Leonard of Port Maurice, Saint

LEONARD OF PORT MAURICE, Saint. -

I. LIFE

Paolo Girolamo Casanuova, later L. da P. M., was born at Porto Maurizio (Imperia) on 20 Dec. 1676, and died in Rome on 26 Nov. 1751. Having lost his mother at the age of two, he had other brothers from a second marriage of his father, two of whom followed him into the Franciscan life. Around 1690 he studied privately in Rome for two years, then for another 5 at the Collegio Romano (under the Jesuits, who left a strong imprint on his spiritual formation), and entered among the Friars Minor at S. Bonaventura al Palatino in 1697.

After completing his novitiate at Ponticelli in Sabina and his theological studies in Rome, in 1702 he was ordained a priest and taught philosophy; having fallen ill, he spent some time in Naples, then five years in the convent of his native town (1704-1709). Cured after a vow made to the Virgin, in 1709 he moved to Florence, where he was among the first religious called by Grand Duke Cosimo III to found the Franciscan retreat of Monte alle Croci. Here he remained until 1730, several times holding the office of guardian. From 1730 until his death he lived in Rome, where, at S. Bonaventura al Palatino, a few hours after returning from a missionary tour in Tuscany, he passed away, visited personally by the pontiff Benedict XIV, who was very fond of him. His remains are kept in this church. He was beatified on 19 June 1796, and canonized on 29 June 1867. In 1923 Pius XI proclaimed him patron of native missionaries. His feast is on 26 Nov.

II. APOSTOLIC ACTION

His missions to the people took on special importance, to which he gave a particular character of his own. At least 339 of them are known, preached especially in Tuscany, Lazio, Romagna, Corsica and Liguria. Particularly to be remembered are those given in Rome, by order of Benedict XIV, in 1749-50 in preparation for and during the Holy Year, where, because of the great influx of the faithful, he was forced to preach in Piazza Navona. He also preached the Lenten sermons and the spiritual exercises to the people and to religious several times.

He was also a great propagator of the pious practice of the Way of the Cross, which until then had been confined to Franciscan places, and, through successive apostolic privileges obtained by him, was extended to its present form. A list kept by him himself enumerates 576 Ways of the Cross erected from 1731 onward, but it is certainly incomplete. The most memorable was the one he erected in the Colosseum on 27 Dec. 1750. To him is due the method of preaching it at every station. He also instituted, especially to make the fruit of his missions more lasting, various confraternities such as the Congregation of the Coroncina and the Company of the Lovers of Jesus and Mary.

III. THE WRITINGS.
Among the oratorical works, particular mention should be made of the Quaresimale, the Prediche delle missioni (which partly coincide with the Quaresimale), the Esercizi Spirituali al popolo, the Fervorini sopra il S.mo Sacramento etc., four complete series of fervorini for the meditation of the individual stations of the Way of the Cross, and six Viaggi (that is, six further complete Ways of the Cross) published only in 1911. The influence of Fr. P. Segneri is notable in his works.

Among the spiritual works, special mention should be made above all of the Manuale sacro (Rome 1734), for nuns; La Via del Paradiso; the Via Sacra spianata e illuminata (ibid. 1731), an exposition on the Way of the Cross and a method for practicing it well; Il tesoro nascosto (ibid. 1737), on the Holy Mass. The epistolary of St. L. has not yet been systematically collected, but various small collections of letters exist.

IV. SPIRIT OF ST. LEONARDO DA PORTO MAURIZIO

At first St. L. appears a rigid and austere ascetic. In his letters, however, and in his affectionate pages one finds that "sweetness of spirit" that Father Giuseppe da Roma already noted when publishing eighty-six of his letters. Along with the most characteristic features of Franciscan spirituality (love of poverty, of the humanity of Christ, contemplation, etc.), notable in him are a spirit of faith, apostolic zeal, austerity toward himself, and a cultivation of retreat and solitude despite his intense and eventful apostolic activity. The principal source for knowledge of his spirit is the little booklet of his Proponimenti. While still alive he was called the Apostle of Italy.

Paolo Toschi