Léon Clergue
French priest (1825-1907)
The Vatican record
- 23 January 2020 — Heroic virtue declared — title Venerable (decree list, 2020)
Who they were
François-Léon Clergue (23 December 1825 – 8 February 1907) – in religion Marie-Antoine de Lavaur – was a French Roman Catholic priest and professed member from the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He became a popular priest who attracted large crowds when he would preach; he preached around 700 itinerant missions in southern France which would earn him a nickname as the "Apostle of the South". He is also credited with the development of pilgrimages to the shrine in Lourdes where he often visited to preach and to tend to the visiting pilgrims.
Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), until this page is written up in full.
The miracles
The Church has declared this person’s heroic virtue, which is what the title Venerable means. One approved miracle is needed before beatification.
Why that counted as sanctity
Limited information available on this saint.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints — promulgated decrees (causesanti.va), summarised in our own words
- Wikidata Q3270831 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — François-Léon Clergue (CC BY-SA)
Not yet written up in full. The dates and the step marked “Vatican record” come from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints; the rest comes from Wikidata and is not yet checked.