John Leonardi
Apothecary of Lucca turned priest, founder of the Clerks of the Mother of God and of the idea of a seminary for the missions.
- Early modern era
- Italy
- Feast day October 9
- 1541 – 1609
- Priest
- Founder
Listen to the life 0:47
John Leonardi practised as an apothecary before being ordained priest at thirty-one, in 1572. He gathered lay people to teach catechism to children, which displeased the Republic of Lucca so much that he was banished from his city and returned only intermittently for thirty years. He founded the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, reformed several monasteries at the popes' request, and conceived with Juan Bautista Vives the plan of a Roman college forming priests for the missions — the origin of Propaganda Fide. He died in 1609 of an influenza caught while nursing the sick of the Roman quarter of Campitelli. Benedict XVI proclaimed him patron of pharmacists in 2006.
