LEOPOLD III, Saint, Margrave of AUSTRIA. — Born at Melk in 1073, of the Babenberg line, died 15 Nov. 1136. Educated by St Altmann, Bishop of Passau, he took over the government of the margraviate in 1095 after his father’s death, and held it for 40 years. At the beginning of his reign he facilitated the passage of the first Crusaders through Austria. He generously endowed churches and monasteries, especially the abbey of Melk; he also founded others.
Of delicate health and unsuited to preaching, he could not fulfil his ardent missionary vocation among the Eastern peoples; yet for almost 40 years he was the confessor of all kinds of people, exercising a hidden but extensive apostolate. A model of Franciscan virtues, after his death his reputation for holiness spread rapidly, and in January 1946 a diocesan informative process was opened in Padua.