Leolucas was the patron saint of Corleone. All new initiates in the Corleone crime family had to swear an oath on his votive image.
Biography[]
Born in Corleone, Sicily in the 9th century AD, his parents Leo and Theoktiste baptized him Leo, in honour of his father. He was orphaned at an early age when his parents were killed by Arab invaders, and devoted himself to managing the estate and supervising the herds as a shepherd. In the solitude of the fields he realized that he had a call to religious life, so he sold the estate, gave the money to the poor, and went to the monastery of St. Philip in Agira, in the province of Enna, Sicily.
It is not known how long he stayed at the monastery at Agira, but due to the raids of the Saracens, he left from there and went to Calabria. Before going to Calabria however, he made a special point of going on pilgrimage to visit the tombs of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Rome.
According to legend, God granted to him the gift of wonderworking, and many faithful flocked to him to receive his blessing and be healed. Leolucas was thought to have healed the sick, exorcised demons, raised paralytics, and guided the lost towards the path of salvation. He prayed without ceasing, and remained out in the cold up to twenty days, in order to intensify his ascetic struggle.
It is said that he lived the last days of his life in meditation, fasting and ecstatic raptures. In old age, he called the monks to come to him, and foretold his end.
