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On this Feast Day that celebrates Saint Leonard, we reflect on the patron saint who was known as a breaker of chains.
Saint Leonard of Noblac was a 6th Century Frankish nobleman and Catholic saint who was given the authority to release any prisoner he found deserving. Though he didn’t have to, he felt a calling to help these people. He is recognized as the patron saint of prisoners.
That’s why our founders chose our name when they began the mission of reentry support in 1954.
The Feast Day reminds Chezeray Moore, our Chaplain and Church Relations Manager, of the scripture in the Book of Isaiah 51:1.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
“The first person who started digging the hole was Saint Leonard himself,” Moore says. “That’s the spiritual inspiration by what we do. My message would be an extension of that line of thinking and how that spirit has continued to grow. And looking at those who are the least of thee, have continued to benefit.”
When Moore first learned who Saint Leonard was, he was moved that such a saint existed, especially since he didn’t have to care for the prisoner population. The mission today remains the same – create a path to keep people moving onward and upward.
And supported.
Inspired by the verse in the Book of Isaiah, Moore tells his own version of our organizational mission in a parable of a turtle stuck at the bottom of a well.
“That confined space is the totality of his world. That circle at the top is the entire sky. That’s what it’s like for individuals coming home from prison when you first get it out, especially depending on how long they’ve been in there,” Moore says.
“The world has changed. When this little turtle finds itself back on solid ground, it can become overwhelmed because what was the sky, is now the basement. The same hole which you used to see light, now you see darkness. The sights and sounds can become overwhelming.”
Rev. James Jones, our founder, “saw guys coming home. He saw the turtles being released, and they fall back into the hole. They had nowhere to go and they had no services by which to give them a headstart on life,” Moore says.
“Saint Leonard’s Ministries, 72 years later, is an outgrowth of that vision. Rather than that hole we used to live in – black holes have a gravitational pull – our main objective is to help the turtles learn how to navigate. And I can speak for me being one of those little turtles down in that well for 31 years.”
“The victory is that, when you come to Saint Leonard’s Ministries, the chances turn in your favor. It’s a celebration of the genius that said “Let’s have half of our employees be alumni so that when we interact with brothers and sisters now, they see both hope and have nothing to be ashamed of.”
And as Moore points out, no turtles can climb out of a well on their own. They need, and deserve, support.
Saint Leonard recognized this and we need to as well.
