On this seventh day of the novena, we will pray with Our Mother Mary and St. Leopold.

Who Is St. Leopold Mandić?

St. Leopold (1866-1942) was born in a coastal town called Castelnuovo di Cataro, on the Bay of Kotor (now in Montenegro, then an extension of the Habsburg monarchy.). Very early on as a child, Leopold dreamed of becoming a priest. He later became a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in Udine (Italy). After being posted in various monasteries in Venetia and  in Zara (then part of the Italian Governorate of Dalmatia), he was finally sent to stay in a convent in Padua, where he would spend the rest of his life hearing confessions. 

St. Leopold would spend as many as 15 hours day confessing believers, an impressive, and almost heroic feat: his commitment to the salvation of souls and sense of self-sacrifice is examplary. His presence and words were a source of forgiveness, comfort and light. 

St. Leopold suffered from a fragile constitution: he was a short man with a pale complexion, and had a speech impediment. Despite all of this, he was determined to serve the Lord. Leopold Mandić was beatified by Pope Paul VI on May 2nd, 1976, and canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 16, 1983. 

When in 2015, during The Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis sent his "missionaries of mercy" around the world, he exposed the bodies of St. Leopold and St. Padre Pio in the St. Peter Basilica (Rome). The two friars served as an example of great confessors and witnesses of God's infinite Mercy. 

A Saint of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Ecumenism: Leopold was born at the frontier between the balkans and the Western World. He dreamed about going to the Orient to bring unity in the Church, and offered himself for the salvation of souls. 

Let Us Pray With Mary and St. Leopold

Today, we will pray for the intercession of Our Lady and St. Leopold Mandić: may our hearts be filled with humility and reject lies, to only invite in the truth.

O Saint Leopold, the Almighty made you a perfect instrument of His Divine Mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation; obtain for us the grace of a good and regular confession, that our hearts may always be free from the weight of sin. 

You were an image of the Good Heart of Our Lord and of His love for us sinners; pray that in our lives we may be witnesses of the Father's Mercy. 

During your mortal life, you loved fervently Our gentle Mother, The Virgin Mary, and you obtaines from Her abounding graces. Now that you stand happily next to Her, pray Her that she may look at our sorrows, and that She always be our Merciful Mother.

O Saint Leopold, you were always greatly affected by human suffering,; come to our help. Do not abandon those who suffer from desperation and sickness, lead them into the Heart of God.

Amen.