To the Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Local Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See: Commemorating the fifteenth centenary of the death of St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church.

Venerable Brethren Health and Apostolic Benediction

God's eternal wisdom "reacheth from end to end mightily and ordereth all things sweetly."¹ Its light shone with exceptional brilliance in the soul of Pope St. Leo I, for it would seem to have burned into it the very image of itself; so fearless the moral courage displayed by this Pope -"the greatest among the great," as Our later predecessor Pius XII rightly called him²-yet so gentle his fatherly concern.

2. The wisdom of his government, the wealth and scope of his teaching, the loftiness of his mind, his unfailing charity-these are the things which St. Leo the Great brought to enhance the fame of Peter's See, to which Almighty God in His providence has also raised Us. And now, on this fifteenth centenary of his death, We feel it incumbent upon Us to highlight his virtues and his immortal merits, confident that these can be of great spiritual value to us all, and increase the prestige and promote the spread of the Catholic Faith.

Life-long Brilliance

3. Wherein, then, lies the true greatness of this Pope? In moral courage?-in that moral courage which he showed when, at the River Mincius in 452, with no other armor to protect him than his high-priestly majesty, he boldly confronted the barbarous king of the Huns, Attila, and persuaded him to retreat with his armies across the Danube? That was certainly an heroic act and one which accorded well with the Roman pontificate's mission of peace. Yet we must think of it as but one isolated instance of a life-long activity of remarkable brilliance devoted to the religious and social welfare, not merely of Rome and of Italy, but of the whole Church throughout the world.

"The Path of the Just. . . "

4. "The path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day."³ These words of Holy Scripture may well be applied to the life and activity of St. Leo. To be convinced of this we have but to consider St. Leo in his three main characteristic roles: 1) as a man singularly dedicated to the service of the Apostolic See, 2) as Christ's chief Vicar on earth, and 3) as Doctor of the universal Church.