Venerable John Leonardi

The death of his father having restored his freedom, he resumed his studies. He soon entered Holy Orders and was ordained a priest on December 22, 1572. Having become director of the Society of the Colombini, he endeavored, through speeches full of zeal and fire, to lead them ever further toward perfection; then, with a few young men whom he won over and who became his disciples, he occupied himself with instructing poor children. Every Sunday he gathered them and taught them Christian doctrine. His works excited general admiration in the city of Lucc a. The Lucques City in Italy where Saint Zita lived and died. bishop, having learned of this, not only approved these types of assemblies, which were held in the church of San Giovanni della Magione, but also permitted him to teach the catechism in all the churches of the city. Having obtained an old church of Our Lady of the Rose, as well as a fairly large house adjoining this church, Leonardi laid, on September 1, 1574, the foundations of the Society known as the Clerics Reg ular of the Mother of God. This wor Clercs réguliers de la Mère de Dieu Religious order founded by John Leonardi in 1574. k, in its beginnings, had trials to endure and difficulties to overcome; but Leonardi eventually triumphed over them.

As the number of his companions increased, the venerable servant of God gave them a rule that contained only the word Obedience. With this obedience, he asked of them much interior recollection, assiduity in prayer, and exact poverty. Although they did not bind themselves to it by vow, everything was in common among them. He had them practice humility, sending them, in patched clothes, to beg for alms throughout the city. These were the means he used to lead them to perfection; but the principal one was the example he himself gave of all kinds of virtues, which he practiced to an eminent degree, especially that of humility. After having thus tested them, he employed them in exercises concerning the salvation of their neighbor, the main goal of his new Congregation. To encourage them, he applied himself to these functions with more fervor than he had done until then. Not content with teaching the catechism in the churches of the city, he also went into the surrounding villages, and in order to excite other people to follow his example, he had a confraternity erected under the title of Christian Doctrine, the obligation of whose members was to also work at teaching the catechism to children. Driven by tireless zeal, he founded a house in which he took in the poor girls of the city who were at risk of losing their chastity. Having embraced the Third Rule of Saint Francis, Leonardi drew up constitutions for them which were approved by the Bishop of Lucca, and in 1623 they obtained permission from Pope Urban VIII to take solemn vows.

Having gone to Rome for matters concerning his Congregation, the Sovereign Pontiff sent him to Naples in 1592, in the capacity of apostolic commissioner. Upon his return to Rome, he thought of the strengthening of his Congregation and presented its consti tutions to P Clément VIII Pope who approved the reform of the Trinitarians. ope Clement VIII, who approved them, as well as the Congregation, to which he granted privileges, among others the exemption from the jurisdiction of the ordinaries, subjecting it immediately to the Holy See, by a brief of October 13, 1593. He also obtained in Rome an establishment for his Congregation, and the Pope g ranted him t Sainte-Galle Church in Rome granted to the congregation and the first burial place of the saint. he church of Saint Galla, in which was kept a miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin, honored under the name of Our Lady in Porticu. The first chapter of his Congregation was held there in the year 1605. He was charged by the Sovereign Pontiff with the reform of several religious houses, among others thos Mont-Vierge Religious house reformed by John Leonardi. e of Monte Vergine and Va llombrosa. F Vallombreuse Religious order or place reformed by the saint. or some time he administered the diocese of Aversa in the absence of the bishop, who had made him his vicar general. The servant of God strove as much as he could to procure the glory of God, but this was not without having to endure numerous contradictions. He held a second general chapter in Rome in the year 1608, after which he used the little time that remained of his life to strengthen his Congregation more and more; but in 1609 he was struck by an epidemic that had broken out in the city of Rome, and fell asleep in the Lord on October 9, 1609. He was buried in the church of Saint Galla; but subsequently his body was transferred to a newly built church which was called Our Lady in Porticu, because of that miraculous image which was transported there.

After the death of Father Leonardi, his Congregation established two houses in Naples and in other places. P ope Pa Paul V Pope who approved the bull of erection of the Oratory. ul V gave them, from 1614 to 1617, the care of the Pious Schools of Rome. The same Pontiff, by a brief of July 30, 1615, permitted them to add to their three simple vows of perseverance, chastity, and obedience, that of poverty. Pope Gregory XV ordered th Grégoire XV Pope who elevated the congregation to the rank of a regular order in 1621. at they should henceforth make solemn vows, and approved their Congregation as regular by a brief of November 3, 1621.

Pope Benedict XIV issued a decree confirming the heroic nature of the virtues of the venerable Leonardi, and, in 1832, the Congregation confirmed the authenticity of a miracle due to his intercession.

Excerpt from the *Dictionnaire des Ordres religieux*, by Fr. Hélyot (Migne edition).

## 10TH DAY OF OCTOBER

## ANNIVERSARIES AND COMMEMORATIONS.

Louis-François-Joseph Bernard, priest and religious of the Order of the Hospitaller Brothers of Saint-Jean-de-Bieu; born in Lille (Nord) in 1742; sentenced to deportation to French Guiana by the criminal court of Poitiers (Vienne), on March 15, 1795; returned to Chartres (Eure-et-Loir) after a month of exile; deported again to French Guiana on March 12, 1798; died of the plague in the desert of Konanama, at the age of fifty-six. 1798. — Jean-Baptiste Cordine, born in Caumont (Calvados, arrondissement of Bayeux) in 1756, parish priest of Vilaines (Seine-et-Oise, arrondissement of Versailles, canton of Poissy); took, then retracted the oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy; deported to French Guiana; died in Kousnama at the age of forty-two. 1798. — François Hunot, born in Brienon (Yonne, arrondissement of Joigny), canon of the collegiate church of that city; imprisoned in Sens for refusal of the oath, then taken to Rochefort and deported overseas; died in exile and buried on the Île Madame. 1794. — Jacquard, born in Vaucouleurs (Meuse, arrondissement of Commercy), priest and religious of the Order of Augustinians, in their house in Paris; returned to Vaucouleurs after the dissolution of his cloister and did not take any of the oaths of the Revolution; imprisoned in 1795, then deported overseas; died at the age of fifty-five and buried on the Île d'Aix. 1794. — Josselin, born in Saint-Mihiel (Meuse, arrondissement of Commercy) in 1734, parish priest of Tilly (arrondissement of Verdun, canton of Souilly); arrested in his parish in 1793 for refusal of the oath, sent to Rochefort and deported overseas; died in exile at the age of sixty and buried on the Île Madame. 1794. — François-Xavier-Joseph Morenas, beneficiary priest of the metropolis of Avignon (Vaucluse); arrested in that city in 1793, and sentenced to death as a counter-revolutionary by the criminal court of the department of Vaucluse. 1793.