lari/, called iT^IX ^S ("The Lion's Mouth"), of which the Italian title is RaccoUa delle vnci Rubin, non Hehr. n'e Cliulil., etc. (Padua, 1040; appended to the preceding work ; afterwards printed separately in Venice, 1G48) : — A polemical treatise against the Cabalists, wliom he de- spised and derided, on the genuineness of their inter- pretation of the Pentateuch {Sohar), entitled i"iX "iSD cni: (edited by Dr. Flirst, Leipzic, 1840) : — Historia dei Riti Uebraici ed observanza der/li llebrei di quesii tempi, or the history of the rites, customs, and manner of life of the Jews, consisting of thirteen chapters, and written in Italian (Paris, 1637 ; in a revised form, Venice, 1638). This celebrated and most useful manual was translated into English by Edmund Chilmead (Lond. IGoO); and also edited by Simon Ockley, under the title Ilistory of the present Jews throughout the World (London, 1707), in Picard's Ceremonies and R<H<jitius Customs of the vari- ous Nations of the hiown World, vol. i (London, 1733) ; into French by father Simon, who prefaced it with an elaborate account of the Karaites and Samaritans (Par. 1674); into Dutch (Amsterd. 1683), and into Latin by Grosgebauer, Historia rituum Judaorum (Frankfort-on- the-ilain, 1693) : — Commentar;/ on the Books of Samuel : — Commentar;/ on the Jive Mef/illotli, i. e. the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther: — Commentary on the Psalms : — Commentary on Provei-bs : — Commentary on the Sabbatic Lessons : — and a polemi- cal work against Christianity, entitled ^^m ');"2; but several of these works have not as yet been published. Leo died in Venice, where he was chief rabbi, in 1648. See his autobiography, entitled «TTiiTi ""TI, extant only in MS., from which extracts were made by Carmoly, i?ei'. Orirnfak (1842), p. 49 sq., and Reggio, nbnpn rD"in3 (1852) ; Fiirst, Bibl. Judaica, ii, 383 sq.; Steinschneider, Cataloyus Libr. Ilebr. in Bibl. Bodleiana, col. 1345-56 ; Der Israeatische Volkslehrer (Frankfort -on -the -Main, 1854), iv, 91 sq., 186 sq., 247 sq. ; 1855, v, 396 sq. ; Geiger, in Liebermann's Volkskalender-Jahrbuch, 1856; Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, x, 141 sq. ; Kitto, Cyclop. Bibl. Lit. vol. ii, s. V.
Leon or Leone, Jacob Jehudah, a Jewish \^-riter of note, who was born, of Moorish descent, in 1614, in Holland, and tlourished first at Jliddelburg and later at Amsterdam, is noted as a writer on the Temple model (compare Retrato del Templo, Middelb. 1642, or Hebrew Pr"^!! r.'^DSr, Amst. 1650), and as an illustrator of the Talraudical writings. He also figured prominenth- as a polemical writer, contending for the inspiration of the O.-T. writings, while he ruthlessly attacked the (iospel doctrines. He is now generally supposed to ha\e been the author of Colloquium JMiddelburgense (attributed by Fabricius to Manasse ben-Israel), and of Con diff'erentes theologos de la Christianidad. Leon died after 1671. See Griitz, Gesch. d. Juden, x, 24 sq., 200 sq. ; Fiirst, Biblioth. Jud. ii, 232 s(i.
Leon, Luis Ponce de, a Spanish ecclesiastic, was born at Belmonte. in the south of Spain, in 1527 (ac- cording to the Tesoro de los Prosadores Espafioles por Ochod [Paris, 1841], at Granada; and according to St. Antonio and Ticknor at Belmonte in 15281. He stud- ied at Salamanca, entered in 1543 the order of the Au- gustines, and was thereafter known under the name of Luis de Leon. Having been received D.I)., he was in 1561 appointed to a professorship at St. Thomas. His knowledge and success created him many enemies, at the head of whom were the Dominicans of Granada. Accused of heresy and of having translated parts of the Bible into tlic vernacidar, contrary to the orders of the Sanctum Olhcium, he was in 1572 imprisoned in the dungeon of the Inquisition at Valladolid, and appeared over fifty times before the high court. His defence, which is extant, contains 200 closely-written pages in the purest Castilian. Although iniable to ])rove anj'- thiug against him, his judges condemned him to the
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rack ; but this sentence was reversed by the Inquisito- rial high court of Madrid, and he was liberated with the advice of being more careful in future. In 1578 he returned to his convent and resumed his otHco. He thereafter devoted himself exclusively to tlieologj' and to the duties of his order; but his health never recov- ered entirely from the shock it had undergone while in the prisons of the Inquisition. He became general and provincial vicar of his order in Salamanca, and died in 1591. His principal writings are poems in Latin and in Spanish ; the latter are distinguished for beauty of lan- guage and purity cf style. His original jjieces have been published, with a German translation, by C. B. SchlUter and W, Storck (Minister, 1853). His whole works, consisting of the above, together with transla- tions from the classics, the Psalms, and jiarts of the book of Job, were collected and published (iNIadrid, 1804-16, G vols.). See Quevedo, Vita de L. de L. (Madrid, 1G31) ; Herzog, Real-Eiicyklopddie, s. v.
Leonard, St., a French nobleman who flourished in the first half of the Gth century, was a convert and pu- pil of Kemigius. He retired at first into a convent near Orleans, and aftenvards into a hermitage in the neigh- borhood of Limoges. Here he applied himself to the conversion of the people. A few followers soon gath- ered around him, and he founded the convent of No- blac. He took special interest in prisoners, and the le- gend relates that centuries after his death prisoners were released and captives brought back from distant countries through his intercession. His prayers arc said to have saved the life of the queen of France in a dan- gerous confinement, and he became also the protector of travellers. He died in 559, and is commemorated on the 6th of November. He is especially recognised in France and in England. — Herzog, Recti- Encyklop. viii, 332 ; Migne, Nour. Encyc. Theolo(j. ii, 1168. (J. N. P.)