St. Leonard of Port Maurice

[CyrilSebastian]

          St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1676-1751)    
  
         He was a Franciscan proponent of the Blessed Sacrament, the devotion of the Sacred Heart, and the Stations of the Cross, as well as the Immaculate Conception.    
        He erected about six hundred Stations of the Cross throughout the lands.    
        He was named patron of parish missions.  

[odhiambo]

Following your post, I read about this Saint. The more I read, the more I liked him.
 It appears that the saint was a very holy man, gifted  with brilliance of mind and eloquence. I read that once when he went to preach in Rome, the Pope and College of Cardinals came to hear him!
There seems to be a number of Catholic Churches/Parishes, named after him.
Thanks for the post CyrilSebastian

[Shin]

We have some of his writings on Saints' Books!  

'Now answer me candidly, when you are going to the church to hear Mass, do you bear in mind that you are going to Calvary to be present at the Redeemer's death? If this thought was deep in your soul, would you venture into the holy place with unbecoming gait, or in apparel that is immodest? Had Magdalene come to the foot of the cross on Calvary, bedizened, perfumed, and with a display of finery such as she wore in the time of her sinfulness, what would have been said of her? Now what are we to say of you who go to the holy place dressed out as for some merry-making? What should be said of you if you were to profane that most august sacrifice by unbeseeming conduct, such as nods, salutations, laughter, whisperings, or worse than all, lascivious and sacrilegious glancings? Iniquity is abominable on all occasions and in all places, but the sins that are committed during Mass, and under the shadow of the altar, are sins which call down God's signal maledictions, "Cursed be he who doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully." (Jer. xlviii. 10.)'

St. Leonard of Port Maurice

'If you practice the holy exercise of Spiritual Communion a good many times each day, within a month you will see yourself completely changed.'

St. Leonard of Port Maurice

'Poor souls! How can you run so hastily toward hell? For mercy's sake, stop and listen to me for a moment!'

St. Leonard of Port Maurice

'Go into street and square, into palace and house, into city and countryside, into tribunal and court of law, and even into the temple of God. Where will you find virtue? "Alas!" cries Salvianus, "except for a very little number who flee evil, what is the assembly of Christians if not a sink of vice?" All that we can find everywhere is selfishness, ambition, gluttony, and luxury. Is not the greater portion of men defiled by the vice of impurity, and is not Saint John right in saying, "The whole world - if something so foul may be called - "is seated in wickedness?" I am not the one who is telling you; reason obliges you to believe that out of those who are living so badly, very few are saved.'

St. Leonard of Port Maurice

'Have you considered what the holy sacrifice of the Mass really is? It is the sun of Christianity, the soul of Faith, the centre of the Catholic religion, the grand object of all her rites, ceremonies, and Sacraments; in a word, it is the condensation of all that is good and beautiful in the Church of God.'

St. Leonard of Port Maurice

[CyrilSebastian]

                         St. Leonard of Port Maurice expressed: "for He (God) wants only one thing: that you give your hearts totally to Him."               
     
                        This is a beautiful statement.   
                        God gives himself completely to people.   
                        He is their Father. He is their Lord.   
                        People should want to honor God.           

[CyrilSebastian]

Originally Leonard was destined for a career in medicine.   
In 1697 he joined the Friars Minor.   
When he decided against medicine, his uncle Agostino disowned him.

[CyrilSebastian]

Leonard's father, a ship captain, was a man of faith. Five of his six children went on to become religious.

[CyrilSebastian]

When Leonard was born, he was given the name Paul Jerome Casanova.   
On October 2, 1697 he received the habit and took the name Brother Leonard.   
Leonard was after a relative who had been kind to him.

[CyrilSebastian]

For a time Leonard was the spiritual director of Maria Clementina Sobieska of Poland, the wife of James Stuart, the Old Pretender.

[CyrilSebastian]

When Cosimo III de Medici handed over the Monastery del Monte to the members of the Riformella,   
Leonard was sent under the auspices and by desire of Cosimo III,   
and began shortly to hold missions among the people of Tuscany.

[CyrilSebastian]

Leonard spent over forty years preaching retreats, Lenten sermons and parish missions throughout Italy.