Leopold of Alpandeire

In August 1899, Francisco Tomás was admitted as a postulant to the Capuchin convent in Seville. On November 16 of the same year, he received the Capuchin habit and the religious name of Brother Leopold of Alpandeire. He made his simple vows on November 16, 1900. After working as a horticulturist and gardener in the convents of Seville, Antequera, and Granada, he was transferred to Granada in the autumn of 1903. It was there, on November 23, 1903, that he made his solemn vows (perpetual profession) into the hands of the convent superior, Father Francisco de Mendieta. After a brief stay in Seville in 1913 as a porter friar, he returned permanently to Granada on February 21, 1914. It was in Granada that Brother Leopold would accomplish his life's work by receiving the charge of questing friar (limosnero). For more than forty years, he tirelessly walked the streets of the city and the villages of Eastern Andalusia, a satchel (alforja) over his shoulder, to beg for food and alms intended for the convent and the poor. Over the decades, his figure became familiar and beloved by all. With every donation or request for prayer, Brother Leopold proposed reciting three Hail Marys (tres Avemarías), which earned him the affectionate nickname of the "humble questing friar of the three Hail Marys." Even during periods of strong anti-clerical tensions linked to the Second Spanish Republic and the Civil War, he faced insults and threats with heroic gentleness, patience, and forgiveness.

Brother Leopold passed away on February 9, 1956, in Granada, at the age of 91. His death sparked immense popular emotion, and an innumerable crowd of all social conditions gathered at his funeral to pay him a final tribute. His remains were placed in the crypt of the Capuchin church in Granada (parish of the Divina Pastora), which immediately became a site of incessant pilgrimage. Even today, his crypt is one of the most visited monuments in Granada, second only to the Alhambra. The informative process for his beatification was officially opened in Granada on June 26, 1961, by Archbishop Mgr Rafael García y García de Castro. On March 15, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI recognized the heroic nature of his virtues and declared him venerable.

On December 19, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Leopold of Alpandeire. This miracle concerns the scientifically inexplicable healing of a woman suffering from a serious illness. The solemn beatification ceremony was celebrated on September 12, 2010, at the Armilla military airbase, near Granada. Presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and personal representative of Pope Benedict XVI, it brought together more than 60,000 faithful from all over Spain. His liturgical feast is set for February 9, the day of his birth into heaven.

The spirituality of Blessed Leopold of Alpandeire rests on a truly Franciscan simplicity, a profound humility, and an absolute trust in Divine Providence. During his beatification, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized that his life was "a song to humility and trust in God, as well as a luminous model of devotion to the Most Holy Virgin Mary." His spiritual legacy remains alive through the popular devotion that is expressed every day, and particularly on the 9th of each month, by thousands of visits to his tomb. The Capuchins also continue his charitable work for the most destitute, notably through the shelter for poor and isolated elderly people ("Hogar Beato Fray Leopoldo") built in Granada. His life's maxim, engraved in the memory of the faithful, summarizes his evangelical message: "Always do good" (Haced siempre el bien).