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Thomas Saleh and Leonard Melki were born in Baabdath, Lebanon, in 1879 and 1881, respectively. While still teenagers, after the arrival of the Capuchins in their village, they decided to follow their example, entering the Apostolic Institute of the East in Istanbul in 1895 for the training of missionaries. After completing their studies in 1906, they were assigned to the mission in Mesopotamia, where they dedicated themselves to the education of young people, preaching, and the Franciscan Third Order in various places. During the First World War, Leonard was arrested, tortured, and taken into the desert, where he was killed on June 11, 1915, along with 416 other companions, after refusing to abandon the faith. For hiding an innocent Armenian priest wanted by the police, Thomas was taken into the desert with three other brothers. As a result of mistreatment and typhus he contracted on the journey, he died in prison on January 18, 1917. |
Prayer
Almighty, eternal God, who called the blessed martyrs Thomas and Leonard to depart from their land to preach the Gospel and to bear witness to your love and the love of our brothers by the shedding of their blood, grant us that we may undertake the labors of life always trusting in your mercy.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Amen