Saint Leo Magnus
Saint Leo the Great.
Pope Leo I.
Artist: Francisco de Herrera el Mozo (1622-1685).
Current location: Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain.
Source: www.pintura.aut.org
(Wikimedia Commons)
Text from “The Liturgical Year”.
By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 8.
Paschal Time.
Book II.
One of the grandest Saints in The Church’s Calendar is brought before us today.
Leo, the Pontiff and Doctor of The Church, rises on the Paschal Horizon, and calls for our admiration and love.
As his name implies, he is the “Lion” of Holy Church; thus representing, in his own person, one of the most glorious of Our Lord’s titles.
There have been thirteen Popes who have had this name [Editor: Abbot Guéranger was writing circa 1878, so make that fourteen Popes, now, after Pope Leo XIV], and five of the number are enrolled in the catalogue of Saints; but not one of them has so honoured the name as he whose Feast we keep today: Hence, he is called “Leo the Great”.
He deserved the appelation by what he did for maintaining the Faith regarding the sublime Mystery of The Incarnation.
The Church had triumphed over the heresies that had attacked the Dogma of The Trinity, when the Gates of Hell sought to prevail against the Dogma of God having been made Man.
Nestorius, a Bishop of Constantinople, impiously taught that there were two distinct Persons in Christ — the Person of The Divine Word, and the Person of Man.
The Council of Ephesus condemned this doctrine, which, by denying the unity of Person in Christ, destroyed the true notion of the Redemtion.
A new heresy, the very opposite of that of Nestorianism, but equally subversive of Christianity, soon followed. The Monk, Eutyches, maintained that in The Incarnation the human nature was absorbed by The Divine.
The error was propagated with frightful rapidity. There was needed a clear and authorative expostion of the great Dogma, which is the foundation of all our hopes.
Pope Leo the Great arose, and from the Apostolic Chair, on which The Holy Ghost had placed him, proclaimed with matchless eloquence and precision the formula of the ancient Faith — ancient indeed, and ever the same, yet ever acquiring greater and fresher brightness [Editor: Much like the situation nowadays].
A cry of admiration was raised at the General Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D), which had been convened for the purpose of condemning the errors of Eutyches.
“Peter”, exclaimed the Fathers, “Peter has spoken by the mouth of Leo !!!”
As we shall see, the Eastern Church has kept up the enthusiasm thus excited by the magnificent teachings given by Pope Leo the Great to the whole World.
The barbarian hordes were invading the West; the Roman Empire was little more than a ruin; and Attila, “the scourge of God”, was marching on Rome.
Leo’s majestic bearing repelled the invasion, as his word had checked the ravages of heresy. The haughty King of the Huns, before whose armies the strongest citadels had fallen, granted an audience to the Pontiff on the banks of the River Mincio, and promised to spare Rome.
The calm and the dignity of Leo — who thus, unarmed, confronted the most formidable enemy of the Roman Empire, and exposed his life for his flock — awed the barbarian, who afterwards told his people that, during the interview, he saw a venerable person standing in an attitude of defence, by the side of Rome’s intercessor [Editor: Leo]: It was the Apostle, Saint Peter.
Attila not only admired, he feared the Pontiff. It was truly a sublime spectacle, and one that was full of meaning — a Priest, with no Military Arms save those of his character and virtues, forcing a King, such as Attila, to do homage to a devotedness which he could ill understand, and recognise by submission the influence of a power which had Heaven on its side.
Leo, single-handed and at once, did what it took the whole of Europe several ages to accomplish in later times.
That the aureole of Leo’s glory might be complete, The Holy Ghost gifted him with an eloquence which, on account of its majesty and richness, might deservedly be called Papal.
The Latin language had at that time lost its ancient vigour; but we frequently come across passages in the writings of our Saint [Editor: Leo] which remind us of the Golden Age.
In exposing the Dogmas of our Holy Faith, he uses a style so dignified and so impregnated with the savour of Sacred Antiquity, that it seems made for the subject.
He has several admirable Sermons on The Resurrection; and speaking of the present Season of The Liturgical Year, he says: “The days that intervened between Our Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension were not days on which nothing was done: On the contrary, great were the Sacraments then confirmed, and great were the Mysteries that were revealed”.
