Saint Leonard of Noblac
Hermit, Patron of prisoners (496-559)
Saint Leonard was born towards the end of the fifth century to illustrious parents, residing in the part of the province of Gaul which was then beginning to be called France. Several historians believe that with his brother was Saint Lifard. Saint Leonard’s origins can be traced to the castle of Vendome in the region of Orleans. He belonged to the nation of the Franks, and at the court of Clovis his relatives were dignitaries, baptized at the same time as the king, at Christmas 496, by Saint Remigius, Bishop of Reims. That monarch himself stood as sponsor in Baptism for this child of predilection.
As Leonard grew he was so moved by the holy examples of the bishop of Rheims that he renounced the world in order to lead a more perfect life. Leonard began a life of austerity and sanctification.
Ordained priest by St. Remigius, began to preach the word of God. He first preached At Orleans after which he travel through the whole of Gascony. His holy conduct gave great power to his words to move the hearts. There was hardly any one whom he did not succeed in converting. He decided to enter the monastery at Orleans, France. His brother, Saint Lifard, followed his example and left the royal court, built a monastery at Meun, and lived there.
Saint Leonard recognized that his role was not to remain always in the monastery, he desired further seclusion and departed to preach to the pagans of the province of Limoges. He found on a nearby mountain a forested solitude where he decided to remain, and there he built a cell of branches and considered himself rich in the possession of God, joyous in his freedom to devote himself to meditation, prayer and mortification. God bestowed on him the gift of miracles. He freed the possessed, made the blind see, the deaf hear, and restored health to the sick.
It happened one day that the king was hunting with his queen in a forest. The latter, who was with child, was suddenly taken sick, and her life and that of her child were in great danger. Leonard, not knowing anything of this, was at the same time traversing the forest, on his way to a neighboring village, where he was going to preach. Lead by Providence, he came to the place where the queen lay ill. Having been informed of the sad circumstances, he sank upon his knees and prayed, and when he arose, the queen was happily delivered. The King expressed his warmest thanks to the servant of the Lord, and offered him some valuable presents, which the Saint refused, telling the king to give them to the poor. The king promised to follow the charitable request, but insisted that Leonard should accept as a gift the forest in which the miracle had happened. The Saint, however, was satisfied with a portion of it, large enough to build a chapel in honor of the Blessed Virgin, and a hut for himself and his companions. The king had both buildings erected.
The fame of his holiness caused many to come to him who desired to serve the Almighty under his guidance. He received them kindly, and instructed them in virtue and piety. Seven families of persons who were his relatives in the north heard of his reputation and decided to come to him and remain with him. He was surprised but encouraged their good resolutions, saying: “A fare of dry bread, eaten in the joy of a pure conscience, is of more worth than a house abundantly furnished, where quarrels and divisions prevail.” Some of these were grieved that there was no water in the neighborhood, and that they had to bring it from the distance. Leonard offered a prayer to the Almighty, and immediately there gushed forth, near chapel, a spring of the purest water, which exists to this day. This and other miracles spread the fame of the Saint to distant countries, so that his assistance was often requested by people who lived afar off.
God bestowed upon him peculiar power to help the unfortunate, as several prisoners especially experienced. It is attested that many who were languishing in dungeons were miraculously restored to liberty when they had heard of the great holiness of St. Leonard and had begged of God to be merciful to them for his sake. The same happened to others who regarded Leonard, though still living and far away, as if he had been already one of the Saints reigning in heaven, and who requested him with the greatest confidence to intercede for them. Many of these brought to the Saint the chains and irons, with which they had been fettered, and thanked him for having released them by his prayers. This gave him opportunity to admonish them to free themselves, by true repentance, from the chains of sin, and to make their lives such that they would not one day be imprisoned in that dungeon from which there is no escape.
Similar admonitions he gave to others who visited him in his solitude. The inhabitants of the neighboring villages and hamlets he sought to lead to piety and fear of God by his sermons. After having thus lived a holy life for many years, he longed to be relieved from the fetters of life and admitted to the liberty of the children of God. His prayer was accepted; for God called him to heaven by happy death, in 549. The miraculous deliverance of prisoners, however, ended not at the death of St. Leonard. A great many chains were brought to the tomb of the Saint, by different persons, who said that, by calling on St. Leonard, they had been most miraculously led out of prison. For example, The Count of Limoges had chained an innocent man in heavy irons and in such a manner that he could not move without pain. Calling with great confidence on St. Leonard, he was immediately released by the Saint who appeared to him, struck of the chain and told him to take it along. The man obeyed, took the heavy chain upon his shoulder with the greatest ease, and followed his guide, who led him away into the church where the body of the Saint was buried. There the Saint disappeared, and he, who had been so miraculously delivered, related what had happened. A similar miracle was performed in favor of a prisoner of war, who against justice, had been cast into a deep pit in the earth, by his captor, who mockingly said, that St. Leonard could open the doors of the prisons, but it had never been heard that he had freed any one of a pit under the earth. The prisoner was not discouraged, but called the more fervently on the Saint, who appeared to him and led him from his subterranean vault to the gates of the monastery of Nouaille.
A considerable number wished to remain with him, and he often gave them part of his vast forest to clear and make ready for the labors of the fields, that they might have the means to live an honest life. He continued to be their guardian and father and preached the religion of our Savior to them; and those who had once been malefactors were transformed by prayer and labor.
After increasing in holiness until his last days, he died on the 6th of November 559 in the oratory he had dedicated to Our Lady, after having himself transported there.
Miracles on behalf of prisoners and the sick continued as they had preceding his death.
Pilgrims flocked to his tomb, and in one small town in Bavaria there are records of 4,000 favors granted through Saint Leonard’s intercession.
Saint Leonard’s cult spread through all of Western Europe, churches were dedicated to him in France, England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Bohemia, Poland and other countries. In England, with its cultural connections to the region, no fewer than 177 churches are dedicated to him. In Italy almost 225 places are dedicated to saint Léonard. The various places named Saint Leonard or St Leonards refer to this saint. Notable among these is the town of St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex. Sussex is also home to St Leonard’s Forest. This part of England has a significant number of dedications to St Leonard. One of the best-known is the Parish church of St Leonard in Hythe, Kent, with its famous ossuary in the ambulatory situated beneath its chancel.
Bohemond, a charismatic leader of the First Crusade, subsequently visited the Abbey of Noblac, where he made an offering in gratitude for his release. Bohemond’s example inspired many similar gifts, enabling the Romanesque church and its prominent landmark belltower to be constructed.
He became one of the most venerated saints of the late Middle Ages, patron of political prisoners, imprisoned people, prisoners of war, and captives, women in labour, as well as horses.
[1.]R. F. X. Weninger, Lives of the Saints Compiled from Authentic Sources.
[2.]“Leonard of Noblac,” Wikipedia, [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_of_Noblac. [Accessed 4 November 2017].
[3.]“Saint Leonard – Lives of the Saints,” Magnificat, 24 February 2016. [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_leonard.html. [Accessed 4 November 2017].
[4.]“Saint Leonard of Noblac,” Catholic Saints Info, 13 August 2017. [Online]. Available: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-leonard-of-noblac/. [Accessed 4 November 2017].