According to legend, Leonard belonged to a noble Frankish family in the time of King Clovis I and was baptized and educated by Saint Remigius, Bishop of Reims. After receiving permission from the king to release prisoners, he refused the episcopal dignity offered by Clovis and entered a monastery at Micy, near Orleans. Later he moved to Aquitaine to live as a hermit and preach the Bible. Thanks to his prayer, the birth of the Frankish queen went well, for which he was given a domain in Noblac, near Limoges, where he first lived as a hermit and later in community with colleagues and thus initiated a "monastery", which grew into the city of Saint-Léonard.
His name day is on November 6. He is the patron of the farmers and the cattle, the horses, the stables, the grooms, the carriers, (copper)smiths, locksmiths, load carriers and coopers, fruit merchants and mountain men, miners and grocers. He is invoked by women during childbirth, against headaches and venereal diseases and against burglaries and burglars. He is also the patron of prisoners: according to legend, the king granted him the favor of releasing prisoners he visited in prison if he judged them worthy of this pardon.
In Christian iconography, Leonard's attribute is a chain or a pair of fetters, sometimes broken.