Pope Leo I, a.k.a. Leo the Great by Charles Gore

Today’s free book is a biography of Pope Leo I, also called Leo the Great by Charles Gore. He is considered one of the most significant Popes by historians and theologians alike.

He was a Roman aristocrat, and was the first pope to have been called “the Great”. He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452 and persuaded him to turn back from his invasion of Italy. He is also a Doctor of the Church, most remembered theologically for issuing the Tome of Leo, a document which was a major foundation to the debates of the Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council. That meeting dealt primarily with Christology and elucidated the orthodox definition of Christ’s being as the hypostatic union of two natures, divine and human, united in one person, “with neither confusion nor division”. It was followed by a major schism associated with Monophysitism, Miaphysitism and Dyophysitism.

Wikipedia

This public domain title was digitised from the copy held in Spurgeon’s College library.

Charles Gore [1853-1932], Leo the Great. The Fathers for English Readers. London: SPCK, n.d. Hbk.pp.175. Click here to visit the download page for this title]

Table of Contents

1. The Age of Leo
2. The Church and the World
3. Leo and the Manichaeans
4. Eutychianism
5. The Fourth General Council
6. Leo the Pope
7. Leo the Pope (continued)
8. Triumph and Death of Leo
9. Leo the Disciplianarian
10. Leo the Theologian
11. Leo and His Contemporaries

Main image: Francisco de Herrera el Mozo (spanish, 1622-1685): Saint Leo Magnus (pope Leo I), Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain. Source: Wikipedia