Saint Leo the Great
Pope and Doctor of the Church
- Feast Day
- November 10
- Life
- d. 461
- Doctor of the Church
- 1754
- Born
- Tuscany (traditional)
Leo, called the Great, was born in Tuscany toward the end of the fourth century and rose through the Roman clergy as a deacon. While on a diplomatic mission to Gaul on behalf of the imperial court he was elected Pope, and was consecrated on September 29, 440. He served as Bishop of Rome until his death on November 10, 461, a pontificate of more than twenty-one years that decisively shaped the doctrine of the papal office and the Christological faith of the Church.
Leo's most consequential theological act was his Tome to Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, written in 449 against the Monophysite teaching of Eutyches. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451 the assembled bishops, on hearing the Tome, are reported to have acclaimed Peter has spoken through Leo, and the Council adopted Leo's teaching of two natures, divine and human, united without confusion or division in the one person of Christ. Leo also confronted the secular crisis of the western empire's collapse: in 452 he met Attila the Hun outside Mantua and persuaded him to withdraw from Italy, and in 455 he negotiated with the Vandal king Geiseric to spare Rome's population from massacre during the Vandal sack. About ninety-six of his sermons and over a hundred and forty letters survive. Pope Benedict XIV declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1754.
Leo is the doctor of the Incarnation: the unity of Christ's person in two natures is for Leo not an abstract puzzle but the foundation of salvation, because only one who is both God and man can both offer the sacrifice and reconcile humanity to the Father. His teaching at Chalcedon remains the common faith of Catholic, Orthodox, and most Protestant Christians.
Patronages
choristers · musicians
From Saint Leo the Great
"Christian, recognize your dignity, and now that you share in God's own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning."
Catholic Churches Named After Saint Leo the Great
20 parishes on Catholic Church Times share Saint Leo the Great's name. Find their Mass times, confession schedules, and adoration hours:
- St. Leo the Great / St. Raymond — New Orleans, LA
- St Leo the Great, Altona North — Altona North, VIC
- St. Leo the Great — Buffalo Narrows, SK
- St. Leo the Great — Winston-Salem, NC
- Saint Leo the Great Catholic Church — Fairfax, VA
- St. Leo the Great Catholic Church — Cleveland, OH
- Saint Leo the Great Catholic Church — Lafayette, LA
- Saint Leo The Great Catholic Church — Lancaster, PA
- Saint Leo the Great Church — Waterbury, CT
- St. Leo the Great — Tyndall, SD
- Church of Saint Leo the Great — Oakland, CA
- St. Leo the Great — San Jose, CA
- St. Leo the Great University Parish — Russellville, AR
- St. Leo the Great — Ava, MO
- St. Leo the Great — Demopolis, AL
- Saint Leo the Great Catholic Church
- Saint Leo the Great Catholic Church — New Orleans, LA
- Saint Leo the Great Catholic Parish Church
- St. Leo the Great Church — Sonoma, CA
- Saint Leo the Great Roman Catholic Church — San Jose, CA
Sources