Leo XI, Pope {A lessandro de Medici"), a descendant of the house of the Medici, was bom at Florence in 1535. After representing Tuscany for some years at the court of pope Pius y, he was made bishop of Pistoia in 1573, and archbishop of Florence in 1574. Made cardinal in 1583, he was sent by his predecessor, Clement YIH, leg- ate a latere to France to receive Henrj' lY into the bosom of the Poman Catholic Church. He Avas very old when elected, on the 1st of April, 1G05, by the ut- most exertions of the French, against the wishes of the Spanish. He died on the 27th of the same month, it is said, from the fatigue attending the ceremony of taking possession of the patriarchal church of St. John the Lat- eran. See Artaud de jMontor, Histoire des Soiirerains Ponfifes ; Bower, History of the Pojxs, vii, 476 ; Hoefer, Nouv. Eiog. Generale, xxx, 725; Engl. Cyclop, s. v.
Leo XII, Pope (cardinal Annihale della Genga), was born in the district of Spoleto in 17G0, of a noble family of the Pomagna; was made archbishop of Tyre in 1793, and was later employed as nuncio to Germany and France by Pius YII, who made him a cardinal in 1816. On the death of this pontiff he was elected pope, m September, 1823. He was well acquainted with di- plomacy and foreign politics, and in the exercise of his authority, and in asserting the claims of his see, he as- sumed a more imperious tone than his meek and benev- olent predecessor. He re-established the right of asy- lum for criminals in the churches, and enforced the strict observance of fast days. He was a declared en- emy of the Carbonari and other secret societies. He proclaimed a jubilee for the year 1825; and in his cir- cular letter accompanying the bull, addressed to the patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops, he made a violent attack on the Bible Societies, as acting in op- position to the decree of the Comicil of Trent (session iv) -concerning the publication and use of the sacred books. Leo also entered into negotiations with the new states of South America for the sake of flllLng up the vacant sees. He gave a new organization to the uni- versity of the Sapienza at Pome, which consists of five colleges or faculties, viz., theology-, law, medicine, plii- losophy, and philology; and he increased the number of the professors, and raised their emoluments. He pub- lished in October, 1824, a Moto l^roprio, or decree, re- forming the administration of the papal state, and also the administration of justice, or Procedura Civile, and he fixed the fees to be paid by the litigant parties. He corrected several abuses, and studied to maintain order and a good police in his territories. He died February 10, 1829, and was succeeded bv Pius YIII. See Engl. Cyclop. 8. v. ; Pudoni, Leone XII e Pio VIII (1829) ; Schmid, Trauerre de mif Leo XII (1829) ; Artaud de IMontor, Iliitoire du pajw Leon XII (1843, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Wiseman, Recollections of the last four Popes (see In- dex).
Leodegar, a saint (in French St.IJger), was born about 616. He was educated by his uncle (some say his grandfather), the bishop of Poitiers, who made him archdeacon. Leodegar was afterwards called to the
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court as adviser of Bathilde, and tutor of her young son Chotaire. lu 659 lie was appointed bishop of Autun. That diocese was tlicu in a rather dilajiidated condition, an I Leodei^ar api)Hcd liiniself at uncc to its restoration, lie supported the poor, instriirted the elcrgy and the peo- ple, decorated and enriched tlie churches, and reformed the morals of convents by introducing the rule of St. Benedict, for which purpose he held a synod at the end of (570. He was also instrumental in securing to Cliil- derie 11, of Austrasia, the western part of France in ()70 ; but the tickle monarch did not long consent to be ruled by his advice, and Leodegar was finally disposed of by public execution after Chilileric's death, being ac- cused of complicity in his murder, in (J78. His death is commemorated in the Eoman Catholic Church Oct. 2.
Leoii DA MoDKN.v (bex-Isaac ben-Moudecai), also called Jehudah Arje Modunege, one of the most cel- ebrated Italian rabbis, the Jewish John Knox of the lOth century in Italy, was born in Venice April 23, 1571, of an ancient and literary family, originalh' from France. Leon displayed his talents and extraordinary intellect- ual endowments at a most tender age. The Sabbatic lesson [see HaphtarahJ, it is said, he read before the Avhole congregation in the synagogue when he was only two and a half years old, and he began to preach (""^Tl) when he had scarce reached the age of ten. At thir- teen Leon came before the pidjlic with a treatise against gambling with dice and cards (entitled "T^'O "ID, first published in 159(3, and reprinted in French, Latin, and German), and thus active, and retaining all the vigor and elasticity of youth, he remained through lii'e, though subjected to great suffering by the great misfor- tune of passing his days by the side of an insane wife, and by following his promising sons to an early grave. With a genius so fertile, and a mind so well endowed, coupled with a thirst for learning and devotedness to Biblical literature and exegesis, master of the Latin, Italian, and Hebrew, he surveyed the whole theological and philosophical field with ease, and became the author of numerous poetical, liturgical, ethical, doctrinal, po- lemical, and cxegetical works. Unfortimately, ho-,v- ever, for Leon Modena, he was fickle in mind, and loth to adhere long to one opinion, in consequence of which we find him to-day the decided exponent of jMosaism, to-morrow the staunch defender of Kabbinism, the next day in favor of a total abrogation of the whole ceremo- nial law, and perhaps on the day following an apologist for Christianity, because, as he expressed it, Judaism formed its base. Both the orthodox and liberal Jews claim Leon as the exponent of their doctrines; but we think that justly he can be claimed only by the Re- formed Jewish Church, for his masterpiece is, after all, the Kol Sahol {hiZ':i ^1p)> ^^^^ existence of which was long known, but it was only in the present centur\- that the 1\IS. was discovered in the library of the duke of I'arma. It was then drawn from its hiding-place, and was published under the supervision of the late rabbi Reggio in np::pn rj^na (tiorz, 1852); an English translation appeared in The Jewish Times (New York), in the last numbers of 1871. This work contains a con- cise and terse ex|)osition of the religious philosophy of Judaism, and of the ideas embodied in the various cere- monial practices, and is written from a most liberal stand-point. He also wrote "im '3, a treatise on Me- tempsychosis, in whicli he takes ground against the Cahalists (published in n^:p Cr-i. j). Gl sq.) ■.—I/ebreio and Italian Dictionai'j), caW'A min"' M^J ("The Cap- tivity of Judah"), or "i^T ^'rSJ ("Explanation of Words"), in which he exjilains in Italian all the difficult expressions in the Hebrew Bible, and which is preceded by grammatical rules (Venice, I(;i2; I'.-rdua, ](;40; also printed in the margin of the Hel)rew Bibles published for the use of the Italian Jews, folhiwing tiie order of the canonical books) ■.—llabbinival and Jtalian Vvcabu-