Saint Leo the Great

Leo was born in Tuscia around 390 and was pope from 440 to 461, at one of the worst moments in the history of Europe: the Western Empire was crumbling and the East was in flames over disputes about the nature of Christ. His great theological work is the *Tome to Flavian*, the letter in which, in 449, he explained the doctrine of the two natures of Christ, human and divine, united in a single person. It was read at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and the assembled bishops answered with a line that became famous: “Peter has spoken through Leo.” That formula is still the basis of the Christology of almost all Christian Churches today. But the scene that brought his name to everyone is a different one. In 452 Attila and his Huns had ravaged northern Italy and were heading for Rome. The emperor did nothing. Leo went out to meet him in person, on the banks of the Mincio, with two officials, and talked with him. Attila turned back. The real reasons were probably others — plague in the camp, supplies, the Eastern troops at his back — but that meeting stayed etched in memory forever, and Raphael painted it in the Vatican. Three years later he went back to negotiate, this time with Genseric’s Vandals: he couldn’t prevent the sack, but he got them to agree not to burn the city and not to kill its people. He died in Rome on November 10, 461. He is a Doctor of the Church. If your name is Leo, today is your name day.