Pope Leo I
c. 400 – 461 · Bishop of Rome
Feast: 10 November (Catholic) · 18 February (Orthodox)
Leo did two things. First, in 451, he sent his Tome to the Council of Chalcedon — a short letter laying out how Christ is one person in two natures — and the council read it and declared 'Peter has spoken through Leo.' That definition is still the test of orthodoxy in every mainstream church East and West. Second, when Attila the Hun came to sack Rome in 452, Leo rode out to meet him and Attila turned around. Whatever actually happened in that conversation, the symbolism stuck. After Leo, the Bishop of Rome is no longer just one bishop among many — he's the figure who speaks for the West and stands in for an empire that's collapsing.
Primary source for this figure.
— Leo, Tomus ad Flavianum (Ep. 28)
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