The Sanctuary of Leopold Mandić is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church located on Piazzale Santa Croce of

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

, region of Veneto, Italy; the church is now dedicated to the saint, who served as a

Capuchin friar The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. OFMCap) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFMObs, now OFM), the ot ...

and priest in this church, and was canonized in 1983. A church at the site had been built by the Capuchin order in the early 19th-century but was destroyed by bombardment during the Second World War. It was rebuilt using designs of the architect Giovanni Morassuti. Putatively the only structure surviving the bombing was the original confessional booth of

Leopold Mandić Leopold Mandić andich'', OFMCap (also known as Leopold of Castelnuovo; 12 May 1866 – 30 July 1942) was a Croatian Capuchin friar and Catholic priest, who suffered from disabilities that would plague his speech and stature. He developed treme ...

, who had died in the midst of the war in 1942.Commune of Padua
tourism entry.

References

{{reflist Leopold Mandic 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy