Saint of the Day - Pope Leo I (November 10th)
Channel: House of Prayers for Everyone (HOPE)
Date: 09/11/2023

Nov. 10 is the Roman Catholic Church’s liturgical memorial of the fifth-century Pope Saint Leo I, known as “St. Leo the Great,” whose involvement in the fourth ecumenical council helped prevent the spread of error on Christ's divine and human natures.

Early Life

Like early-century Saints, nothing much is known about St. Leo the Great before he became pope. According to the Liber Pontificalis, he was a native of Tuscany. By 431, as a deacon, he was sufficiently well known outside of Rome that John Cassian dedicated to him the treatise against Nestorius written at Leo's suggestion.

Near the end of the reign of Pope Sixtus III, Leo was dispatched at the request of Emperor Valentinian III to settle a dispute between Aëtius, one of Gaul's chief military commanders, and the chief magistrate Albinus. Johann Peter Kirsch sees this commission as proof of the confidence placed in the able deacon by the Imperial Court.

Papacy

When Sixtus III died, Leo was unanimously elected by the people to succeed him on 29 September, even though he was still in Gaul. It was during Leo's papacy that the term "Pope", which previously meant any bishop, came to exclusively mean the Bishop of Rome.

Upon assuming the papal throne, Leo learned that in Aquileia, the Pelagians received church communion without formal repudiation of their errors. He censured this practice and directed the provincial synod to require Pelagians to make an unequivocal abjuration.

On 6 June 445, with the support of Roman Emperor Valentinian III, a decree was made recognizing the primacy of the bishop of Rome based on the merits of Peter, the dignity of the city, and the legislation of the First Council of Nicaea; provided the forcible extradition by provincial governors of any bishop who refused to answer a summons to Rome.

Division Between East and West

During the Second Council of Ephesus in 449, Leo's statement of the faith of the Roman Church which repeats the formulas of Western Christology was never recognized. It was presented again at the subsequent Council of Chalcedon as a solution to the Christological controversies between East and West.

This Council of Chalcedon in 451 rejected the heresy of Eutyches who denied the true human nature of the Son of God, and affirmed the union in his one Person, without confusion and separation, of his two natures, human and divine.

Teaching on Christ

Pope Leo I wrote many sermons and letters; almost 100 sermons and 150 letters of it were preserved. His writings are mostly concerned with theological questions concerning the person of Jesus Christ (Christology) and his role as mediator and savior (Soteriology).

Leo pushed for the propagation and universal reception of the faith in Christ and defended the true divinity and the true humanity of the one Christ against heretical one-sidedness. He took this topic in many of his sermons. He also believed that Mariology is determined by Christology. 

Political Matters

The increasing barbarian invasions forced Leo I to take a more active part in civil and political affairs. He was one of the first bishops of Rome to promote papal primacy based on succession from Peter the Apostle, and he did so as a means of maintaining unity among the churches.

After the outcome of the Battle of Chalons, Attila invaded Italy in 452 and headed for Rome. He demanded the sister of the Emperor be sent to him with a dowry. In response, the emperor sent three envoys to negotiate: one of them was Pope Leo I. 

Little is known of the specifics of the negotiations, however, it resulted in Attila withdrawing. Most medieval historians gave credit to Leo's actions. One account suggests that Attila was so impressed by Leo that he decided to withdraw. 

Another suggested that Attila was dissuaded by his men, while another relates that an enormously huge man dressed in priestly robes and armed with a sword, visible only to Attila, threatened him and his army with death during his discourse with Leo.

Death

Leo died on 10 November 461. He was the first pope to be buried in St. Peter's.

In 1754, Pope Benedict XIV proclaimed Leo I a Doctor of the Church. Next to Leo only one other pope, Gregory I, is also recognized as Doctor of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI said that Leo's papacy was "undoubtedly one of the most important in the Church's history".

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Image attributed to the following:
- By Francisco Herrera the Younger - [2], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88868589