[Rank]
S. Joannis Leonardi Confessoris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C5

[Rule]
vide C5;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
O God, who didst deign wonderfully to rise up blessed John thy confessor, for the propagation of the faith among the Gentiles, and through him didst organize in Thy Church a new family for the instruction of the faithful, grant to us, Thy servants, so to profit by his works that we may attain unto eternal rewards
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
John Leonard was born of pious and respectable parents in the town of Diecimo, not far from the city of Lucca. From very early boyhood he shewed himself mature and serious, with an inclination to solitude and prayer. When he was twenty-six years old God called him to enlist among the soldiers of the Church. John renounced immediately all his worldly interests. At first he had to study elementary Latin with little boys, but he soon advanced in a knowledge of literature, philosophy and theology. After a scant four years, at the command of his superior, he was ordained to the priesthood. Soon afterward he and a group of noble youths, alike inflamed with high ideals, earnestly set about attaining perfection in virtue. The following year they formed the Congregation of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, a name chosen because of their intense devotion to her. John and his companions laboured with such diligence in their care of souls, that before long a change of attitude was brought about. In the city state of Lucca, where through the perfidious wiles of the heretics, hateful passion turned fiercely among the citizens, where morals were corrupted, in a very short space of time the primitive piety of the Christians seemed to revive.

[Lectio5]
In his work for the salvation of souls John met most bitter insults from wicked men who tried in every way to destroy the newly gathered family. But the man of God, bearing all things cheerfully and serenely, defended pertinaciously the fruit of his apostolic labours by securing from the Supreme Pontiff, Gregory XIII, papal approbation of his Congregation. Many bishops about to undertake difficult enterprises sought his advice and aid. Even the Holy Father delegated to him the solution of intricate litigation and the reform of religious societies. He stood in support of Saint Joseph Calasanctius when his society was on the verge of collapse. Scarcely less arduous were the hours John devoted to the affairs of the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in the English section of Rome, and to those of the convent of Saint Frances of Rome.

[Lectio6]
Greatly saddened that so many peoples in far distant places were without the light of the Gospel, John burned with a desire to journey to those countries to spread the light of the true Faith. But when Saint Philip Neri, who called John a true reformer, showed him that he and his Congregation were destined to educate the Italian people, John acquiesced to the will of God. He did not, however, refrain so completely that he did not try to do some work for the infidels. He is therefore, very rightly credited along with the pioneer Vives with being the founder of the movement among the bishops to send well-qualified young men to distant, alien lands to propagate the faith. Wherefore he is very properly regarded as the author of that most illustrious institute which augments the work of the Sovereign Pontiffs and serves to spread the Catholic faith throughout the world. John wrote many works on theology and morality, well adapted to the men of that day. Finally, in sackcloth and ashes, lacking nothing in his sacred ministry, he passed to the Lord in Rome on the 9th day of October, 1609, at the age of sixty-six. He was so famous for sanctity and miracles that Pius IX, the Supreme Pontiff, named him on the calendar of the Blessed. In 1938 on the solemn Feast of Easter, Pius XI enrolled him among the Saints.

[Commemoratio]
!Commemoration for S. Denis, Bishop, Rusticus et Eleutherius, Martyrs
@Commune/C3:Oratio proper
$Oremus
v. O God, Who, as upon this day, didst make thy blessed Witness and Bishop Denis strong to wrestle and to suffer, and Who wast pleased to give unto him, for fellow workers in declaring thy glory among the heathen, thy servants Rusticus and Eleutherius, grant unto us, we beseech thee, to be like unto them in esteeming the good things of this world but lightly, and in fearing not at all the evil things of the same.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio93]
Denis was an Athenian, one of the Judges of the Court of the Areopagus, and a man of varied and deep learning. There is a story concerning him that on the day when the Lord Christ was nailed to the Cross, and when he saw the unnatural eclipse of the sun, Denis said: Either the God of nature is suffering, or the frame-work of the world is breaking up. When the Apostle Paul came to Athens, and was taken and brought unto the Areopagus, and gave an account of the faith which he preached, affirming that Christ had risen from the dead, and that all the dead likewise are to live again, some mocked, and others said We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit, certain men clave unto him, and believed among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite. ~(Acts xvii. 3234) Denis was baptized by the Apostle, and set over the Church of the Athenians. He came afterwards to Rome, and was sent by Pope Clement into Gaul, to preach the Gospel. There followed him to Paris one Rusticus a Priest, and Eleutherius a Deacon. He turned many to Christ, and was therefore hided with rods by command of Fescennius the Praefect, and, forasmuch as he still went on bravely preaching Christ, he was tortured with fire upon a grating, and put to diverse other torments, and his comrades likewise. They bore their torments bravely and cheerfully, and then Denis, being over an hundred years of age, and his two comrades with him, suffered by the axe upon the 9th day of October. This is that Denis concerning whom the old story is told that after his head was cut off he took it in his hands and walked two thousand paces, carrying it all the while. He was the author of some marvelous books, clear proofs of a mind fixed in heaven, upon The Names of God, upon The Orders in Heaven and in the Church, upon The Mystic Theology, and diverse others.
&teDeum

[Lectio94]
John Leonard, born near the city of Lucca, showed himself from early youth grave and mature beyond his years. At twenty-six he was called by God to enter the ranks of the clergy. He began by studying the rudiments of Latin with young boys, but made such progress in letters and in the disciplines of philosophy and theology, that scarcely four years later he was under obedience, promoted to priesthood. He founded the congregation of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, by whose work and zeal a great change of attitude was effected in the republic of Lucca. This aroused against John the bitter complaints of wicked men, but he bore everything with serenity of mind, obtaining the confirmation of his congregation from Gregory XIII. He was very sorrowful over the multitudes in distant parts who lacked the light of the Gospel and, having taken counsel with the devout leader Vives, he founded an institute of Priests whose work was to form young men who would be sent to propagate the faith in far countries. Finally, having carried out his sacred ministry so perfectly, clad in sackcloth and ashes, he went to the Lord at Rome on October 9 in the year 1609, and was numbered among the Saints by Pope Pius XI.
&teDeum