ST LEONORUS, BISHOP - 1 JULY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY

Saints celebrated on the 1st of July

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST LEONORUS, BISHOP 

(In French Lunaire.) Saint Leonorus was of a noble family in Wales, and educated under the care of St Iltut; and passing over into that part of France called the province of Domnone, he founded a monastery between the rivers of Rancé and Arguenon, on a piece of ground which was given him by Jona, the lord of the country. 

HIS MANY EXTRAORDINARY VIRTUES

His many extraordinary virtues drew the attention of king Childebert, who very pressingly invited him to Paris, where he was received by this prince and his royal consort Ultrogotha with every possible demonstration of the highest respect. At his return he had the affliction to hear that his protector Jona was stripped of his possessions, and murdered by Conomor. Happily however he arrived to have time enough to shelter that unfortunate nobleman’s son Judual from the bloody tyrant’s cruelty, and conveyed him safely to England: whence Judual afterwards returned, and recovered his inheritance. 

THE EPISCOPAL DIGNITY

This saint is styled bishop, though he had no fixed see; for it was then an established custom in Brittany to honour the principal abbots with the episcopal dignity. 

The year in which St Leonorus died is not known. His body was translated to a parochial church near St Malo, which still retains the name of St Lunaire: here his tomb is shown, which is empty, his relics being enclosed in a shrine. The feast of his translation is on October 13, but he is principally honoured in the several dioceses of Brittany on July 1. He is patron of many churches. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)