Born on April 11, 1912, in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, Leoncia Rosado Rousseau—affectionately known as Mama Leo, grew up as the second of five children in a country awakening to spiritual revival. In 1932, during a sweeping movement among the Disciples of Christ, she encountered God in a life-changing way. Shortly thereafter, she embraced Pentecostalism, and with it, a profound calling that would guide the rest of her life.

From the earliest days, Mama Leo’s ministry was shaped by resistance. As a young woman preacher in Puerto Rico, she boldly challenged the machismo that permeated religious leadership, once saying, "Nosotras las mujeres nos trataban como soldados de tercera clase”—“We women were treated as third-class soldiers.” But she would not be deterred. She believed she had seen a vision from God while in the mountains of Toa Alta, a calling to bring the Pentecostal message to the Spanish-speaking people of New York City.

In 1935, with little more than faith and fire, she boarded a ship to the U.S. and arrived in Spanish Harlem. There, she came under the influence of the healing ministry of Francisco Olazábal, and two years later, in 1937, she received her Certificate of Divinity. Following Olazábal’s passing, Mama Leo and her husband, Francisco Rousseau, left the Latin American Council of Christian Churches and together founded Damascus Christian Church in 1939, a ministry that would grow into the Council of Damascus Churches, a once-powerful Pentecostal denomination rooted in the Bronx.

When her husband was drafted into military service, Mama Leo didn’t shrink back. Instead, she stepped forward, becoming the first Latina Pentecostal pastor in New York City, shattering barriers and blazing a trail for women in ministry.

But it wasn’t just the pastorate that God gave her a passion for. Mama Leo had a heart for the broken and forgotten. Her ministry was revolutionary in its embrace of society’s most marginalized—sex workers, addicts, gang members, and the formerly incarcerated. In 1957, she founded the Damascus Christian Youth Crusade, one of New York City’s earliest grassroots, church-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. It became a lifeline for hundreds, offering hope and holistic healing to those discarded by the system. The program served as a model for faith-based recovery efforts across the state, catching the attention of mayors, governors, and ministry leaders alike—including Nelson Rockefeller, and ministry sons like Pastor John Gimenez of Rock Church, and Bishop Jerry Kaufman of Love Gospel Assembly.

Even in her eighties, Mama Leo could be found preaching, pastoring, and serving her community. By 1987, the movement she co-founded had grown to include over 50 churches across New York, New Jersey, Florida, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, and the Virgin Islands. In 1981, they launched their first English-speaking congregation, signaling a new chapter of multicultural ministry.

Mama Leo’s influence extended far beyond the Bronx. She was known for her powerful preaching and healing ministry, her mystical experiences, and deep spiritual discernment. She inspired generations of leaders, especially young Latinas, to believe their calling was valid, even in spaces that told them otherwise.

In 2005, as she battled Alzheimer’s, she entered a nursing home. She passed away the following year, in 2006, but her legacy is still alive in every church that continues her vision, every soul transformed through her compassion, and every woman who dares to lead because Mama Leo once dared first.

In recent years, detailed public information about the current status of the Council of Damascus Churches (CDC) has become scarce. While some of its original congregations may have continued independently or merged with other ministries, the centralized structure and widespread presence that characterized the CDC during Mama Leo's leadership appear to have diminished. Nonetheless, the legacy of the Council endures through the ongoing work of churches and ministries inspired by Mama Leo's vision of faith-driven social transformation. The church planting ministry of Passion2Plant, led by this site’s originator, is one such ministry.

To this day, Rev. Rosado Rousseau remains a spiritual matriarch, a pioneer of urban ministry, and a relentless advocate for the Gospel that liberates. Her life is a reminder that the mission of the Church is not just to save souls, but to heal streets, restore dignity, and challenge injustice with Holy Spirit fire and love.