The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-06
Festival of St.
 Leonard, Patron
 Saint of Prisoners

Thousands of Europeans, the rela- tfves of men captured by the enemy Leonard's s Day today. For many cen turies this saint has been considered the especial patron of prisoners, and his intercession is sought by aCtholics in behalf Of those held captive in a foreign land. or all the saints Leon ard; is believed to be most powerful In this regard, perhaps because he spent a large part of his life in com forting the captiYes taken by the Franlxfsh king.
 According to tradition, Leonard was a Fran1kish noble who lived i4a the fifth and sixth centuries I1l his youth he was said to have been one of the principal personages at the royal court of Clovis the Great the real founder of the French monarchy By some church historians it is alleged that Clovis was godfather to the saint. St. Remigius, Archbishop Of Rheims, who had converted Clovis to Christianity and so won over to the new faith a large portion Of the FFankish people, so impressed Leon4 ard with his pious example that he determined to relinquish the world and it's ways and devoted himself to
 religious duties. For a time he worked as an apostle among the pagan Franks. Later the prisoners of war aroused his pity, and he spent years
 among them, ministering to their physical needs, and at the same time
 seeking to teach them that the cap tfvity of sin was worse than any bod l ily restraint. He won over thous- ands of these prisoners, and in their
 behalf founded monastery, at 1No-
 blac, near Limoges.
 St Leonard is commonly depicted
 as holding a pair of shackles. In the eleventh century he became one of
 the most popular of saints, and his l vaneration spread throughout western
 Europe and England and to Poland and Bohemia. Hundreds of Euro
 pean churches bear his name. Ills l intervention is sought not only for captives and prisoners of war. but by l women about to become mothers and 1 for sick beasts. The European peas ant, when his horse, OK. ass or other 1 domestic animal becomes sick, ap- peaIs to St. Leonard as the saint most likely to intervene
 l Today is the centenary of Gen. An l drew Jackson's attack on Pensacola, l Fla, then occupied by the British, which resulted on the following day
 in the complete triumph ph of the Amer I icans. Florida was then Spanish l soil, but the United States had all ready marked the howery land for itr l own, and American settlers on the northern border had organized a l provisional government with Gen. John H. Mcintosh as governor of the
 republic In August of 1914, a Brit is1 feet entered Pensacola. harbor 1 and with the consent of the Spanish l governor. garrisoned Fort Michel and Fort Barrancas. Gen. Jackson or
 dered a volunteer force of 5000 Ten I nessee mountaineers and advanced on 1 Pensacola, arriving before the forts
 on Novemger 9th. On the following day Jackson led his men to the as 1 sauIt, and captured Pensacola and I Fort Michel, while Fort Barrancas 1 was blown up by. the British before l they abandoned the defense. Wher
 Jackson and his men retired the Span
 ish flag was again hoisted over Pensa- cola, but in ISIS Jackson again cap. | tured the place. The following veal
 Florida was ceded to the United States, and in 1921 the banner o1
 Spain was permanently replaced by T the Stars and Stripes, Gen. Jacksor
 representing the United States at the
 hag-raising.