Friday, Oct. 8, 27th Week in Ordinary Time
ST. GIOVANNI LEONARDI (Italy, 1541-1609), Priest and Founder of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God
He was a pharmacist in the Tuscan city-state of Lucca when working with victims of a plague led him to become a priest. He was ordained in 1572 at the peak of the Counter-Reformation and after the Council of Trent. He founded a Confraternity for Christian Doctrine to teach correct doctrine to the young, and published a compendium of Christian doctrine which was widely used in Italy till the 19th century. He also propagated devotion to the Eucharist, to Eucharistic Adoration and to the Blessed Virgin. He and other priests who were attracted to his work started thinking of a new congregation for diocesan priests. Their ideas were rejected by Lucca authorities who did not favor the new Protestantism but also thought Leonardi and company were against reforming the Church. Eventually exiled from Lucca, he ended up in Rome where he became friends with the future St. Philip Neri. In 1583, he founded the order of Clerks Regular of teh Mother of God, which was approved by Pope Clement VIII in 1595, who also appointed him to reform the Benedictine monks in two Italian monasteries. He died in Rome during an influenza epidemic when he was helping take care of the sick. He was canonized in 1938.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/100810.shtml
OR today.
The Holy Father reiterates the irrenunciable mission of Catholic journalists in the digital age:
'Truth and reality at the heart of the communications challenge'
Other papal stories: The Pope receives the new ambassador from Chile; and the announcement that his interview-book with Peter Seewald will be out on November 24 (photo above shows them on 7/21 during the weeklong interview series in Castel Gandolfo). Page 1 international news: A new UN report identifies 22 countries as having chronic food shortage in the past decade.
THE POPE'S DAY
The Holy Father met today with
- President Nicolas Sarkozy of France
- Seven Brazilian bishops from Brazil's North-Northeast Sector I) on ad limina visit
- Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (weekly meeting)
A news briefing was held at the Vatican today preparatory to the Special Assembly for the Middle East
of the Bishops' Synod, which begins on Sunday, Oct. 10, with Mass at St. Peter's Basilica.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 08/10/2010 20:15]