Thought for the Day – 7 March – The Memorial of Blessed Leonid Feodorov (1879-1935) Martyr
“A heart, forged in the love of God and the Church”
In 1913 as the political situation destabilised in Serbia Fr Leonid decided to return to his homeland, Russia where he could then embark on evangelising the people. But fate was not to be kind to Fr Leonid, who’s faith would soon be tempered in steel. For upon arriving in St Petersburg, he was arrested and sent to Tobolsk a very inhospitable land in the Ural Mountains, where he spent the next 3 years.
But things did not quieten down, as rumours of revolution swirled around the courts of Imperial Russia. So in haste Leonid was proclaimed a Bishop of the Russian Catholic Church, this was done in secrecy, as even the Royal Czar was opposed to a Catholic ‘presence’.
It was during this time that Bishop/Exarch Leonid remembered a prophetic statement he had made when he was at Anagni, “Russia will not repent without travelling the Red Sea of the blood of her martyrs and numerous sufferings of her apostles.” How true his words would be, much to his and his people’s sorrow.
And so it was that the red terror would launch itself upon the world in the form of its leader Lenin a name synonymous with evil. And under the Communist regime the persecution of the Church began, for Lenin understood that the greatest threat to his power would come from the Catholic Church.
The order went out to arrest Catholic Priests, Monsignors and Bishops among which was Bishop Leonid Feodorov. During the bogus trial Bishop Leonid was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Siberia “the Gulag”.
These were hard and difficult years for Bishop Leonid, in such an unforgiving terrain as Siberia but through it all his faith sustained him and his prayer life strengthened him for the rigours which lay ahead of him.
Bishop Leonid would find himself released and upon practising his faith he would then be re-arrested but his faith in God was tempered in steel and the communists could never break this heart, forged in the love of God and the Church.
For nothing would stand in the way of this indomitable Bishop as he secretly held Mass and gave Catechism classes to the youth and those who wished to learn about the Catholic Church.
Through it all, confusion, decision, peace, war, revolution and persecution. Bishop Leonid’s faith remained intact and strengthened by his ordeals.
Bishop Leonid Feodorov died in 1935.
Blessed Leonid Feodorov was beatified in 2001 by Pope John Paul II.
Glory be to You O Christ, King of the heart of Blessed Leonid!
May his strength by Your Grace, be given in part to us all, amen!
Blessed Leonid, Pray for Us!
(via Thought for the Day - 7 March - A heart, forged in the love of God and the Church)