ST LEO THE GREAT - MASS PROPERS

St. Leo the Great – Pope, Confessor and Doctor

Feast day  

11 April (pre-1969 calendar)

10 November (After Vatican II)

Born c. 400 AD

Tuscany, Western Roman Empire

Died 10 November 461

Rome, Western Roman Empire

Papacy began 29 September 440

Papacy ended 10 November 461

Attributes  

Papal vestments, Papal tiara, Staff

Pope Leo the Great, also known as Pope Leo I was born in Tuscany Italy.  He was a Roman aristocrat.  There is not a great deal of information about Leo who carried his birth name with him to the Papacy.  Europe as we know it today did not exist and the Church was occupied defending herself both religiously and politically.

Leo was the first Pope to whom the title “Great” was attached.  He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun outside Rome in 452 in an attempt to persuade the King not to sack Rome.  When Attila marched on Rome, Leo went out to meet him.  As Leo spoke, Attila saw the vision of a man in priestly robes, carrying a bare sword and threatening to kill the invader if he did not obey.  As Leo had a great devotion to Saint Peter, it is generally believed the first pope was the visionary opponent to the Huns.  When Genseric invaded Rome, Leo’s sanctity and eloquence saved the city again.

Our earliest certain historical information about Leo reveals him as a deacon of the Roman Church under Pope Celestine (422-32).  During the Pontificate of Sixtus III (422-440), Leo was sent to Gaul by Emperor Valentinian to settle a dispute and bring about a reconciliation between the chief military of the province and the chief magistrate.  This mission is a proof of the great confidence placed in the clever and able deacon by the Imperial court.

 During his absence on this mission, Pope Sixtus III died and Leo was unanimously elected by the people to succeed him. Returning to Rome, Leo was consecrated on September 29, 440 and governed the Roman Church for the next twenty-one years. Leo’s chief aim was to sustain the unity of the Church.  Not long after his elevation to the Chair of Peter he saw himself compelled to combat energetically the heresies which seriously threatened church unity even in the West.

Among the heresies he had to defend the church against was Pelagianism.  It is a theological theory named after Pelagius who little or nothing is known about him.  It is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without Divine aid.  So Adam’s sin was to “set a bad example”, but did not have the other consequences imputed to Original Sin.  To Pelagius, Jesus role was to “set a good example” to counteract Adam.   Humanity would not be in need of any of God’s graces beyond the creation of will. Jesus sacrifice is devoid of its redemptive quality.

St. Augustine of Hippo also opposed Pelagianism and taught that a person’s salvation comes solely through the grace of God.  He also taught that no person could save himself by his works, and that salvation was a free gift of God’s grace. Pelagianism as a structured heretical movement ceased to exist after the sixth century, but its essential ideas continue to cause disagreement.

Another heretical theory was Monophysitism.  This theory stated that the human nature of Christ was essentially obliterated by the Divine and therefore Christ only had the one nature, that of divinity. A second part of Monophysitism holds that Christ had a human body, but the Divinity had taken over what would be considered the mind, today.

A third heresy, Manichaeism, was a dualistic religious movement founded in Persia (modern Iran) in the 3rd century AD by Mani, who was known as the “Apostle of Light”.  Mani, born in southern Babylonia (now Iraq) viewed himself as the final successor in a long line of prophets, beginning with Adam and ending with Jesus.  Manichaeism offered salvation through special knowledge of spiritual truth.  It taught that life in this world is unbearably painful and radically evil.  Inner illumination reveals that the soul must be saved by means of the spirit or intelligence.  To know oneself is to see one’s soul as sharing in the very nature of God.  Thus, knowledge is the only way to salvation.  Manichaeism became extinct in the middle Ages.

Nestorianism, another Christian heresy, held that Jesus was two distinct persons, closely and inseparably united. Nestorius, an abbot and

Patriarch of Constantinople, outraged the Christian world by opposing the use of the title Mother of God for the Virgin on the grounds that, while the Father begot Jesus as God, Mary bore Him as man. Nestorianism was practically dead in the Roman Empire after 451 but survived outside the Roman Empire until about 1300 AD.

      Popes St. Gregory and St. Leo the Great 

Leo’s Pontificate, next to that of St. Gregory the Great I, is the most significant and important in Christian antiquity.  At a time when the Church was experiencing the greatest obstacle to her progress in consequence of the hastening disintegration of the Western Empire, while the Orient was profoundly agitated over dogmatic controversies, the great Pope, with farseeing wisdom and powerful hand, guided the destiny of the Roman and Universal Church.

Pope Leo the Great was an uncompromising foe of heresy.  He taught, wrote, instructed and commanded strict allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.  St. Leo’s letters and sermons reflect the many aspects of his career and personality, including his great personal influence for good, and they are invaluable resources.  His rhythmic prose style influenced ecclesiastical language for centuries.

 In Leo’s conception of his duties as supreme pastor, the maintenance of strict ecclesiastical discipline occupied a prominent place.  This was particularly important at a time when the continual ravages of the barbarians were introducing disorder into all conditions of life, and the rules of morality were being seriously violated.  Leo used his utmost energy in maintaining this discipline, insisted on the exact observance of the ecclesiastical precepts, and did not hesitate to rebuke when necessary. The significance of Leo’s pontificate lies in the fact of his assertion of the universal jurisdiction of the Roman Bishop, which comes out in his letters, and still more in his ninety-six extant orations.  According to Leo, the Church is built upon Peter, in pursuance of the promise of Matthew 16:16-19.  Peter participates in everything which is Christ’s; what the other apostles have in common with him they have through him.  The Lord prays for Peter alone when danger threatens all the apostles, because his firmness will strengthen the rest.  What is true of Peter is also of his successors.  Every other bishop is charged with the care of his own special flock, the Roman with that of the Whole Church.  Other bishops are only his assistants in this great task.

Through the See of Peter, Rome has become the capital of the world in a wider sense than before.  For this reason, when the earth was divided among the apostles, Rome was reserved for Peter, that here, at the very center. The decisive triumph might be won over the earthly wisdom of philosophy and the power of the demons; and thus from the head the light of truth streams out through the whole body. Leo died on 10 November 461 and was buried in the vestibule of St. Peter’s on the Vatican.  In 688 Pope Sergius had his remains transferred to the basilica itself, and a special altar erected over them.  They rest today in St. Peter’s beneath the altar specially dedicated to St. Leo.  In 1754 Benedict XIV exalted him to the dignity of Doctor of the Church.

                      Mass

                           April 11

                 ST LEO THE GREAT        

        Pope, Confessor and Doctor

          Double – White vestments

                  

                         INTROITUS

                  Joannes 21:15-17

Si diligis me, Simon Petre, pasce agnos meos, pasce oves meas. Allelúja, allelúja.

Psalm 29:2 Exaltábo te, Dómine, quóniam suscepísti me, nec delectásti inimícos meos super me. Gloria Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto. Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculórum. Amen.

Si diligis me, Simon Petre, pasce agnos meos, pasce oves meas. Allelúja, allelúja.

                           INTROIT  

                    John 21: 15-17

If thou lovest Me, Simon Peter, feed My lambs; feed My sheep. Alleluia, alleluia.

Psalm 29:2 I will extol Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

If thou lovest me, Simon Peter, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Alleluia, alleluia.

                          COLLECT

O Eternal Shepherd, do Thou look favourably upon Thy flock, which we beseech Thee to guard and keep for evermore through the Blessed Leo, Supreme Pontiff, whom Thou didst choose to be the chief shepherd of the whole Church. Through our Lord.

  The Meeting of Pope Leo and Attila by Francesco Solimena

                           EPISTLE

               I Peter 5: 1-4, 10-11

Dearly beloved: the ancients therefore that are among you, I beseech, who am myself also an ancient, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ: as also a partaker of that glory which is to be revealed in time to come: feed the flock of God which is among you, taking care of it, not by constraint, but willingly, according to God: not for filthy lucre's sake, but voluntarily: neither as lording it over the clergy, but being made a pattern of the flock from the heart. And when the prince of pastors shall appear, you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory. But the God of all grace, Who hath called us unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, will himself perfect you, and confirm you, and establish you. To Him be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.

                PASCHAL ALLELUIA

     Matthew 16: 18; Ps. 44: 17, 18

Alleluia, alleluia. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church.

Alleluia. Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth: they shall remember Thy name. Alleluia.

  Christ gives keys to St Peter by Pietro Perugino-1482

                          GOSPEL

               Matthew 16: 13-19

At that time, Jesus came into the quarters of Cæsarea Philippi, and He asked His disciples, saying: Whom do men say that the Son of man is? But they said: Some, John the Baptist, and other some, Elias, and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father Who is in Heaven: and I say to 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 to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven.

                        OFFERTORY

                   Jeremiah 1: 9-10

Behold I have given My words in thy mouth: lo, I have set thee this day over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to waste and to destroy, and to build and to plant. Alleluia.

                           SECRET

In Thy loving kindness, we beseech Thee, Lord, be moved by the offering of our gifts and enlighten Thy Church: that Thy flock may prosper everywhere and the shepherds, under Thy guidance, may be rendered acceptable to Thee. Through our Lord.

                        St. Leo in Glory

           PREFACE OF THE APOSTLES

It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, to entreat Thee humbly, O Lord, that Thou wouldst not desert Thy flock, O everlasting Shepherd; but through Thy blessed Apostles, wouldst keep it under Thy constant protection; that it may be governed by those same rulers, whom as vicars of Thy work, Thou didst set over it to be its pastors. And therefore with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and Dominations, and with all the hosts of the heavenly army, we sing the hymn of Thy glory, evermore saying:

                     COMMUNION

                    Matthew 16: 18

Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church. Alleluia.

                POSTCOMMUNION

We who have been refreshed by heavenly food and drink, humbly entreat Thee, O our God, that we may be strengthened also by the prayers of him, in whose commemoration we have received them. Through our Lord.