Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor – Readings
Commentary on Sirach 39:6-10; Matthew 16:13-19
The Gospel reading is the famous passage (Matthew’s version) of the meeting between Jesus and his disciples when, through Peter, they acknowledge the identity of Jesus. We are told that they were in the region of Caesarea Philippi. It is perhaps significant that this region is on the eastern side of the Jordan River, to the east of Galilee and in the tetrarchy of Philip, a son of Herod the Great. As such, it was a region with a mixed population of Jews and Gentiles, whose communities would both be beneficiaries of the message to come.
Jesus asks his disciples:
Who do people say that the Son of Man is?
They replied by giving the prevailing opinions among the population. Jesus was John the Baptist, come back to life (John had been executed by Herod not long before) or Elijah (who was expected to return to earth just before the coming of the Messiah) or that he was Jeremiah or some other prophet.
But Jesus then turns to them and asks:
But who do you say that I am?
Simon Peter, speaking for all of them, says:
You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
This is a very striking statement. Not only does Peter assert that Jesus is the long-expected Messiah (in Greek, Christos), but he also in effect announces the Jesus’ divine nature—Son of the Living God.
It is an awesome moment in Jesus’ relations with his disciples and they must have been shaken to the core. What thoughts must have been going through their minds at that moment? Jesus was the Messiah! What did that mean for them? As members of his inner circle, they have suddenly become very important and uniquely privileged people. Though, that will not last for long when they hear soon after what Jesus has to say next about himself and about them.
Before that, however, Jesus has words of praise for Peter. The confession he has just made did not come from himself, but is God the Father speaking through him. And then he goes on to give Peter his solemn commission as the leader of the Christian community when Jesus has left them. He is the Rock on which the community will be built. To whom will be entrusted:
…the keys of the kingdom of heaven…
In other words, as one entrusted with the message of Jesus, he will be responsible for the passing on of all that is necessary to get under way the building of the Kingdom of Heaven (i.e. the Kingdom of God) on earth and to reach out to the whole world.
To him will be given the authority to speak and act in the name of Christ the Lord:
…whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven [i.e. by God], and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
The choice of this passage fits perfectly with the pope we are remembering today. Leo was one of the first popes to emphasise the unique role of the Bishop of Rome, as the centre for the faith of the whole Church. It is the role of the Bishop of Rome to be the faithful depository of the teaching of Christ, and it is this which gives the Catholic Church its unity and stability. It is the role of the papacy, not to tell the Church what to believe, but rather to tell it what it does believe. We speak today of papal infallibility, but that infallibility is rooted in the infallibility that belongs to the Church in its entirety.
The First Reading from the Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) is a passage in praise of a person of true wisdom. The care of such a person, says the writer, is to seek the Lord his Maker—to open his lips in prayer, to ask pardon for his sins.
On the one hand, he will be filled with the spirit of understanding and in turn will pour forth his words of wisdom. Many, too, will praise his understanding and his fame will last indefinitely:
Their memory will not disappear, and their names will live through all generations. Nations will speak of their wisdom, and the congregation will proclaim their praise.
There are many great and holy theologians (one thinks of Thomas Aquinas or Augustine) of whom this could be said, but it certainly applies as well to Leo. His statement on the theology of the Incarnation places him among the greatest of theologians. He was also a great and effective pope, giving great leadership to the Church, and perhaps for the first time, giving the papacy a distinctive and necessary role it has had ever since.
Let us pray that the Church may always be led by the kind of pope who provides the inspiration and leadership and unifying influence that it always needs.
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Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor
Leo was probably born in Rome of Tuscan parentage, but of his early life there is no record. Under Popes Celestine I and Sixtus III, he had at least the rank of deacon, sufficiently important for him to correspond with Cyril of Alexandria, and also to have a treatise of John Cassian on the Incarnation to be dedicated to him. Perhaps most significant was his being chosen by the emperor to settle the dispute between Aëtius and Albinus, the two highest officials in Gaul. Their feud threatened the safety of Gaul from attack by the northern European tribes.
During Leo’s absence from Rome, Pope Sixtus III died on 11 August, 440, and Leo was unanimously elected by the people to succeed him. It was a post he would hold with great distinction for 20 years.
His term of office was significant for a number of reasons. His statement of the doctrine of the Incarnation of Christ, acclaimed at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, is regarded as a high point of Christian Church history. He also acted vigorously to free Rome from the power of the tribes invading from northern Europe, as well as restoring both the spiritual and material damage they caused.
Both his writings and his actions revealed a deep conviction that the doctrinal primacy of Rome was God-given and based on the Scriptures. In fact, throughout his reign he strengthened and increased the influence and prestige of the papacy.
His 143 surviving letters reveal a similar concern for the Church in Spain, Gaul, and Africa. He also had to deal firmly with the resurgence of Manichaeism, Priscillianism and Pelagianism in different places. There were times when he had to reaffirm an ancient tradition by which a bishop had the right to appeal to Rome. For instance, he found that Hilary as an archbishop had exceeded his power over a fellow-bishop and overruled his decisions. He was always conscious of the power of Peter invested in him as Bishop of Rome.
In 452, Attila the Hun and his army laid siege to Milan and terrorised the citizens by their violence. When Attila moved on against Rome, he was met by Leo who persuaded him to accept tribute rather than attack the city. Later, Leo tried the same methods in approaching the Vandal Genseric, but he was less cooperative. Even so, Leo’s influence was such as to make the Vandals stop short at looting the city and refrain from murdering its people and setting it on fire. However, while many prisoners were taken off to Africa, some church treasures were given back. Leo then sent priests and alms to the captives in Africa and in Sicily.
His greatest achievement was the acceptance of his dogmatic statement on the Incarnation of Christ at the Council of Chalcedon. He expressed with great clarity the doctrine that Jesus Christ is one Person, the Divine Word, in whom the two natures, human and divine, are permanently united without confusion or mixture. When the council heard this document read by Leo’s legates, they cried out:
Peter has spoken through Leo!
It would become, from then on, the official teaching of the Christian Church.
However, the same council raised the status of the see of Constantinople and, in spite of the legates’ protests, made it a patriarchate, mainly for political reasons. Here, as with the fall of Rome to the barbarians, Leo’s success was mixed with failure. He died on 10 November, 461 and was buried at St Peter’s in Rome.
Leo’s personality has been described as one of indomitable energy, magnanimity, consistency, and devotion to duty. His principal writings to survive are 96 sermons and letters. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1754.
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