St Leo the Great

This Pope was truly deserving of his name.
His was the heart of a lion as he defended the City of Rome from invasion, as he defended the primacy of the See of Rome, and strengthened the faith of his people in Rome and further afield. 
His sermons and letters are still with us and because of the clarity and power of his teaching, he was declared Doctor of the Church.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:21

During this week there are a number of saints and special days. Today, as I record this podcast, it's the feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the dedication of the Cathedral Church of the Pope in Rome. We celebrate that to remind us of our spiritual communion with Rome, the Pope being the sign and symbol of unity, and so therefore his cathedral church is a special church for us in the whole world, in the whole universal church. There's also the feast of Saint Martin of Tours on Thursday and Saint Joseph, Bishop and Martyr on Friday. But in this podcast I wanted to tell the story of tomorrow's saint, as I record this, tomorrow's saint Saint Leo the Great. Saint Leo the Great was a Pope who in 1754 was proclaimed a doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XIV, and he quite rightly deserves the title the Great. He was the first bishop of Rome to be called Leo, and another twelve followed him right up to Leo XIII at the end of the nineteenth century. As you may know, the word Leo or Leo is connected with the Latin word for lion, so in a sense we could say that these popes who have taken the name of Leo have had some quality to some degree or other of being lion hearted, and it's certainly true of the one who chose this name first of all. Leo was born in Tuscany in Italy about the year four hundred and thirty, and he became a deacon in the Church of Rome, and in that church of Rome over time he acquired a very important position. The Emperor of the West, Gala Placidia, gave Leo a very important job in sending him to Gaul to heal a very difficult situation. But while Leo was in Gaul, or France, Pope Sixtus III died, and it was Leo who was elected to succeed him. Leo heard the news of Sixtus' death while he was carrying out his peace mission in Gaul. He returned to Rome and was consecrated on the twenty ninth of September four forty, and this is how his pontificate began. It lasted more than twenty one years and was undoubtedly one of the most important in the Church's history. Pope Leo died on the tenth of November four hundred and sixty one and was buried near the tomb of St. Peter. Today his relics are preserved in one of the altars of the Vatican Basilica. The times in which Pope Leo lived were very difficult, there were constant barbarian invasions from the north, the gradual weakening of imperial authority in the West, and the long drawn out social crises which faced which forced the Bishop of Rome to play an important role in civil and political affairs. This naturally could only add to the importance and prestige of the Roman See. One of the stories about Leo's life that proves he had that lion heart was that in the year 452, together with a Roman delegation, he went out to meet Attila, chief of the Huns in Mantua, and dissuaded him from continuing the war and invasion by which he had already devastated the northeastern regions of Italy, and so he saved the rest of the Italian peninsula from invasion. Unfortunately three years later Leo did not have the same success, because in the spring of four hundred and fifty five Genseric's vandals entered into Rome and for two weeks they plundered the undefended city. Still Leo went out to meet Genseric, and defenseless though he was and surrounded only by his clergy, he nevertheless prevented Rome from being burnt, and assured that the basilicas of Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint John, in which part of the terrified Roman population were seeking refuge were spared. Many of Pope Leo's sermons and over one hundred and fifty of his letters still survive to this day, and they are beautiful sermons and very encouraging letters. In these we see that Leo was thoughtful of the faithful and of the people of Rome, but also a tireless champion and upholder of the primacy of Rome, presenting himself as the apostle Peter's authentic heir. Also Leo had the honour, I suppose, but also the duty to preside over the fourth major council of the church, which was the council of Chalcedon. Three before that were equally important Nicaea in three hundred twenty five, Constantinople in three hundred and eighty one, and Ephesus in four hundred thirty one. It is from the two councils of Nicaea and Constantinople that we have the Nicae and Constantinopolitan Creed, which we say at Holy Mass every Sunday. The first millennium of the Church was often taken up with disputes about the nature of God, the nature of the Trinity, and the nature of Christ Himself. And these four councils Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon were involved in one way or the other in defining clearly the dogma around the nature of God and of Christ. The Council of Chalcedon particularly affirmed the union in his one person without confusion and separation of his two natures, human and divine. Pope Leo leaves us an example not only of fidelity to his vocation and his calling, but also to his great love for the Church, and his desire to be faithful to his ministry as the successor of Saint Peter. Let us therefore learn with Saint Leo the Great to fulfil our duties and obligations of our vocation, but also to believe in Christ, true God and true man, and to implement this faith every day in action, for peace and for love of our neighbour. Saint Leo the Great, pray for us. Laudeto Jesus Christus. Amen.