A SUPERNATURAL MAN

 

Most Catholics know of ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE, but how many know that some of his friends and acquaintances are also up for canonization?  In March of 2021 Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the Decree of Servant of God Friar Léon Veuthey, OFM Conv.  who St. Maximilian wrote about in his diary "Fr. Leon is a supernatural man". 

VENERABLE  FRIAR LEON VEUTHEY was born in 1896, in Dorénaz, a small mountain village in French-speaking Switzerland. From the age of five to fifteen, he attended primary school in his native country. Later, he enrolled in the high school, in Sion, Switzerland, where he completed his studies. In 1913 he began work as a teacher, and proved to be an excellent instructor. He continued teaching until 1920.

At the age of 25, he entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, spending his novitiate year in Schwarzenberg, Germany. He made his solemn profession in July of 1925, and was ordained to the priesthood in August.

From 1926 to 1945 he held various important positions in the Order. He was a professor at the Collège St-Michel Preparatory High School in Fribourg, Switzerland. He served as Vice-Rector at the Seraphicum International College in Rome, which was then located on Via San Teodoro. 

He was a full professor of ascetic and mystical theology, the history of religions and the thought of St. Bonaventure. He was an Assistant General and a professor of philosophy at the Urbaniana University in Rome.

On May 24, 1945, the new Venerable  founded the Crusade of Charity movement, headquartered in Assisi, with the idea of promoting the virtue of service among the faithful.

From 1946 to 1954, he became involved with the Focolare Movement in Rome and in 1950, their fruitful relationship resulted in the foundation of the “Crusade of Unity”. During this time, the Servant of God carried out cordial and meaningful talks with the leaders of the Focolare Movement, especially with its foundress, Chiara Lubich.

From 1954 to 1965 he worked as an Assistant Pastor in Bordeaux, France. During this eleven-year period, he faced many difficulties, but overcame them. In 1965, he returned to Rome and served as a spiritual director and a professor at the Seraphicum International College.

In 1969, the Venerable Leon began to suffer from Parkinson’s disease, a malady which afflicted him until his death. On February 14, 1971, he retired from teaching for good.

Friar Léon died peacefully on June 7, 1974, at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome. He was seventy-eight.

He was an esteemed philosopher, theologian, Mariologist, and pedagogist. He was a great teacher of spiritual life and mystical speculation. In addition, he was a man of deep interior life, who was led by a continuous and intense desire to attain holiness through the observance of the Gospel in the footsteps of St. Francis and as a member of the Conventual Franciscan family, which he loved and honored throughout his life. 

Friar Léon felt proud to belong to the Franciscan Order because he had found that Franciscan-Conventual spirituality was an admirable way of serving people, the Church and God. He learned, particularly through his own personal, spiritual ascents, that this way was his surest path back to the Trinity.

Venerable Léon was a man who, over the course of his seventy-eight years, was able to combine his passion for literature and poetry, philosophy and theology, asceticism, mysticism, contemplation and action.