Saint Leopold Mandic (1866–1942) was born Bogdan Ivan Mandić on May 12, 1866 in Herceg Novi in the Bay of Kotor, then part of the Austrian Empire and today in Montenegro, the son of devout Croatian parents and one of twelve children. From childhood he was physically frail, standing at about 1.35 m (4 ft 5 in) tall and struggling with poor health and a speech impediment, yet he showed early signs of deep faith and devotion that drew him to religious life.

At age 16 he entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order in Italy, taking the name Leopold, and was ordained a priest in 1890, after which he served in various communities before being assigned in 1906 to the friary of Santa Croce in Padua, where he would spend the rest of his life. Deeply committed to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, he became widely known for spending up to 12–15 hours a day in the confessional, welcoming penitents with compassion and patience, and he also nurtured a lifelong dream of promoting Christian unity between Catholics and Orthodox Christians.

Despite ongoing health struggles and even imprisonment during World War I for refusing to renounce his Croatian nationality, Leopold’s spiritual influence continued to grow; he died July 30, 1942, in Padua, and was beatified in 1976 by Pope Paul VI and canonized in 1983 by Pope John Paul II.