[Rank]
S. Leonis I Papae Confessoris et Ecclesiae Doctoris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C4a

[Rank1960]
S. Leonis I Papae Confessoris et Ecclesiae Doctoris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C4a

[Rule]
vide C4a;mtv
9 lectiones

[Name]
Leo

[Oratio]
Look forgivingly on thy flock, Eternal Shepherd, and keep it in thy constant protection, by the intercession of blessed Leo thy Sovereign Pontiff, whom thou didst constitute Shepherd of the whole Church.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
Leo was an Etruscan who ruled the Church at the time when Attila, king of the Huns, whose surname is the Scourge of God, invaded Italy, and after a siege of three years, took, sacked, and burnt Aquileia. Thence he was hurrying to Rome, on fire with anger, and his troops were already preparing to cross the Po, at the place where that river is joined by the Mincio, when he was met by Leo, moved with compassion at the thought of the ruin which hung over Italy. By his God-given eloquence, Attila was persuaded to turn back, and when he was afterwards asked by his servants why, contrary to his custom, he had so meekly yielded to the entreaties of the Bishop of Rome, he answered that he had been alarmed by a figure dressed like a Priest, which had appeared at the side of Leo while he was speaking, holding a drawn sword, and had made as though to kill the king unless he consented. And so he returned into Pannonia.

[Lectio5]
While Leo went back to Rome, where he was received with rejoicing by all men. A while later, Genseric entered the city, but Leo, by the power of his eloquence and the authority of his holy life, persuaded him to abstain from fire, insult, and slaughter. When Leo beheld how the Church was assailed by many heresies, and in dire trouble through the Nestorians and Eutychians, to purify the same and establish her in the Catholic Faith, he called the Council of Chalcedon, where, in an assembly of six hundred and thirty Bishops Nestorius was again condemned, along with Eutyches and Dioscorus; the decrees of which Council were confirmed by the authority of Leo.

[Lectio6]
After these matters, this holy Pope set himself to the restoration and building of Churches. By his advice that godly woman Demetria built the Church of St. Stephen upon her farm on the Latin Road, at the third milestone from the city. He himself built another Church upon the Appian Way, which Church is called that of St. Cornelius. He restored likewise many other Churches, and the holy vessels used therein. He built Clergy -houses at the three Basilicas of Peter, Paul, and Constantine. He built a monastery hard by the Basilica of St. Peter. He appointed for the graves of the Apostles certain keepers, whom he called the Chamberlains of the said Apostles. He ordained that in the action of the Mystery should be uttered the words An holy sacrifice, an offering without spot. He ordered that no nun should have the covering of her head blessed 4 until she had made trial of her virginity for forty years. After doing all these and other illustrious works, and after he had written much that is both godly and easy to be understood, he fell asleep in the Lord on the eleventh day of April, (in the year 461.) He held the Papal See for twenty years, one month, and thirteen days.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 16:13-19
At that time Jesus came into the coasts of Cassarea Philippi, and He asked His disciples, saying Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And so on.
_
Homily by Pope St. Leo (the Great)
!2nd on the anniversary of his own election.
When the Lord, as we read in the Evangelist, asked His disciples Who did men, amid their diverse speculations, believe that He, the Son of Man, was; blessed Peter answered and said Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father, Which is in heaven and I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Thus therefore standeth the ordinance of the Truth, and blessed Peter, abiding still that firm rock which God hath made him, hath never lost that right to rule in the Church which God hath given unto him.

[Lectio8]
In the universal Church it is Peter that doth still say every day, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and every tongue which confesseth that Jesus is Lord is taught that confession by the teaching of Peter. This is the faith that overcometh the devil and looseth the bands of his prisoners. This is the faith which maketh men free of the world and bringeth them to heaven, and the gates of hell are impotent to prevail against it. With such ramparts of salvation hath God fortified this rock, that the contagion of heresy will never be able to infect it, nor idolatry and unbelief to overcome it. This teaching it is, my dearly beloved brethren, which maketh the keeping of this Feast to-day to be our reasonable service, even the teaching which maketh you to know and honour in myself, lowly though I be, that Peter who is still entrusted with the care of all other shepherds and of all the flocks to them committed, and whose authority I have, albeit unworthy to be his heir.

[Lectio9]
When, therefore, we address our exhortations to your godly ears, believe ye that ye are hearing him speak whose office we are discharging. Yea, it is with his love for you that we warn you, and we preach unto you no other thing than that which he taught, entreating you that ye would gird up the loins of your mind and lead pure and sober lives in the fear of God. My disciples dearly beloved, ye are to me, as the disciples of the Apostle Paul were to him, (Phil. iv. 1,) a crown and a joy, if your faith, which, in the first times of the Gospel, was spoken of throughout the whole world, (Rom. i. 8,) abide still lovely and holy. For, albeit it behoveth the whole Church which is spread throughout all the world, to be strong in righteousness, you it chiefly becometh above all other peoples to excel in worth and godliness, whose house is built upon the very crown of the Rock of the Apostle, and whom not only hath our Lord Jesus Christ, as He hath redeemed all men, but whom also His blessed Apostle Peter hath made the foremost object of his teaching.
&teDeum

[Lectio94]
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.
&teDeum