St. Leonard of Noblac, Abbot, Hermit and Confessor (+599 A.D.)
St. Leonard was one of the founding fathers of Catholic France. He was a nobleman turned hermit, then abbot and great miracle worker. Numerous cities in Europe are named after him and entrusted to his patronage.
CONVERSION
St. Leonard was a member of the barbaric tribe of Franks and a great nobleman at the court of the king. Following the decisive and famous Battle of Tolbic, he along with the king and many other noblemen converted to Catholicism. They were baptized by the great St. Remigius. Leonard however surpassed the other converts by vowing to abandon the world and the flesh. Thus he became a disciple of St. Remigius and learned much at his feet and accompanied him everywhere he went.
RELIGIOUS LIFE
Since King Clovis I was his godfather, he offered him a See (Bishopric) but Leonard refused it. He preferred to become a monk at the monastery of Micy (the area around Orleans). There he received further tutelage from the holy abbot, St. Mesmin. Incidentally, this religious house had originally been founded by Leonard's uncle, St. Euspicius. St. Leonard’s brother Lifard founded a monastery in the area and was also raised as a saint upon the altars of Holy Mother Church. (It is interesting to note how the presence, influence and tutelage of saints generates more saints, as does having saints in one’s family).
St. Leonard then intensified his life of prayer and penance as hermit at Limoges. There in the forests he built a small hermitage, survived on roots and berries, and lived in complete isolation with God alone for his company. It is believed that his prayers and intercession brought about the safe delivery for St. Clotilde, the Queen. In gratitude, the king rewarded him with all the land in which he could ride around in a donkey in a day. Thus he received the land on which he founded Noblac Abbey. There was a great need for this, since by now many had been attracted to his intense ascetic life of holiness and wished to imitate him and opted to place themselves under his discipleship. (Over the years this area of land grew into the town which bears his name, Saint Leonard.)
MIRACLES
St. Leonard practiced the spiritual and corporal works of mercy in a heroic manner. Once as he prayed for a particular prisoner, the chains miraculously fell from his feet. In recognition of his powerful intercession, the king granted the prisoner liberty. As a further mark of honor and respect, King Clovis then promised to release every captive (often prisoners of war) that Leonard would visit and request liberty on their behalf.
Although a monk and hermit, he continued to evangelize the surrounding pagan lands until his death. The chief aims of his endeavors and charitable works were to bring malefactors and hardened sinners to a true sense of the enormity of their sins and a sincere spirit of compunction, penance, and a perfect reformation of their lives. When he had filled up the measure of his good works, his many labors and penances were crowned by a happy death in the 559th Year of our Lord.
DEVOTION
St. Leonard was a very popular saint in France. When the Normans crossed the English channel (11th century), they took their devotions with them and popularized then in England. Thus, many churches in England were devoted to his patronage. In fact, for many centuries, his feast day was holy day in both England and France with obligatory assistance at Mass and abstinence from manual labor.
St. Leonard is invoked by women in labor and prisoners of war, and remains their patron saint. He is also an excellent saint to invoke for those seeking to make a good Confession. The great 17the century Franciscan, St. Leonard of Port Maurice, is named after him and sought to imitate him in many ways. His feast day is Nov 26. (St. Leonard or Port Maurice famously delivered the sermon on The Fewness of the Saved.)
IMITATION
St. Leonard’s example teaches us much about the importance of solitude – being alone with God – and of the need for silence in our life – to hear God. Solitude and silence help man compose his thoughts, augment his mind’s strength, and grant him a state of serenity which is most fit for recollection and meditation. Well did St. Leonard know that man’s heart will always love and if his desires are too focused on the created goods of this world, his heart will love those things. Rather, the Christian must be detached from created goods in order to create the “space” in his heart to love God above all things. Many Christians never advance in virtue because they remain too attached to goods and things of this world.
How shall a Christian who lives in the world practice this retirement? By not loving its spirit and maxims, by being as recollected as may be in the midst of business, and bearing always in mind that salvation is the most important and only affair; by shunning superfluous amusements and idle conversation and visits; and by consecrating every day some time, and a considerable part of Sundays and great festivals, to the exercises of religious retirement, especially devout prayer, self-examination, meditation, and pious reading.
St. Leonard, ora pro nobis!