Paschal the Primicerius, a nephew of Pope Adrian I was a sore loser.
He wanted to be pope, but in 795, Leo was installed instead. With his
cronies, Paschal plotted a cruel revenge.
On this
day, April 25, 799, as Leo walked in the procession of the
Greater Litanies (a form of chanted prayer and responses on St. Mark's
Day), armed men attacked him.
They scattered the procession and set upon Leo, stabbing his eyes and
attempting to cut out his tongue. Leo fell bleeding in the street. The
ruffians then dragged him to the chapel of St. Sylvester and jabbed at
his eyes again. Finally they left him in the monastery of Erasmus.
Miraculously, Leo recovered sight and the use of his tongue. Friends
helped him escape from the monastery and eventually he worked his way
over the Alps to the court of Charlemagne. The King of the Franks
received Leo sympathetically and returned him to Rome under the
protection of his own officials. The Romans cheered.
Paschal's men leveled wild accusations at Leo. Leo asked the bishops
to try him. They refused, and so he swore in St. Peters that he was
innocent of the charges. Charlemagne ordered the conspirators executed,
but Leo, remembering Christ's command to forgive our enemies, pleaded
for their lives. In the end, they were merely exiled.
While Charlemagne lived, he and Leo maintained a close working
relationship, probably the best ever between the Franks and the popes.
The following Christmas Day, as Charlemagne knelt in St. Peter's, Leo
placed a jeweled crown on his head. The assembly shouted: "To Charles,
the most pious Augustus, crowned by God, to our great and pacific
emperor life and victory!"
By crowning Charlemagne, Leo was in effect claiming that emperors
receive their authority from the church, a proposition which would be
sorely tested in coming centuries. However, Charlemagne protected Leo,
and the two worked together to maintain the peace of Italy and, indeed,
to some extent of the entire Mediterranean world. Charlemagne also gave
Leo rich treasures from his conquests, with which the pope beautified
Rome and assisted the poor.
After Charlemagne died, Leo's enemies resurfaced. Again they plotted
against him. This time Leo found out about it early enough to arrest the
conspirators before they could attack.
Had the years hardened Leo? This time there was no leniency: he had
them executed.
Bibliography:
- Brusher, Joseph Stanislaus. Popes through the Ages.
Princeton, N. J.: Van Nostrand, 1959.
- De Rosa, Peter. Vicars of Christ; the dark side of the papacy.
Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 2000, pp. 45-46.
- Durant, Will. The Age of Faith. Part IV of the Story of
Civilization. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1950, especially pp.
468-469.
- Lea, Henry C. Studies in Church History. Philadelphia:
Henry C. Lea; London: Samson, Low, Son, & Marston, 1869, pp.34,35.
- "Leo III, St." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford,
1997.
- Mann, Horace K. "Pope St. Leo III." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
- Montor, Chevalier Artaud de. Lives and Times of the Popes.
New York: Catholic Publication Society of America, 1909.
- Various encyclopedia and internet articles.
Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/601-900/leo-iii-attacked-in-a-procession-11629757.html
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Comments 0