1. John Leonardi, OMD was an Italian Catholic priest and the founder of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca.
10 Facts About John Leonardi
1. 2.
John Leonardi was the youngest of seven children born to middle-class parents in Diecimo in the Republic of Lucca.
3.
John Leonardi first dedicated himself to the Christian formation of adolescents in his local Lucca parish.
4.
John Leonardi gathered a group of laymen around him to work in hospitals and prisons.
5.
John Leonardi became interested in the reforms instituted by the Council of Trent, and he proposed a new congregation of secular priests to convert sinners and to restore Church discipline.
6.
John Leonardi took his work to Rome where he became friends with Saint Philip Neri.
7.
John Leonardi was venerated for his miracles and his religious fervor.
Related searches
Philip Neri 8.
John Leonardi's memory was held so high in Rome that Pope Leo XIII added his name to the Roman Martyrology, and ordered Roman clergy to celebrate his Mass and Office, an honor otherwise strictly limited to beatified popes.
9.
John Leonardi was beatified in 1861 and canonized in 1938 by Pope Pius XI.
10.
John Leonardi's relics are enshrined under an altar in the Church of Santa Maria in Campitelli in Rome.