Background
He was born c. 400 AD in Tuscany, Western Roman Empire (now Italy). According to the Liber pontificalis he was of Tuscan origin, his birthplace probably Volaterrae, though the year of his birth is unknown.
(Leo's pontificate, next to that of St. Gregory I, is the ...)
Leo's pontificate, next to that of St. Gregory I, is the most significant and important in Christian antiquity. At a time when the Church was experiencing the greatest obstacles to her progress in consequence of the hastening disintegration of the Western Empire, while the Orient was profoundly agitated over dogmatic controversies, this great pope, with far-seeing sagacity and powerful hand, guided the destiny of the Roman and Universal Church. According to the "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Mommsen, I, 101 sqq., ed. Duchesne, I, 238 sqq.), Leo was a native of Tuscany and his father's name was Quintianus. Our earliest certain historical information about Leo reveals him a deacon of the Roman Church under Pope Celestine I (422-32). Even during this period he was known outside of Rome, and had some relations with Gaul, since Cassianus in 430 or 431 wrote at Leo's suggestion his work "De Incarnatione Domini contra Nestorium" (Migne, P.L., L, 9 sqq.), prefacing it with a letter of dedication to Leo. About this time Cyril of Alexandria appealed to Rome against the pretensions of Bishop Juvenal of Jerusalem. From an assertion of Leo's in a letter of later date (ep. cxvi, ed. Ballerini, I, 1212; II, 1528), it is not very clear whether Cyril wrote to him in the capacity of Roman deacon, or to Pope Celestine. During the pontificate of Sixtus III (422-40), Leo was sent to Gaul by Emperor Valentinian III to settle a dispute and bring about a reconciliation between Aëtius, the chief military commander of the province, and the chief magistrate, Albinus. This commission is a proof of the great confidence placed in the clever and able deacon by the Imperial Court. Sixtus III died on 19 August, 440, while Leo was in Gaul, and the latter was chosen his successor. Returning to Rome, Leo was consecrated on 29 September of the same year, and governed the Roman Church for the next twenty-one years.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1479215244/?tag=2022091-20
He was born c. 400 AD in Tuscany, Western Roman Empire (now Italy). According to the Liber pontificalis he was of Tuscan origin, his birthplace probably Volaterrae, though the year of his birth is unknown.
Among the long series of occupants of the Roman see, Leo I shares with Gregory I the title Magnus (the Great), awarded to him by a grateful and appreciative posterity.
He received Christian initiation as an adult under Celestine I (r. 422-432), and by 431 had been admitted to clerical status holding a position evidently of some responsibility.
His early interest in doctrinal problems, especially those regarding the Incarnation, then giving rise to much debate among the churches of the East, is suggested by a request addressed by him to John Cassian (360-435), an outstanding theologian in southern Gaul, for fuller enlightenment on the points at issue.
The fruit of this request was the publication by Cassian of his De Incarnatione Christi contra Nestorium (On The Incarnation of Christ Against Nestorius).
In 440, at the time of the death of is predecessor, Sixtus (Xystus) III, Leo was actually absent from Rome on a mission of considerable political importance, the purpose of which was to effect a reconciliation between Aëtius, commander-in-chief of the army, and Albinus, praetorian prefect.
The pontificate which thus opened with such favorable augury was to last 21 years, and forms the apogee of papal ascendancy in the early centuries of Christian antiquity. The Sermons.
Among the collection of Leo's surviving sermons there are five which were preached on the occasion or anniversary of his consecration as bishop.
The jurisdiction which the bishops possess is mediate, as that of the other apostles was mediated through Peter.
That no less than 96 of the sermons preached by him have survived speaks much for his faithfulness in the exercise of the ministry of the word at a time when, as the church historian Sozomen assures us, a bishop of Rome was infrequent in performing this duty.
At the same time the persistent menace to orthodoxy of belief presented by heresy of one kind or another was a constant preoccupation.
But his most vigorous onslaught was delivered against Manichaeism.
The practice of secret Manichaeans in refusing the chalice of the Communion is firmly reprobated.
The evidence for Leo's relations with the churches of southern Italy and Sicily, the suburbicarian sees (the six dioceses nearest Rome), with those of northern Italy, (e. g. , Milan, Aquileia, and Ravenna) as well as with the churches of the East, especially Constantinople, is to be found in the ample collection of 123 genuine letters of his which have survived.
Those addressed to the bishops who were subject to the Roman see as their metropolitan deal with such matters as the status of those who are to be ordained to the episcopate, the restriction of Initiation to the festivals of Easter and Pentecost, and the improper disposal of church property.
Especially noteworthy is the writer's insistence on strict conformity with the practice of the Roman see, with the threat of sanctions in the event of refusal. The Problem of Political Status of the Sees.
In Leo's time Milan, Aquileia, and Ravenna alike enjoyed metropolitical status.
In his report of the findings of a Milanese council, Eusebius, bishop of Milan, refers to its assent to the letter of Leo to Flavian of Constantinople, condemning the heresy of Eutyches and setting forth current belief in Rome regarding the Incarnation.
This letter of Leo's is commonly called the Tome.
Though Eusebius' report expresses deep admiration for the papal pronouncement, it shows that such a document was not held at the time to be immune from discussion or possible criticism.
Outside Italy the most outstanding problem with which Leo had to deal concerned the organization of the Church in southern Gaul.
Here a real crisis had arisen due in part to the political situation, in part to the rival claims of the sees of Vienne and Arles to pre-eminence, but not least to the well-meant but precipitate reforming zeal of St. Hilary of Arles.
Leo has sometimes been criticized for his handling of this affair and especially for his supposedly cavalier treatment of St. Hilary, but it must be allowed that between men of such evidently contrasted temperaments real understanding was difficult, if not impossible.
Leo's decree deprived Hilary of his metropolitical status, and insisted on the complete independence of the other metropolitans.
The pontificate of Leo is, however, best known for the part which he played in the Christological controversy aroused by the efforts of the see of Alexandria to impose a monophysite definition of the Incarnation on the Church at large.
The first round of this struggle, at the Council of Ephesus (431) had ended with a victory for Cyril of Alexandria, and the overthrow of the heresiarch Nestorius of Constantinople.
Naturally Leo issued his protest against what had taken place in the strongest possible terms.
The new masters of the East were not willing to accept theological dictation from Alexandria, but knew well enough that they could not dispense with Leo's energetic support.
In this way the third round of the contest was reached, in which the fourth ecumenical council, held at Chalcedon on the Asian side of the Bosporus, forms the central feature.
This it was plainly unwilling to do, for it insisted on a full discussion, in the course of which various critical opinions were expressed.
Eventually, together with other doctrinal statements, the Tome was approved, yet the council insisted on issuing a Christological definition of its own.
Yet his hesitation in the matter was due in no way to doctrinal dissent, but rather to his strong resentment of the occasion taken by the see of Constantinople to obtain recognition of its claim to a primacy equivalent to that of the Roman see, and to a material extension of its jurisdiction.
To this measure Leo declined his assent, and not all the appeals of the Eastern court and the excuses of Anatolius, bishop of Constantinople, himself could make it otherwise. Leo's Doctrine of Papal Primacy.
Leo's pontificate coincided with many of the barbarian invasions of Rome.
In 452, he was able to persuade Attila the Hun to withdraw from Italy without sacking Rome, but he was not so successful with the Vandal chieftain, Gaiseric, in 455.
(Leo's pontificate, next to that of St. Gregory I, is the ...)
In the Nestorian-Monophysite controversy Leo was the leader in defending Catholic teaching.
