Pope Leo I
Pope from 440 to 461 (390-461) · Italy · Religious Figures · Died at 71
Pope Leo I is read about 759 times a day, in 85 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?He talked Attila the Hun out of sacking Rome - or so the story goes. Whether it was Leo's presence or the warlord's own calculation that turned the invasion around in 452 is still argued, but the meeting made him the Pope who could face down an empire on horseback.
A life in dates
Also in Deutsch
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About this person
Born into the Roman aristocracy around 391, Leo became Bishop of Rome on 29 September 440. Two years into his papacy, he traveled north to meet Attila as the Hun's forces bore down on Italy; Attila withdrew, and Leo's legend was set, though historians still debate how much was persuasion and how much was Attila's pre-existing intent to pull back. Theologically, he issued the Tome of Leo, a text that became foundational at the Council of Chalcedon in defining Christ as one person in two natures - divine and human, neither confused nor divided. The doctrine triggered a schism that split churches for centuries. He also shaped the architecture of papal authority itself, arguing for Rome's primacy in ways that outlasted him. He died on 10 November 461, the first pope called "the Great."
Religious Figures from Italy 6
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