A great small saint St. Leopold Mandic (1866-1942)

By Agnieszka Kańduła,
Love One Another! 2017-40
Catholic Church

St. Leopold Mandic (1866-1942) was only 135 cm tall and had a speech impediment. He has not left us any theological works. During his canonization in 1983, St. John Paul II said that the only thing he did well was ministry in the confessional.

Father Leopold Mandic heard confessions for 12 to 15 hours a day. His confessional was a tiny monastery cell which was called “a hospitality lounge.” Before he began confessions, he would pray for a long time. When there were more penitents than usual, he would resign from his meals. People from all over Italy came to him for confessions: workers, farmers, office clerks, as well as aristocrats, priests and bishops. St. Padre Pio would often say to the pilgrims who came to him from northern Italy: “Why are you coming to me? After all, you have a holy confessor at home.” He meant, of course, father Leopold. These two holy confessors have been declared patrons of the Year of Mercy by Pope Francis.

Father Leopold often said that whatever we do on earth, we should do it in the presence of God, then our whole life will be a constant prayer

St. Father Leopold Mandic was born on 12 May 1866 in Castelnuovo in Dalmatia (present-day Harceg Novi in Montenegro) to a zealous Catholic family. He was the youngest of the 12 children of Carolina Zarević and Peter Mandic. Although his mother came from a rich noble family, and his father worked conscientiously, their economic situation continued to deteriorate. When Leopold was born, the family lived in poverty. Despite the difficult circumstances, their deep faith did not waver. Years later, the monk’s sister recalled: “Our dad was a saint; every morning he went to Mass and received Communion; and my brother, Leopold, would always accompany him.”

The calling

As early as the age of 16 Leopold enrolled into the Capuchin Seminary in Udine – adjoined to the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. He was ordained in Venice on September 20, 1890. Father Leopold wanted to return to his homeland to take up missionary work there for Christian unity and to restore dialogue with other religions. However, God’s plans for him were different… Father Leopold, without complaint, submitted to his religious superiors who did not let him go on his desired mission, because he was short in stature, had a significant speech impediment and health problems. In 1906 he was sent to the monastery of the Holy Cross in Padua, there to serve the faithful in the ministry of the sacrament of reconciliation. The saint did not leave us any autobiography, but his private correspondence, his brief notes on pictures and stories of his confreres indicate that coming to terms with the impossibility of missionary work was not easy for him. Still for some time Fr. Leopold did all he could to fulfill his dream. He learned languages intensely. Besides Croatian he knew not only Italian and Latin, but he could also speak Serbian, Slovenian and Greek. “Every soul will be the East for me …” The Lord Jesus confirmed to Fr. Leopold, in an extraordinary way, that he should remain in the monastery in Padua, and not leave for missions in the East. When he was giving Holy Communion to someone, afterwards this person said: “Father, the Lord Jesus told me to tell you that every soul that you will help here in confession, is your East.” In his notes that day Fr. Leopold wrote: “From now on, every soul coming to me will be the East for me.” This was the decisive moment in which he revised his own vision of his calling and accepted obediently and humbly what God had prepared for him. “With every penitent who knelt at his confessional, he renewed his act of obedience.” It was his total obedience and humility that made Fr. Leopold a saint. Sometimes he behaved in a very unconventional way … One day Jan Chivato, a man who hadn’t confessed for many years, came to his cell. The decision to come to the sacrament of penance to Fr. Leopold after such a long break was very difficult for him . Chivato was so stressed and confused that when he entered the cell, he sat down where the father was supposed to sit, but the latter said nothing to this, he just knelt down and heard the confession. When after some time, John realized his mistake, he began to earnestly apologize to the monk. Then, smiling at him warmly, Fr. Leopold said: “It does not matter. Go in peace.” John admitted that Fr. Leopold completely won over his trust with this attitude.

“Those whose confessions I hear, I give a light penance, therefore I need to do the rest of the penance instead of them” (St. Leopold Mandic)

“I believe, therefore I speak and act”

What made people, from various social strata, form long queues to his cell in order to be reconciled with God? Father Leopold’s penitents stress that despite few spoken words, he was able to make people leave his confessional filled with peace, comfort and strength. And his fellow brothers recalled that every person coming to his cell was treated as if the salvation of all mankind depended on conversion of this one man. To people who had great difficulty in confessing their sins, he would say: “I’m also wretched and sinful, although I am a monk and a priest. If not for God’s help, I would be worse than a lot of other people.” Father Leopold was totally dedicated to the ministry entrusted to him. He actually did not move from his cell attached to the church. He had never had a day off – even if he was sick and had a fever. He paid no heed to the unbearable heat of summer or severe winters – though he did not have any heating. A lot of people, seeing father Mandic’s strict principles, were astonished that despite all of this, God’s joy was radiating from him. This is how he responded to those who wondered about him staying in the confessional all day: “This is my whole life. I don’t count, I’m really nothing. Only God works.” St. Leopold Mandic was sure that when he heard confessions and celebrated Mass, Jesus was with him. He said: “When I have a stole, I’m not afraid of anyone.” When he was accused of being too lenient and giving absolution too easily, he replied: “Me – lenient? But it wasn’t me who died for sins, Jesus did this. Can you be any more lenient than how He was towards the thief?” Father Leopold was lenient with sinners, but uncompromising to sins which are the source of all human misery, and especially to sins against life, purity, marriage and family. One day a man came to confession, who had cheated on his wife and did not consider it to be a sin. Father Leopold explained with rather harsh words to his penitent how much suffering this inflicts on Christ, his wife, his family, and himself. Initially, the man defended himself, but after some time he tearfully confessed his sins and decided to sin no more. From then on he regularly confessed with Fr. Leopold and was an exemplary Catholic.

The power of the Eucharist and prayer

Where did Fr. Leopold get the strength and determination to live and survive under such strict, selfimposed rules? His “key to success” was the Mass which he described as “the weapon in victory over the souls of sinners.” He would get up at dawn to start the day with the celebration of the Eucharist, to which he prepared for with a long, solitary time of prayer. Shortly after the mass he would sit in his cell-confessional and remained there, available to penitents throughout the day. When he wasn’t hearing confessions, he used every free moment to pray. As his fellow brothers and superiors recall: “He kept this lifestyle for almost 40 years without a single complaint.” Father Leopold could live like that, because he fell in love with God and totally trusted in His mercy. He said: “Our actions have value, in so far as they are done out of love for God”. After many hours in the confessional Fr. Leopold ended his day with prayer, because, as he pointed out: “Deep religious reflections are the fruit of persevering at night in prayer before Jesus in the Eucharist.” His fellow brothers would often find him in the chapel, when he was evidently fighting sleep on his knees. But when they would tell him to go to rest at last, he would answer, “Those whose confessions I hear, I give a light penance, therefore I need to do the rest of the penance instead of them.” Father Leopold often said that whatever we do on earth, we should do it in the presence of God, then our whole life will be a constant prayer. And this is what he vowed – a vow to always remain in the presence of God, constantly thinking about Him. He strongly encouraged penitents to fervent prayer. He would remind them, “The holy gospel tells us, that one wave of Christ the Lord’s hand was enough to silence the storm at sea. Two thousand years later our Lord has not lost this power, He is eternal, and that is enough.” When people who had lost hope came to him, he would say, “When everything seems lost, Jesus gives his hand to Peter, who is sinking into the depths because of his lack of trust, and He says: »Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt?«“ Father Leopold repeatedly emphasized, “According to the order established by God and God’s ordinary providence, every good should be given to us through prayer.”

Unusual gifts

Father Leopold had some unusual gifts. One of them which facilitated his ministry in the sacrament of reconciliation, was the gift of “insight into the human conscience.” His penitents recall that they felt that Fr. Leopold knew their sins before they said them, and he often hinted about them, helping them to express those forgotten or those that were difficult for them to confess. The following story is quite characteristic: “One day [Fr. Leopold] passed a stranger on a bicycle in the street. He looked at him so keenly that the man said, »Something’s wrong, father? Can I help?« »Come with me to church!« – Fr. Leopold replied. And the man, who for 40 years had not confessed, who had even boasted that he did not believe in God, depreciating the Church and the clergy, followed him, confessed and from then on lived as an exemplary Christian. He told everybody that Fr. Leopold’s look pierced him through, like a sword, not allowing him to respond negatively to the invitation.” There are also examples of healing due to the intervention of St. Leopold through the mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the monk had great devotion, and to whom he would always send penitents in need of special favors or with difficult intentions. One story of healing is as follows: “In 1928, he was told that a little girl was dying of cerebro-spinal meningitis. Fr. Leopold was greatly moved, so he asked for an apple, blessed it and said: »Give it to the girl, and the Mother of God will heal her.« As soon as she ate it, she recovered. They returned quickly to tell him about it. And he replied, »It’s the Mother of God. Oh, blessed Virgin! How good you are!«” St. Leopold received from God the gift of prophetic vision of the tragic events of World War II. He commented on his vision as follows: “That night – he said on March 23rd, 1932, weeping bitterly – during prayer the Lord opened my eyes and I saw Italy in a sea of fire and blood.” And while the war was in progress, when he was asked if Padua was going to be bombed, he said: “It will be bombed, and very heavily. Also, this church and this monastery will suffer, but not this cell. God has shown human souls so much mercy in here, that this will remain untouched, as a visible sign of His goodness.” And that is exactly what happened. On May 14, 1944 five large bombs destroyed the church and part of the monastery, leaving safe only Fr. Leopold’s cell. Death is the Gate to Heaven On the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination Fr. Leopold said to his religious confreres: “We were born for effort. It is a great joy to have purpose and work. Ask the Lord God, to be able to die from apostolic labors.” He died, exhausted from apostolic work, in Padua, the city of St. Anthony, on July 30, 1942. On that day Fr. Leopold extended his usual prayer, preparing himself for Mass. When he went to change into vestments, he collapsed. He regained consciousness at the moment of the last rites. During the process of canonization the superior, Fr. Benjamin, testified: “I, who accompanied him in his last moments, am convinced that in his passage to eternity he was accompanied by the Mother of God. He died, repeating the Salve Regina prayer. When he got to the words: “O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!”, he rose and, joyfully stretching his arms upward, as if to touch something marvelous, he was gone … “ For Fr. Leopold, death became the gateway to heaven. In his biography we read: “The direct cause of Fr. Leopold’s death was stomach cancer. His doctor, professor Henry Rubaltelli, says that in the last days of life he must have suffered much, due to the fact that he could not take any food because of the digestive system disorder, and his nervous system was very sensitive. So practically – he died of hunger. Nevertheless, he remained cheerful and patient till the end.” May the unusual example of Fr. Leopold pour into our hearts the trust in God’s infinite mercy – which we experience every time we kneel at the confessional and with grief confess our sins – and in the power of trusting prayer. May he be a model of total dedication to the tasks entrusted to us and of the humble seeking and acceptance of God’s will in our lives – regardless of our own plans. Above of all, may we learn from him to strive for holiness wherever God has put us, through the people around us, in our everyday, ordinary lives. May St. Mandic’s words be a guide for us: “We do not need extraordinary penance. All we need is to endure with patience the usual worries of our miserable lives: misunderstandings, ingratitude, humiliation, suffering caused by changes of the seasons or by the environment in which we live. They form a cross that sin has put on our backs and which God has willed as a means for our salvation.” In hard times, let us ask this “greatsmall saint” for intercession, because – as St. Fr. Leopold said, “Also in heaven I will continue my work to save souls.”

Source: https://loamagazine.org/archive/2017/2017-40/a-great-small-saint-st-leopold-mandic-1866-1942

The above article was published with permission from Miłujcie się! in May 2021.

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