LEONE V, POPE. — He governed for one month, from the end of July 903, succeeding Benedetto IV, until September of the same year.
The reasons why he, a simple priest of a small church in the vicinity of Ardea, Priapi, and therefore a stranger to the clergy of Rome, was elevated to the papacy are unclear. He seems to have continued the Formosian tradition like his predecessors. A palace revolt led by Cristoforo, who became antipope, had him thrown into prison, where he seems to have ended his days under Sergio III. According to Auxilius, he was a man laudabilis vitae et sanctitatis.
BIBL.: Lib. Pont., II, p. 234; A. Fliche-V. Martin, Hist. de l'Eglise, VII, Paris 1948, p. 30. Alberto Ghinato