According to the Golden Legend St. Leonard lived in the sixth century, but his cult took shape only in the eleventh. The Legend says he was converted by St. Remigius, took a special interest in prisoners and succeeded in having many of them freed by King Clovis. He retreated to the forest, but the king and queen passed by sometime later and called on him to pray for the latter to have an easy childbirth. He did so successfully, and Clovis gave St. Leonard a tract of land on which he built a monastery.
Both during and after St. Leonard's life, according to the Legend, prisoners who prayed to him were granted release and would come to his monastery with their broken chains and fetters as ex-votos. In the art, these are his primary attribute.
Feast day: November 6
At left, statue from St. Leonhard's Church, Frankfurt
Other images:
Spanish sculpture-group
ca. 1200
In a 1506 Crucifixion with Saints
In a painting of the Madonna and Child with Saints, ca. 1520
In a 1506 Crucifixion with Saints
In a painting of the Madonna and Child with Saints, ca. 1520
Hagiography:
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