Subj : November 26th - St. Leonard of Port Maurice To : All From : rich Date : Sun Nov 25 2018 07:35:09 From: rich November 26th - St. Leonard of Port Maurice (also known as Leonard Casanuova) Born at Porto Maurizio, Liguria, Italy, December 20, 1676; died in Rome, on November 26, 1751; beatified in 1796; canonized in 1867. Captain Dominic Casanuova had his son baptized Paul Jerome Casanuova. Throughout his life, the future Saint Leonard thanked God for giving him such an excellent father. At the age of 13, Paul Jerome was sent to the Jesuit Roman College. His uncle Augustine, with whom he was living, wanted him to become a physician. Paul studied medicine, but when he refused his uncle's wish that he become a doctor and announced he had other plans, Augustine disowned him. He joined the Franciscans of the Strict Observance at Ponticelli in 1697, taking the name Leonard, continued his studies at the Observant Saint Bonaventure's on the Palatine in Rome, and was ordained there in 1703. For five years, Leonard had to stop preaching because he was spitting blood. When healing continued to elude him even in the mild climate of Liguria, he vowed that he would devote his entire life to the conversion of sinners, if God would make him well again. He recovered and, in 1709, he went to the San Francesco del Monte monastery in Florence and from there preached all over Tuscany with tremendous effect for the next 44 years. He became guardian of San Francesco, founded a retreat for religious at nearby Incontro, where the friars retired twice a year to practice the eremitical life. In 1730, Leonard was appoint guardian of Saint Bonaventure's in Rome. He spent the next six years conducting missions around Rome, preaching to soldiers, sailors, convicts, and galley-slaves in addition to conducting parochial missions. His contemporary, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, said Leonard was the finest missioner of his day. In 1736, he was released from this position to continue his evangelization in Umbria, Genoa, and the Marches of Ancona. His missions now attracted such huge crowds that they were often held in the open air. Leonard is primarily responsible for the popularity of the Stations of the Cross devotion, of which he was an ardent promoter (reputedly setting up almost 600 Stations throughout Italy, even in the Colosseum in Rome), and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Conception. Leonard served for a time as spiritual director of Clementina Sobieska, wife of the "Old Pretender" to the English throne, King James III, whose son Cardinal Henry of York promoted the friar's canonization. In 1744, Leonard was sent to Corsica by Pope Benedict XIV to preach and to restore peace there but he was unsuccessful, because the Corsicans felt he was more a political tool of the Genoese who ruled the island than a missionary. (Schamoni says that he helped to reconcile the Corsicans to one another, and Attwater notes that his success was ephemeral--as soon as he left the island, the people fell back into discord.) This mission lasted only six months before the Genoese government sent a ship to rescue Leonard. He returned to Rome from the discouraging missionary tour in 1749 to prepare the Romans for the holy year. For two weeks Leonard preached in the Piazza Navona, which ironically had once been the hippodrome of Emperor Domitian. He had to promise Pope Benedict XIV, who held him in high esteem and himself attended his sermons, that he would die in Rome. When he was preaching a mission in the holy father's native city of Bologna in 1751, Leonard had a premonition that he would soon die. Completely exhausted from his arduous work and severer mortifications, he returned to Rome and died at Saint Bonaventure the night he arrived. In addition to his oral evangelization, Leonard was a prolific ascetical writer. His printed works--mostly letters and sermons--fill 13 volumes. His most famous work is =E2=80=9CResolutions=E2=80=9D. He is th= e patron of parish missions and popular missionaries (Attwater, Attwater 2, Benedictines, Coulson, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Schamoni, White). Quote: St. Leonard once said, "If the Lord at the moment of my death reproves me for being too kind to sinners, I will answer, 'My dear Jesus, if it is a fault to be too kind to sinners, it is a fault I learned from you, for you never scolded anyone who came to you seeking mercy'" -- (Leonard Foley, O. F. M., St. Leonard of Port Maurice, p. 9). Bible Quote: And I will shew wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath: blood and fire, and vapour of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. [Acts 2:19-21] DRB <><><><> Plea to the Everlasting God for the Unborn=C2 Lord God, our Eternal Father, we come to Thy Throne full of=C2 awe and reverence at Thy saving power. Through our Savior=C2 Jesus Christ, we beg Thee to help us stop the widespread=C2 slaughter of unborn babies in our land. May our love for our=C2 innocent brothers and sisters closely resemble the love that=C2 exists in the Holy Family. Help us provide all human life with=C2 protection under our civil laws. We know that through the=C2 intercession of our Mother Mary, chosen Spouse of the Holy=C2 Spirit, our request will be granted. Amen.=C2 --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .