Leo of Catania

Saint Leo of Catania, also known as the Thaumaturgus, or St Leo the Wonderworker in Sicily (May 703 or 709 – 20 February 789), was the fifteenth bishop of Catania, famed also for his love and care toward the poor. His feast day occurs on 20 February, the day of his death, when he is venerated as a saint by both Roman Catholics and the Orthodox Church. He lived in the hiatus between the reigns of the Emperors Justinian II and Constantine VI (the unpopular Justinian was killed in 711, and his six-year-old son Tiberius was murdered shortly thereafter. It was not to be until 790 that Constantine reached maturity, to assume sole reign).

Leo battled especially against paganism and sorcery, still troubling Byzantine Sicily in those days.

He left a reputation for prodigious and charitable deeds, earning the Greek epithet (Thaumaturgus translates literally as worker of miracles). For the people of Catania he was simply Leone "il Maraviglioso". He is the patron saint of the Sicilian localities of Rometta, Longi and Sinagra. The hamlet of Saracena in Calabria celebrates him twice a year, in spring and in late summer.