The Saint of October 9: Giovanni Leonardi, discover his history

Tomorrow, Friday 8 October, the Catholic Church remembers John Leonardi.

Future founder of the Congregation De Propaganda Fide, Giovanni Leonardi was born in the Tuscan village of Diecimo, in 1541, from a family of modest landowners.

He went to Lucca to become a pharmacist and attended the group of "Colombini”Run by the Dominican fathers. And at the school of this Savonarolian radicalism that will characterize his entire existence, the young man matures an increasingly engaging choice, which will gradually lead him to leave the apothecary's shop, devote himself to studies in philosophy and theology, and therefore, to be ordained a priest. at the age of 32.

Giovanni Leonardi died in Rome in 1609 and was buried in the church of Santa Maria in Campitelli.

He was declared venerable by Clement XI in 1701 and was beatified on November 10, 1861 by Pius IX: Leo XIII in 1893 he wanted his name to be inscribed in the Roman Martyrology (something that has never happened yet for the blessed, with the exception of the popes); Pope Pius XI he canonized him on April 17, 1938. On August 8, 2006 the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, by virtue of the faculties granted to it by Pope Benedict XVI, proclaimed him Patron Saint of all pharmacists.