborious missionary; being withal remarkably successful in bringing home many strayed sheep to the fold of Christ, to which his apostolical way of living did not a little contribute. He was several times apprehended and cast into prison, and twice banished. His name occurs amongst those who were transported in 1606; at which time, we are told, he took that opportunity of making a pilgrimage to Rome, there to pour forth his prayers at the tombs of the apostles, in behalf of thi...

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