May 12, 2025

Saint of the Day for May 12:

Leopold Mandic

(May 12, 1866 – July 30, 1942)

Listen to Saint Leopold Mandic’s Story Here

Western Christians who are working for greater dialogue with Orthodox Christians may be reaping the fruits of Father Leopold’s prayers.

A native of Croatia, Leopold joined the Capuchin Franciscans and was ordained several years later in spite of several health problems. He could not speak loudly enough to preach publicly. For many years he also suffered from severe arthritis, poor eyesight, and a stomach ailment.

For several years Leopold taught patrology, the study of the Church Fathers, to the clerics of his province, but he is best known for his work in the confessional, where he sometimes spent 13-15 hours a day. Several bishops sought out his spiritual advice.

Leopold’s dream was to go to the Orthodox Christians and work for the reunion of Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. His health never permitted it. Leopold often renewed his vow to go to the Eastern Christians; the cause of unity was constantly in his prayers.

At a time when Pope Pius XII said that the greatest sin of our time is “to have lost all sense of sin,” Leopold had a profound sense of sin and an even firmer sense of God’s grace awaiting human cooperation.

Leopold, who lived most of his life in Padua, died on July 30, 1942, and was canonized in 1982. In the Roman liturgy his feast is celebrated on July 30.

Reflection

Saint Francis advised his followers to “pursue what they must desire above all things, to have the Spirit of the Lord and His holy manner of working” (Rule of 1223, Chapter 10)—words that Leopold lived out. When the Capuchin minister general wrote his friars on the occasion of Leopold’s beatification, he said that this friar’s life showed “the priority of that which is essential.”

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MINUTE MEDITATIONS

Born to Eternal Life

The Peace Prayer concludes with a simple reminder: “For it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” More than a mere summary of the prayer’s second stanza with its call to kenotic selflessness, this verse points to the resurrection, the foundation of Christian hope knitted into the very sinews of every deciduous ash, aspen, beech, birch, cherry, elm, and hickory tree. Perhaps the ancient Greeks and Romans had intuited God’s revelation in the book of nature: the Olympic crown, the perishable wreath referred to by Paul in the first letter to the Corinthians, was woven of evergreen laurel branches, perhaps foreshadowing the imperishable crown of eternity. Life never ends. Never.

—from the book Soul Training with the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis
by Albert Haase, OFM

PAUSE+PRAY

Be a Bridge-Builder

Reflect

As children, we’re told that monsters aren’t real. As we grow in age and wisdom, however, we know that isn’t completely true. Monsters can take many forms. We have to muster the courage to face them.

Pray

Dear God,
Violence and bigotry
are monsters dividing our country,
but I will not feed them.
Let me be
a source of light
in my circle
and in the world around me.
Let me continue the holy work
of your servant, St. Francis,
who built bridges, not walls.
He understood what many of us
have forgotten:
Grace is found
in union, not division,
and that peace is our reward.
Let it begin with me.
Amen.

Act

What can you do to ease the racial and political divide in this country? Start with this prayer and build outward: Look for ways to be a part of the solution, not the problem.

Today’s Pause+Pray was written by Christopher Heffron. Learn more here!