ST/JD/29

Leonard

Gender

Male

Floruit (period)

Early Christian

Floruit date range

? - ?

Description

Hermit, possibly of the 6th century. No evidence of cult before the 11th cent. One of the most popular saints of the later middle ages. Patron of pregnant women and captives. According to his Life, written c. 1025, Leonard was a Frankish noble, converted to Christianity by St Remigius. Having refused a bishopric, he became a monk at Micy and later a hermit at Noblac, where he built himslef a cell and lived completely alone. ODS, 320.