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DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
25.
Besides being a watchful shepherd of Christ's flock and a stouthearted defender
of the true faith, St. Leo is honored also as a Doctor of the Church, one, that
is, who excelled in expounding and sponsoring those divine truths which every
Roman Pontiff safeguards and proclaims.
Pope Benedict's Eulogy
26.
In support of this We quote that magnificent eulogy of St. Leo written by Pope
Benedict XIV in his Apostolic Constitution Militantis Ecclesiae, October
12th 1754, when he made him a Doctor of the Church:-
27.
"It was due to his excelling virtue, his teaching, and his most vigilant
zeal as shepherd of his people, that he won from our forefathers the title
Great. In expounding the deeper mysteries of our faith and vindicating it
against the errors that assail it, in imparting disciplinary rules and moral
precepts, the excellence of his teaching is so radiant with the majestic
richness of priestly eloquence and has so won the admiration of the world and
the enthusiasm alike of Councils, Fathers and writers of the Church, that the
fame and reputation of this wisest of popes can hardly be rivalled by any other
of the Church's holy doctors."22
The Sermons
28.
It is through his many extant Sermons and Epistles that he principally lays
claim to the title of Doctor. The Sermons cover a great variety of subjects,
nearly all of which have some connection with the liturgical cycle. In all
these writings he is not just the exegete elucidating a Book of Sacred
Scripture, not just the theologian at pains to investigate some divinely
revealed truth. He is the saintly exponent of the Christian mysteries. He
explains them with clarity and with a wealth of detail, in accordance with the
faith of the councils, the Fathers, and the popes who preceded him.
29.
His style is simple, majestic, lofty, persuasive, a model of classic eloquence.
But in declaring the truth he never sacrificed precision to mere rhetoric. He
did not speak or write to be admired, but to enlighten the minds of his
hearers, and to awaken in them the desire to live lives in conformity with the
truths they professed.
The Epistles
30.
The Epistles are the letters he wrote as Sovereign Pontiff to the princes,
priests, deacons and religious of the universal Church. They display his
exceptional qualities of leadership. They show him as a man of keen intellect,
yet full of practical good sense; a man of character who kept to his decisions,
yet a father most ready to forgive; on fire with charity which St. Paul
indicated to all Christians as "a more excellent way."23
31.
For that blend of justice and mercy, of strength and gentleness, which we
observe in his character is surely attributable to that same charity which
Jesus Christ demanded of Peter when He made him a shepherd to feed His lambs
and His sheep.24
32.
In very truth St. Leo's life-long endeavor was to appear before the world in
the character of Christ, the Good Shepherd. In evidence of this, We may quote
the following passage from the Epistles:-
33.
"We are encompassed by both the gentleness of mercy and the strictness of
justice. And because 'all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth' (Ps.
24:10), We are forced according to Our loyalty to the Apostolic See so to
moderate Our opinions as to weigh men's misdeeds in the balance (for, of
course, they are not all of one measure), and to reckon some as to a certain
degree pardonable, but others as altogether reprehensible."25
Devotion to Truth, Harmony, Peace
34.
All in all, these Epistles and Sermons are an eloquent testimony to St. Leo's
passionate devotion, in thought and feeling, word and action, to the welfare of
the Catholic Church and the cause of truth, harmony and peace.
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