Saint John Leonardi

John Leonardi was born in 1541 at Diecimo, near Lucca, in Tuscany. He trained and worked as a pharmacist's assistant before studying for the priesthood, and he was ordained in 1572. In Lucca he devoted himself to teaching Christian doctrine to children and to preaching renewal in the spirit of the Council of Trent.

In 1574 he gathered a group of laymen who became the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, dedicated to preaching and the sacraments. His reforms met strong opposition in Lucca, and he spent much of his life in exile in Rome, where he was helped by Saint Philip Neri. He also promoted the training of priests for foreign missions, an effort linked to the origins of the Roman college for the missions. He died in Rome on October 9, 1609, caught by an epidemic while caring for the sick. Pius XI canonized him in 1938.

The Clerks Regular of the Mother of God keep his feast in Lucca and in Rome, at the Church of Santa Maria in Campitelli, where his relics rest.

In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI named him patron of pharmacists, who honor him on this day.