The Great Franciscan Missionary of the Eighteenth Century
Among the great spiritual figures of modern Italy, Saint Leonard of Port Maurice occupies a unique place. A popular preacher, tireless missionary, and restorer of Catholic fervor in an Italy often marked by religious indifference, he was also one of the most ardent promoters of the Stations of the Cross. His life, marked by penance, sacred eloquence, and immense pastoral charity, perfectly illustrates the ideal of the Franciscan missionary of the eighteenth century.
Canonized by the Church for the heroism of his virtues, he remains even today one of the most beloved Italian saints of his era. His fiery preaching attracted immense crowds, sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands. His work contributed profoundly to the renewal of Christian life throughout many regions of the Italian peninsula.
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice was not merely a great orator. He was also a man of contemplation, an austere religious, a defender of Franciscan poverty, a sought-after spiritual director, and a spiritual writer of remarkable depth. His name remains forever associated with the famous Way of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome, which he had erected with the support of Pope Benedict XIV.
Relic of Saint Leonard of Port Maurice on relics.es
Birth and Childhood
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice was born on December 20, 1676, in Porto Maurizio, today part of the city of Imperia in Liguria. His baptismal name was Paul Jerome Casanova. His family belonged to a respectable and deeply Christian merchant bourgeoisie. His father, Dominic Casanova, was a sea captain.
Liguria at that time was a region strongly marked by popular piety and the influence of the Republic of Genoa. The young Paul grew up in an intensely religious atmosphere. From an early age, he displayed a profound spiritual sensitivity and a marked attraction to prayer.
His mother died while he was still a child. This tragedy deeply shaped his character. The future saint quickly developed a strong awareness of the fragility of human existence. His education was afterward entrusted to relatives who carefully oversaw his Christian formation.
From adolescence, Paul distinguished himself through his intellectual gifts. He was sent to Rome to pursue higher studies. He studied at the Roman College directed by the Jesuits, where he acquired a solid classical, theological, and philosophical education.
Testimonies from his contemporaries describe him as a brilliant, disciplined, deeply pious young man animated by a great desire for Christian perfection. Several promising careers seemed open before him. Yet he gradually felt called to religious life.
Entrance into the Franciscan Order
In 1697, at the age of twenty-one, Paul entered the Reformati Friars Minor, a Franciscan branch particularly attached to the primitive austerity of Saint Francis of Assisi. He then took the name Brother Leonard.
The choice of this name was not insignificant. It expressed his desire to break with the world and his aspiration to a life wholly consecrated to God. From his novitiate onward, the young religious distinguished himself through his spirit of penance, obedience, and love of poverty.
The Franciscan reform to which he belonged sought to restore the original ideal of Saint Francis: simplicity, austerity, popular preaching, and radical evangelical living. Leonard embraced this ideal with enthusiasm.
After completing his theological studies, he was ordained a priest in 1702. Very quickly, his superiors recognized his exceptional talents as a preacher. His powerful voice, vivid language, and extraordinary ability to move crowds made him a remarkably effective missionary.
However, his fragile health for a time appeared to compromise his apostolate. Shortly after his ordination, he suffered severely from a lung disease. His superiors sent him back to his native region in order to recover his strength.
This return to Liguria marked a decisive turning point. Convinced that he had been miraculously healed through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Leonard resolved to dedicate his entire life to popular missions.
The Popular Missions
In the eighteenth century, popular missions occupied an essential place in Catholic pastoral life. These consisted of large preaching campaigns intended to awaken the faith of the people. Missionaries traveled through towns and villages, preaching for several days or even weeks in each locality.
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice quickly became one of the most famous missionaries of his time. For more than forty years, he traveled across Italy almost without interruption.
It is estimated that he preached nearly three hundred and forty popular missions. The crowds that came to hear him were immense. In some towns, churches proved too small to contain the listeners, and sermons had to be delivered in public squares.
His preaching was deeply marked by Franciscan spirituality. He emphasized interior conversion, penance, frequent confession, love of Christ crucified, and devotion to the Virgin Mary.
Unlike certain preachers of his time who sought refined rhetorical effects, Leonard used language that was simple, direct, and accessible to ordinary people. He knew how to touch consciences with extraordinary force.
His sermons on death, judgment, hell, and eternity deeply impressed his listeners. Yet this vigorous preaching was never despairing. It always led toward Christian hope and divine mercy.
He attached immense importance to the sacrament of penance. During his missions, endless lines formed before the confessionals. Family and public reconciliations took place. Ancient hostilities disappeared.
Chroniclers of the time report striking scenes: entire villages reconciling after years of feuds, usurers returning their unjust gains, blasphemers publicly converting, and criminals coming forward to ask forgiveness.
Leonard also knew how to adapt his message to different social classes. He spoke to peasants with simplicity, yet he could also address nobles and magistrates with authority.
His influence quickly spread beyond the borders of his native region. He was invited to preach in the Papal States, Tuscany, the Kingdom of Naples, and many other Italian regions.
A Spirituality Centered on the Passion of Christ
The spirituality of Saint Leonard was profoundly Christ-centered. His entire interior life revolved around contemplation of the Passion of Christ.
Like many Franciscans, he saw in the Cross the summit of divine love. Meditation on the sufferings of Christ constituted for him a school of conversion and humility.
This devotion to the Passion was expressed particularly through his immense attachment to the Stations of the Cross. Saint Leonard played a major role in spreading this devotion throughout Italy.
The Stations of the Cross, gradually developed from pilgrimages to the Holy Land, enabled the faithful to meditate upon the different stages of Christ’s Passion. The Franciscans were among its principal promoters.
Leonard established Stations of the Cross in countless churches and sanctuaries. It is estimated that he erected more than five hundred and seventy of them.
For him, this devotion constituted an extraordinarily effective means of touching simple souls and leading them to a living faith. He regarded the Stations of the Cross as a true summary of the Gospel.
His most famous achievement in this regard was the establishment of the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome.
The Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum
In the eighteenth century, the Colosseum was still partially in ruins. Nevertheless, the ancient Roman amphitheater retained a powerful Christian symbolism, since tradition associated it with the memory of the martyrs.
Saint Leonard wished to transform this ancient monument into a great place of Christian meditation. Thanks to the support of Pope Benedict XIV, he obtained permission to install the Stations of the Cross there.
In 1750, during the Jubilee Year, the stations were solemnly inaugurated.
This event had an immense impact. The Colosseum thus became a place dedicated to the memory of Christ’s Passion and to the witness of the martyrs.
Saint Leonard’s initiative greatly strengthened the spiritual significance of the monument. Even today, the tradition of the Good Friday Way of the Cross at the Colosseum finds its origin in the work of this Franciscan saint.
