Leo I, saint and pope, sumamed the Great, noted as the real founder of the papacy, was born about the year 390, though the exact date is not ascertained. AVe have also no precise information as to his birthplace ; for while the liber povtifcalis describes him as a Tuscan, and names Quintianus as his father, Quesnel, on the au- thority of an expression in one of Leo's own letters (xxxi, 4), and an account of his election by a certain Pros- per, stated that he Avas born at Pome, and this opinion has been accepted without further inquiry by most sub- sequent ecclesiastical writers. While yet an acolyte, Leo was dispatched, in A.D. 418, to Carthage, for the purpose of conveying to Anrelius and the other African bishops the sentiments of Zosimus concerning the Pelagian doc- trines of Ccelestius (q. v.). Under Celestine (q. v.) he discharged the duties of a deacon ; and the reputation even then (431) enjoyed by him is clearly indicated by the terms of the epistle prefixed to the seven books Be Incarnatione Christi of Cassianus, who at his request had undertaken this work against the Nestorian here- sy. About this time he was applied to by Cyril of Alex- andria to settle a ditflculty between Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem, and the primate of the ecclesiastical prov- ince of .Jerusalem. Having obtained a great reputation for his knowledge, energy, and untiring activity, he fail- ed not to secure the full confidence of Sixtus III (432- 440), to whom he rendered valuable service, in several important offices intrusted to him. Attracting also the notice of Valentinian III, he undertook, by request of this emperor, a mission to (iaul, to soothe the formidable dissensions existing between the two generals Aetius and Albinus. While Leo was engaged in this delicate ne-
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gotiatioii, which was conducted with singular prudence and perfect success, Sixtus III died, Aug. 3, 440, and by the inianimons voice of tlie clergy and laity the absent ih'acon Leo was chosen to till the vacant seat. Envoys were at once sent to Gaul to apprise him of his election, and liaving returned to liome he was duly installed, Stpt. "Jit, 440. Both the State and the Church were tlien in a critical position ; the former in consequence of tlie frequent invasions of barbarians ; tlie Church tluough its inner dissensions and quarrels. From the earliest aiiQS until this epoch no man who combined lofty ambi- lion with commanding intellect and political dexterity Jiad presided over the Koman see; and although its in- tlucnce had gradually increased, and many of its bishops had sought to extend and confirm that influence, yet they had merely availed themselves of accidental cir- cumstances to augment their own personal authority, without acting upon any distinct and well -devised scheme. But Leo, while he zealously watched over his own peculiar flock, concentrated all the powers of his energetic mind upon one great design, which he seems to have formed at a very early period, and which he kept steadfastly in view during a long and eventful life, following it out with consummate boldness, per- severance, and talent. This was nothing less than the establishment of the " apostolic chair" as a spiritual su- premacy over every branch of the Catholic Church, and the exclusive appropriation for its occupant of the title of Papa, or father of the whole Christian world. Leo ma}' therefore be regarded as the precursor of Gregory the Great, and in this respect certainly deserved the sur- name of Great, which was given him. The evil days amid which his lot was cast were not unfavorable, as might at first sight be supposed, to such a project. The contending parties among the orthodox clergy, terrified bv tlie rapiil progress of Arianism, were well disposed to refer their minor disputes to arbitration. Leo, who well knew, from the example of his predecessor Innocent I, that the transition is easy from instruction to command, in the numerous and elaborate replies which he address- ed to incpiiries proceeding from various quarters, studi- ously adopted a tone of absolute infallibility, and as- sumed the right of enforcing obedience to his decisions as an unquestionable prerogative of his office, deriving authority for such a position from the relation of Peter to Christ and to the other apostles. He represented Pe- ter as most intimately connected with Christ: "Petrum in consortium individuie unitatis assumtum,id quod ipse erat, voluit nominari dicendo : Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram redificabo ecclesiam meam, ut asterni tem- pli redificatio, mirabili munere gratia dei, in Petri solid- itate consisteret; hac ecclesiam suam firmitate corrobo- rans, ut illam nee humana temeritas posset appetere, nee jiortaj contra illam inferi pravalcrent" {Letters, x, 1). This community of person into which the Lord received I'eter is then made to extend into a community of pow- er : •■ (^uia tu cs Petrus, i. c. cum ego sim lapis angularis, qui facio utraque unura, ego fundamentum, prreter quod nemo ])otest aliud ponere : tamcn tu ipioque petra es. quia mea virtute solidaris, ot quiB mihi potestate sunt l)ropria, sint tibi mecum participatione communia" (Let- trrs, iv, 2). Peter had been received into the commu- nity of |)erson witli the Lord as a reward for his recog- nition and worship of Christ : true, he had denied his iMastcr, but this the Lord had intentionally permitted to li.ip]ien. But, in coHii)arisou wiih the other apostles, he possessed not onlv all that every one of them did, but also much that tlie others did not {Letters, iv, 2), and was their original chief: "Transivit quidem etiam in alios apostolos jus potcstatis istius (ligandi et solvendi) et ad omncs ccclesia; principes decreti hnjus constitutio commcavit, sed non frustra uni commendatur, quod om- nil)us intimetur. Petro cnini ideo hoc singulariter cred- itur, ([ui cunctis ecclesia; rectoril)Us Petri forma pncjion- itur." It is only in him that tlie apostles were intrusted with their mission — in him they arc all saved ; and it is for this reason that the Lord takes special care of him,