{"id":142251,"date":"2026-10-09T05:00:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-john-leonardi\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T14:46:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T18:46:03","slug":"st-john-leonardi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-john-leonardi\/","title":{"rendered":"St John Leonardi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Leon, I don\u2019t know why you are so discouraged by those difficulties you mention in your note.\u00a0 I would rather say that you should be glad about them.\u00a0 Any time we undertake some kind of work of evangelization, the quick appearance of obstacles is the most positive of signs: it means that the devil is worried about it and wants to nip it in the bud.\u00a0 Take today\u2019s saint, for example. John was from the town of Lucca in central Italy.\u00a0 He was a pharmacist\u2019s apprentice, but felt called to serve God and the Church.\u00a0 He began studies for the priesthood, and was soon ordained, after which he devoted himself zealously to serving the poor and the sick.\u00a0 His love for Christ was contagious, and he quickly attracted a group of laymen to assist in his work, some of whom also began studies for the priesthood.\u00a0 A fervent desire for healthy reform filled the air of 16<sup>th<\/sup>-century Italy (especially in the aftermath of the Protestant Rebellion and the Council of Trent), and St John and companions concocted the idea of forming a congregation of diocesan priests to further the efforts of renewal.\u00a0 Innocent enough, right?\u00a0 Well, for some odd reason (still unclear to this day), violent opposition broke out among members of the Luccan government.\u00a0 John was exiled (he was forbidden to step foot in the city for almost the rest of his life) and his group was buffeted with unreasonable attacks of every kind.\u00a0 The saint persevered, however, first obtaining permission from the bishop, and after they had begun to kindle fires of charity and holiness throughout the Italian peninsula, he received papal approval.\u00a0 So revered was St John for his enthusiasm (and miracles), that he shared the task of planning a new seminary for missionary clergy, which opened in Rome some years after his death. St John Leonardi\u2019s experience is par for the course.\u00a0 So don\u2019t fret the difficulties, whether they come in the form of official opposition or indirect obstacles; as long as you are humbly and energetically extending the Kingdom of Christ you will never have smooth sailing. Sincerely, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Leon, I don\u2019t know why you are so discouraged by those difficulties you mention in your note.\u00a0 I would rather say that you should be glad about them.\u00a0 Any [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.8 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - 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