Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.
LEO III, pope, saint — The justification of L. III (depicted with the features of L. X). Fresco by G. Romano and P. Del Vaga (16th cent.) — Vatican, Stanza dell’Incendio di Borgo.
(photo Alinari)LEO IV, pope, saint — Portrait of L. IV (with the square nimbus, signum viventis), detail of the fresco depicting the Assumption (847–55) — Rome, church of S. Clemente.
He strove to secure Byzantine intervention against the Saracens, to the evident detriment of Carolingian influence. On other occasions he asserted the lofty sense he had of papal dignity, refusing, for example, to recognize Hincmar of Reims as apostolic vicar for France and preventing the bishop of Ravenna from evading, with imperial favor, the rights of the Holy See. He died on 17 July 855.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Iulii, IV, ed. Venezia 1748, pp. 302–26; Lib. Pont., II, pp. 106–39, 148; L. Duchesne, Les premiers temps de l'Etat pontifical, Paris 1911, pp. 216–28, Italian trans., Torino 1947, pp. 128–35; Mansi, XIV, cols. 852–1032; letters in MGH, Epistolae, V, Epist. Karol. aevi, III, pp. 585–612. Luciano Gulli
Cite this article
“LEONE III, PAPA.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VII (1951), p. 693. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/leone-iii-papa.
