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Summary
- Leonardo is not in the Bible. It is the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of Leonard, from Old German Leonhard — lewo (“lion,” borrowed from Latin leo) and hart (“hard, firm, brave, hardy”).
- Scripture puts the lion on both sides: the devil “prowls around like a roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8), and Christ is “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5).
- John is told to see the Lion and turns to find a Lamb “looking as if it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). The strength is real; its form is not what anyone expected.
- Saint Leonard of Noblac, a sixth-century Frank, is the patron of prisoners — a lion’s name spent on people in chains.
- The difference between the two lions is not the strength but what the strength is for.
Bibliography (Click to show)
Sources: Behind the Name entries for Leonardo and Leonard (Old German lewo + hart, “brave lion”; Saint Leonard of Noblac, patron of prisoners); Scripture quotations from the NIV via BibleGateway (Revelation 5:5-6; 1 Peter 5:8).
