St. Leopold's liturgical memorial coincides with his natural birth date, May 12, though he died July 30, 1942.
Just yesterday I read a comment from a reader on another blog who said something about light penances given by priests, explaining, "priests give us light penances because they do our penance for us." I'm pretty sure that's not true - yet St. Leopold certainly did as much:
I love this little saint and pray him to obtain forgiveness for my sins and an increase in devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, the sacrament of penance, and a deeper devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- "Some say that I am too good. But if you come and kneel before me, isn't this a sufficient proof that you want to have God's pardon? God's mercy is beyond all expectation."
- "Be at peace; place everything on my shoulders. I will take care of it." He once explained, "I give my penitents only small penances because I do the rest myself."
- "A priest must die from apostolic hard work; there is no other death worthy of a priest."
He also wrote the following testament (which I keep posting):
"I. Fr. Leopoldo Mandie Zarevic. believe that the Blessed Virgin as Co-Redemptress of the human race is the moral cause of all grace - everything we receive comes from her fullness. " On another occasion he solemnly wrote: "The August Mother of God is in truth Co-Redemptress of the human race and source of all Grace. In fact, on the one hand we have in her the most perfect obedience to God's laws and, after her Son, the most perfect innocence: He, impeccable by His nature, she, impeccable by Grace. On the other hand we see her as Our Lady of Sorrows, as He was the Man of Sorrows. If, therefore, by eternal decree of God, the Immaculate Virgin was the moral victim of sorrow as her Son was the physical victim, and if God's avenging Justice found no shadow of fault in them, it follows: inevitably that they were paying the price of the sins of others, that is of mankind."
