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Societies

St. Anthony
- Meets first Monday of the month 7:30 pm
  The mission of the St. Anthony Society is to promote continued devotion to its patron saint, St. Anthony of Padua. The Society was originally established in 1904 after Little Italy was spared from the Great Baltimore Fire as parishioners fervently prayed to St. Anthony. This Society centers its devotion around the Saint as members assist the underprivileged and homeless of the city, provide financial assistance to the parish on special projects, and plan an annual summer Feast of Saint Anthony Italian festival, the parish's primary fundraiser. After World War II, the Society disbanded and was revived again in 1999. The Society sponsors various fundraisers and helps raise funds to feed Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to the homeless through local charities.
St. Gabriel Confraternity
- Founded in Baltimore in 1928 by Bernardo Gabriel, Tony Zuccaro, and Ignazio Tavono from the Abruzzo, Italy, region as an expression of devotion to the saint. The St. Gabriel Confraternity has observed the annual feast day of the saint in August with a Mass, street procession, and Italian festival. [That festival has been on hiatus since the pandemic.] This group sponsors dinners and fundraisers, activities to benefit Saint Leo’s, visits funeral homes and the sick, helps members in the community, and answers requests from our pastor to assist with anything the parish may need, such as repairs and special purchases of statues or altar scarves. The St. Gabriel Confraternity rewards two annual $2,000 scholarships to Calvert Hall College High School students and formerly to the Institute of Notre Dame (IND); those students are of Italian descent and the child of a parishioner.
St. Vincent Pallotti Society
- Union of Catholic Apostolate / St. Vincent Society (meets fourth Sunday of the month after 9:30 Mass)
  Originally active in the 1950s, this society began again at St. Leo’s in 1998 with a mission to help those in need, both in and out of the parish community. Their common goals include: spiritual/material works of charity; activities, prayers, and financial assistance; share in spiritual benefits resulting from these commitments; and attend spiritual retreats.
- History of Feast of St. Gabriele Italian Festival
  
  When the Saint Gabriel Society was established in 1928, its members had ordered a replica of the original Gabriel statue from his shrine in Italy to carry in the street procession during the first Feast of St. Gabriel Italian Festival. In the 1920-30s, St. Leo's festivals were held up to 10 days in a carnival-like setting - ferris wheel and all - with 10-cent fried dough. The festivals attracted attendees from up and down the East Coast. Vendors sold everything from nuts to olive oil, cakes, beans, candy, and Italian food. Prominent Maryland politicians joined the celebration and gave inspiring speeches. Residents adorned the exterior of their homes with Italian flags, banners, bunting, streamers and colored lights. Many lights were strung over the streets, the last of them still stored in the parish being a lone “S” and a “G” - those continued to be hung on the façade of the church during each August festival.
  The weeklong festivals ended possibly in the early 1970s; after that, the festivals were held over one weekend. Although no longer boasting thousands of spectators, no longer week-long, and no longer as grand in scale, the St. Gabriel Festival persisted through the years into 2020, yet the pandemic stopped it there.