Leonard of Port Maurice

Leonard of Port Maurice, O.F.M., (; 20 December 1676 – 26 November 1751) was an Italian Franciscan preacher and ascetic writer.

Life Leonard was born 19 December 1676, the son of Domenico Casanova and Anna Maria Benza. He was given the name Paul Jerome Casanova. Leonard's father was a ship captain whose family lived in Port Maurice on the northwestern coast of Italy. At 13, Leonard went to Rome to live with his uncle Agostino and study at the Jesuit Roman College. He was a good student and destined for a career in medicine. In 1697, however, he joined the Friars Minor.

After his ordination he remained there as lector (professor), and expected to be sent on the Chinese missions. After ordination Leonard contracted a bleeding ulcer and was sent to his hometown

Mission work When Cosimo III de' Medici handed over the monastery del Monte (on San Miniato near Florence, also called Monte alle Croci) to the members of the Riformella, Leonard was sent hither under the auspices and by desire of Cosimo III, and began shortly to hold missions among the people of Tuscany. His colleagues and he practiced austerities and penances during these missions. In 1710 he founded the monastery of Icontro, on a peak in the mountains about four miles from Florence, whither he and his assistants could retire from time to time after missions, and devote themselves to spiritual renewal.

In 1720 he crossed the borders of Tuscany and held his celebrated missions in Central and Southern Italy. Everywhere Leonard made conversions, and was very often obliged both in cities and country districts to preach in the open, as the churches could not contain the thousands who came to listen.

The Franciscans had been the custodians of the Holy Sites in the Holy Land, including of the "Way of the Cross", since 1343. Though many saints were devoted to the Stations of the Cross, few if any did more to promote them than Leonard. As a Franciscan priest, he preached the Way of the Cross at missions for forty-three years and reportedly set up stations in over 500 locations throughout Italy, including the Colosseum in Rome.

Works The numerous writings of the saint consist of sermons, letters, ascetic treatises, and books of devotion for the use of the faithful and of priests, especially missionaries. The Diary (Diario) of his missions is written by the friar Diego da Firenze. A treasure for asceticism and homiletics, many of his writings have been translated into the most diverse languages and often republished: for example his Via Sacra spianata ed illuminata (the Way of the Cross simplified and explained), Il Tesoro Nascosto (on the Holy Mass); his celebrated Proponimenti, or resolutions for the attainment of higher Christian perfection. A complete edition of his works appeared first at Rome in thirteen octavo volumes (1853–84), Collezione completa delle opere di B. Leonardo da Porto Maurizio. Then another in five octavo volumes, Opere complete di S. Leonardo di Porto Maurizio (Venice, 1868–9). In English, German, etc., only single works have been issued, but a French translation of the entire set has appeared: Œuvres complètes de S. Léonard de Port-Maurice (8 vols., Paris and Tournai, 1858), and Sermons de S. Léonard de Port-Maurice (3 vols., Paris).

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