In the summer of 1902, a student at the Ecclesiastical Academy named Leonid Feodorov approached Archimandrite Theophan seeking permission to interrupt his studies for the priesthood and be granted a passport for a foreign trip to Rome. Feodorov was already known to be discreetly attending the Tridentine Mass at St. Catherine's Church on Nevsky Prospect and his teachers had already taken to calling Feodorov, "our Catholic."Fr. Paul Mailleux, S.J. (2017), Blessed Leonid Feodorov: First Exarch of the Russian Catholic Church; Bridgebuilder between Rome and Moscow, Loreto Publications. Pages 13-14.
