Leonard of Port Maurice

Saint Leonard of Port Maurice was born on December 20, 1676, in Port Maurice on the northwestern coast of Italy, and was baptized Paul Jerome Casanova, the son of a ship captain. Sent to Rome as a boy, he studied at the Jesuit Roman College and seemed destined for medicine, but in 1697 he followed a stronger call, entering the Friars Minor and taking the name Leonard. After ordination he suffered a serious ulcer and returned home to recover; restored to health, he gave himself entirely to preaching. For more than forty years Leonard traveled throughout Italy, leading parish missions, retreats, and Lenten sermons that drew immense crowds and brought many back to confession and renewed faith. Known for austere penance and humble courage, he was trusted by popes for delicate assignments and labored to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart and perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Above all, he became a great apostle of the Stations of the Cross, establishing them in hundreds of places, even at Rome’s Colosseum. He died in Rome on November 26, 1751. He is patron of Imperia and of farmers. His feast day is November 26.