St. Leo: Old Date: April 10: New Date

St. Leo: Old Date: April 10: New Date

Leo I, an Etruscan, ruled over the Church at the time when Attila, King of the Huns and called the Scourge of God, was invading Italy; he had taken and burned Aquileia and was preparing his forces to attack Rome. Leo went out to meet him and, by God-given eloquence, persuaded him to withdraw; then Leo was welcomed back to Rome with great rejoicing. A little later, when Genseric was invading the city, Leo persuaded him, with the same forceful eloquence, to abstain from burning, outrages and slaughter. When Leo saw the Church harassed by many heresies, and especially by the Nestorians and the Eutychians, he called the Council of Chalcedon at which, with six hundred and thirty bishops assembled, Eutyches and Dioscorus were condemned and the condemnation of Nestorius repeated. The decrees of this Council were then confirmed by Leo's authority. He constructed many churches and built a monastery near the Basilica of St. Peter. After a life filled with these and other admirable works, including a great number of holy and eloquent writings, he fell asleep in the Lord on the tenth day of November, in the twenty-first year of his pontificate.