Leo the Great preaches a Latin sermon in Rome in 453 on the feast of Epiphany in which he praises the *Innocents (children killed on the orders of Herod, S00268).
Evidence ID
E05504
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Leo the Great (pope)
Leo the Great, Sermon 38
Summary:
Leo tells his congregation that on this day they must consider the children whom Herod ordered to be killed. These children should be praised. Indeed, 'in the killing of all the infants a pattern of martyrdom was set' (in occisione infantium cunctorum martyrum forma praecesserit).
Summary: Frances Trzeciak.
Liturgical Activities
Sermon/homily
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Theorising on SanctityConsiderations about the hierarchy of saints
Source
Leo the Great’s sermons were composed and delivered to the congregation in Rome throughout his papacy, between 440 and 461. The vast majority of these sermons were delivered at St Peter’s at the Vatican. The most recent editor of these sermons, A. Chavasse, argues that Leo edited and circulated a collection of 59 sermons, composed between 441 and 445, and that a second group of sermons from the latter part of his papacy were edited and circulated shortly after his death in 460. It is possible that these sermons were intended to provide a model for other bishops or to educate priests and the lower clergy.Bibliography
Text:Chavasse, A., Sancti Leonis Magni Romani Pontificis tractaus (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 138, 138A; Turnhout, 1973).
Translation:
Freeland, J. and Conway, A., St Leo the Great Sermons (Fathers of the Church 93; Washington D.C., 1996).
Further Reading:
Demacopoulos, G.E., The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity (Philadelphia, 2013).
Salzman, M.R., "Leo’s Liturgical Topography: Contestations for Space in Fifth-Century Rome," Journal of Roman
Studies 103 (2013), 208-232.
Wessel, S., Leo the Great and the Spiritual Rebuilding of Rome (Leiden, 2008).
Record Created By
Frances Trzeciak
Date of Entry
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00268 | Innocents, children killed on the orders of Herod | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Frances Trzeciak, Cult of Saints, E05504 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05504