Father Leonard Barthelemy, C.P., Holy Cross Province (1896-1983)

Born December 29, 1896 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he attended Holy Innocence grammar school. He was attracted to the Passionists by attending Forty Hour Devotions. Passionist Father Guido of Pittsburgh also influenced him. Before he entered the Passionists he worked for some time as a show salesman. He then went to the Passionist Preparatory School at Mount Adams, Cincinnati, Ohio. He proceeded on to the novitiate in Louisville, Kentucky and professed his vows on August 20, 1918. Preparation for priesthood was done at St. Paul, Kansas, Chicago, Illinois and Cincinnati. He was ordained at St. Paul, Kansas on February 1, 1925. After a year of sacred eloquence at the monastery in Des Moines, Iowa he was assigned to the new Passionist mission in Austria and Germany. He went there in 1926 and resided in Maria Schutz, Austria. There he was vice-master of novices and assistant pastor. In 1931 he returned to the United States and became a preacher of parish missions throughout the Midwest. He then became a military chaplain in the Army and was commissioned as a First Lieutenant on September 2, 1942. He served at Fort Knox, Kentucky; Fort Lewis, Washington and was commissioned a captain on May 1, 1943. He joined the 199^th General Hospital Corps and served overseas in England, France, and Germany. He came back to the United States and was commissioned as a major on March 21, 1944. He was discharged with honor on June 4, 1946 and joined the Reserve Corps from which he was discharged with honor on October 10, 1949. Father Barthelemy received an American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and the European African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal. After his military service was over he returned to the United States at St. Joseph’s Monastery, Birmingham, Alabama. He then became a chaplain for the Veterans Administration on June 13, 1948 serving at Veterans Hospitals in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Marain, Indiana and Brecksville, Ohio. On September 30, 1964 he retired from the Veterans Administration after which he resided at Detroit, Michigan and Chicago where he died at Daneo Hall, peacefully in his sleep.