Leo di Roma (abt. 790 - 855)

Born about 0790 in Rome, Papal States

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Pope Leo IV di Roma is Notable.

Leo was Roman by birth, educated in Rome in the monastery of St Martin.^[1]

His papacy began on 10 May 847.^[2]

Platina^[3] states:

Leo the Fourth, a Roman, son of Radulphus, was in the year 847 by a general consent elected Pope, and very deservedly; for he was one that, whilst he lived a private life, was very eminent for religion, innocence, piety, good nature, liberality, and especially for ecclesiastical learning.

His papacy ended with his death on 17 July 855.^[2][1][3] He was buried in St Peter's Basilica.

Flocknote Popes in a Year^[4] tells us:

Leo, a Roman by birth, was a very devout and holy man. Prior to being pope, he was educated at the monastery of St. Martin in Rome, served as a subdeacon under Pope Gregory IV, then as cardinal and pastor of the Church of the Quatuor Coronati (“Four Crowned Martyrs”).

Given the ruinous state of the city at the time, it appeared that the Roman nobility put aside their ambitions and let Leo be chosen as the 102nd Successor of St. Peter. Leo ensured the repair of churches damaged in the Saracen raids of 846, though St. Peter’s Basilica reportedly was never the same. In his later years, Leo held a meeting of bishops in Rome to address some disciplinary issues and to condemn an unruly bishop, Anastasius. Spoken of by both his biographer and Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, as a worker of many miracles, St. Leo IV died July 17, 855 and was buried in St. Peter’s.

That big, thick wall you can still see surrounding the Vatican Hill in Rome is thanks to none other than our venerable Pope St. Leo IV. Working quickly after being elected to protect the Eternal City from further attacks by the Saracen army, Leo set about re-fortifying the area over the course of the next four years. He had 15 towers completely rebuilt, restored the walls of the city, and built new walls on the right bank of the Tiber River to prevent a repeat of the attack that occurred under Sergius II’s watch. The newly-fortified portion was affectionately titled “The Leonine City” after the pope, and bears the same name to this day.

Leo IV is also known for organizing a fleet to combat and defeat the Saracen Army at sea in the 849 Battle of Ostia. Interestingly enough, records indicate that the Italian ships were aided in their victory by an aptly-timed wind storm. Perhaps Someone was just practicing for another naval battle 700 years later.

Leo IV, whose name literally means “lion” in Latin, was the fourth-straight "Pope Leo" to be recognized as a saint after death. It’s the only papal name whose first four occupants carry the halo.

In 850, the world changed forever. According to legend, an Ethiopian goat-herder named Kaldi began to notice that his goats became surprisingly energetic after chewing berries from certain plants. When Kaldi took the berries to a monk, the monk promptly threw them into the fire, but was drawn back by the attractive smell they produced. When other monks began to gather, they soon pulled the roasted berries out of the fire, ground them, and stewed them in hot water. Thus, coffee was born.

Research Notes

This profile is being updated by the Popes Project.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Wikipedia Pope Leo IV
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Vatican
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Platina, Bartolomeo (1479) The Lives of the Popes From the Time of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII, I, London: Griffith Farran & Co., p220-224, retrieved 2021-04-09.
4. ↑ Flocknote Popes in a Year
   SOURCES (and further reading)
   John, E. (1964). The Popes: A concise biographical history. New York: Hawthorn Books.
   Pope St. Leo IV - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09159a.htm
   Pope Leo IV - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_IV
   History of coffee - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee#First_use