From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   July 30th - St. Leopoldo Mandic   
   (Also known as Adeodato Bogdan Mandic, Apostle of the Confession,   
   Apostle of Unity, Brother Leopold, Leopoldo of Castelnuovo)   
      
   “Medieval” saint in a modern setting. Such was St. Leopold, a Capuchin   
   Franciscan canonized only 41 years after his death.Canon law requires   
   that 50 years pass after candidate's death before beatification may be   
   considered, yet the holiness of Leopold was so obvious that it took   
   less than 30 years for his beatification. It was an example of the   
   sense of the faithful prevailing over canon law. His chief apostolate   
   had been hearing confessions. For 36 years he spent most of his waking   
   hours in the confessional, because he believed that ministry was most   
   needed.   
      
   Fr. Leopold lived and worked in Italy. He had been born in the small   
   Italian seacoast town of Castelnovo. Actually, he was not Italian, but   
   the twelfth and last child of a Croatian couple who had come to live   
   in Italy only a short time before his birth. Indeed, during World War   
   I, when he had already been a priest for over 20 years, he was   
   imprisoned for a year for refusing to give up his Croatian   
   citizenship.   
      
   He entered the Capuchin Franciscans in Bassano, Italy, in 1884,   
   changing his baptismal name Bogdan (“God-given”) to “Leopold.” His   
   ambition had been to work among the Greek Orthodox. But circumstances,   
   and the decision of his superiors, directed him rather into missionary   
   work in northeastern Italy. For the first 15 years he was given   
   various assignments: study, teaching, counseling, administration. He   
   began his chief work at Padua in 1906. For 36 years he heard   
   confessions daily for 10, 12 and more hours. On the very day before he   
   died, he heard 50 confessions in his sick room.   
      
    Leopold heard confessions normally not in a simple confessional but   
   in a little “reconciliation room.” The room was furnished with an old   
   chair, a kneeler, a crucifix and a statue of Our Lady. There were   
   always fresh flowers before the statue.   
      
   Obviously, Fr. Leopold was a popular confessor. He was most kind to   
   his penitents. For him there were no hopeless cases. The penances he   
   assigned were very light, for he would make up the rest of the burden   
   by saying more prayers himself. Not that he was an easy confessor.   
   When firmness was called for, he was very firm. If the penitent   
   balked, he would say, “God has spoken. That is enough.” Once when a   
   penitent was resisting the truth, Leopold rose and said indignantly,   
   “Sir, you cannot play with God. Go and die in your sin.” Shaken by his   
   remark, the man broke down and made a good confession. St. Leopold   
   then embraced him and said, “Now we are brothers.”   
      
   Friar Leopold was a man of great simplicity and devotion. It is not   
   surprising that his effectiveness as a confessor came much from his   
   own personal holiness. A number of cures were attributed to him while   
   he lived, although he sought to belittle his own part in them. Once   
   when the uncle of a dying child asked his help, he blessed an apple   
   and told him, “Take this apple and make the child eat it. She will be   
   cured. Trust in Our Lady.” The uncle obeyed and the little girl   
   recovered instantly. When Leopold learned of the cure, he said, “Ah,   
   Blessed Lady, how good you are!” On another occasion he told the   
   father of a child who was dying of endocarditis, that he would offer   
   his Mass for her on the next day, which was the feast of St. Joseph,   
   and she would recover. Recover she did, and the Friar commented,   
   “Haven’t I said that St. Joseph does some wonderful things?”   
      
   Occasionally Leopold also prophesied in the same offhand manner. Once   
   he predicted that the Capuchin church and friary in Padua would be   
   bombed but his confession room would not be touched. Two years after   
   his death, on May 14, 1944, during World War II, the prophecy was   
   fulfilled. Church and friary were badly damaged by bombs, but the   
   confessional room and the statue of Our Lady remained intact.   
      
   The point of the prophecy must have been this: confessions and   
   confessional rooms are terribly important. Yet in our time Catholics   
   all too often ignore them. St. Leopold often used to accompany his   
   penitents to the door of the reconciliation room, saying, “Don’t’   
   forget to come back. I shall be waiting for you.” Is some priest   
   waiting for us?   
      
   Early in his Capuchin life, Leopold Mandic was asked to surrender his   
   missionary aspirations and personal preference, and to work as   
   Confessor and Spiritual Adviser. Looking back on this decision, he   
   once said: "I am like a bird in a cage, but my heart is beyond the   
   seas."   
   –Father Bob   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is much better to obtain only an ounce of happiness in not risking   
   our salvation, than one hundred pounds in hazarding it.   
   --St. Ignatius of Loyola   
      
   Bible Quote   
   "Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your   
   hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation   
   of Jesus Christ.  Like obedient children, do not act in compliance   
   with the desires of your former ignorance but, as he who called you is   
   holy, be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is   
   written, 'Be holy because I [am] holy."  [1 Peter 1:13-16]   
      
      
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   Prayer of  the Church   
   O God, source of life and love, you gave Saint Leopold a tremendous   
   compassion for sinners and a desire for church unity. Through his   
   prayers, grant that we may acknowledge our need of forgiveness, show   
   love to others, and strive to bring about a living unity among   
   Christians. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns for   
   ever and ever. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)