From: trudie.Miller@cox.net   
      
   November 10th - St. Leo the Great   
      
   St. Leo the Great, who reigned as Pope from 440 to 461, was one of the greatest   
   Popes of History. He fought against numerous heresies that agitated the Church,   
   principally against the Manicheans and Pelagians. In 452 he faced Attila and   
   convinced the scourge of God and his Huns not to attack Rome and to leave   
   Italy.   
   He was also able to thwart the destruction of Rome by Genseric three years   
   later.   
      
   Many Africans who had been driven away by the Vandals had settled in Rome and   
   established a secret Manichean community there. When St. Leo discovered them,   
   he   
   denounced them to priests and religious, and warned the people to be on their   
   guard against this reprehensible heresy.   
      
   In Spain the heresy of Priscillianism still survived and was attracting new   
   adherents, provoking countless riots and general agitation. St. Leo was   
   informed   
   of this situation by St. Turibius, Bishop of Astorga in Spain. The Pope wrote   
   him a long letter in which he refuted the errors of the Priscillian heresy and   
   qualified it as the "sewer of all the prior heresies." In particular he   
   condemned its denial of free will and the influence of astrology, considered   
   infallible. St. Leo also showed the connection between the Priscillians and the   
   Manicheans, and sent St. Turibius the conclusions of the juridical processes   
   that he had made against the latter in Rome.   
      
   In these processes one can see the seed of the future Inquisition. They were   
   presided over by the Pope, who was assisted by Bishops, clergy, senators and   
   other illustrious personages. During them, he would declare to the faithful   
   their obligation to denounce the heretics; question those under suspicion; try   
   to make them retract from their errors; give penances to those who returned to   
   the Church; and deliver to the civil authorities those who were obstinate in   
   their positions so they might be adequately punished.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   This selection is very beautiful because you can see how St. Leo the Great   
   acted   
   with the authority of a Pope and at the same time as a saint, that is, a person   
   whom the Catholic Church declared infallibly to be one who heroically practiced   
   all the virtues.   
      
   His sanctity, by the way, was confirmed by a colossal miracle. When he went out   
   to meet Attila, as he approached him, St. Peter appeared over the Pope and made   
   the barbarian retreat. This was one of the great miracles in the History of the   
   Church.   
   This man who was so holy was a persecutor of heretics. Manicheans who had fled   
   from Africa to Italy because of the persecution of the Vandals received a   
   severe   
   reception from St. Leo. He gave sermons warning the people against them and   
   exhorted the people to denounce them to the Church.   
      
   When the heresy of the Priscillians re-emerged in Spain, he supported the fight   
   of St. Turibius, Bishop of Astorga, to suppress it. Further, he established a   
   kind of Inquisition in Rome, and he was the one who presided over its sessions,   
   assisted by Bishops and illustrious persons. He carried out the role of   
   Inquisitor - he questioned them to see if there were heresies, tried to convert   
   those who were in error, and ordered punishment for those who refused the   
   Catholic doctrine. You can see, therefore, that he was practicing a holy   
   violence against the heretics. And this in no way was opposed to his sanctity.   
   It was a virtue, a virtue that today is poorly appreciated, because it is the   
   opposite of the bad ecumenism.   
      
   What would St. Leo the Great say and do if he would rise up from his grave and   
   see the Catholic Church in the sad situation she is in today where all heresies   
   are unopposed? He would immediately order the re-installation of an   
   Inquisition.   
   Therefore, let us pray to St. Leo, asking him to re-ignite in the Church the   
   spirit of the Inquisition, the spirit of discernment, of holy vigilance, of   
   balanced intransigence, of militancy and the fight. If this were established in   
   the Church, perhaps the world could avoid the terrible chastisement through   
   which it needs to pass. Let us pray to him asking that we might be enflamed   
   with   
   this spirit and that it be maintained in the Holy Church until the end times.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Virtue is nothing without the trial of temptation, for there is no conflict   
   without an enemy, no victory without strife.   
   -Pope Saint Leo the Great   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   7 Behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also   
   that pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves   
   because of him. Even so. Amen. 8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the   
   end, saith the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.   
   (Apoc. 1:7-8)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer of St. John Chrysostom, Before Communion:   
      
   O Lord my God, I know that I am not worthy nor sufficient that Thou shouldest   
   enter under my roof into the habitation of my soul, for it is all deserted and   
   in ruins, and Thou hast not a fitting place in me to lay Thy head.  But as from   
   the heights of Thy glory Thou didst humble Thyself, so now bear me in my   
   humility; as Thou didst deign to lie in a manger in a cave, so deign now also   
   to   
   come into the manger of my mute soul and corrupt body.  As Thou didst not   
   refrain from entering into the house of Simon the leper, or shrink from eating   
   there with sinners, so also vouchsafe to enter the house of my poor soul, all   
   leprous and full of sin.  Thou didst not reject the sinful woman who ventured   
   to   
   draw near to touch Thee, so also have pity on me, a sinner, approaching to   
   touch   
   Thee.  And grant that I may partake of Thine All-holy Body and Precious Blood   
   for the sanctification, enlightenment and strengthening of my weak soul and   
   body; for the relief from the burden of my many sins; for my preservation   
   against all the snares of the devil; for victory over all my sinful and evil   
   habits; for the mortification of my passions; for obedience to Thy   
   Commandments;   
   for growth in Thy divine Grace and for the inheritance of Thy Kingdom.  For it   
   is not with careless heart that I approach Thee, O Christ my God, but I come   
   trusting in Thine infinite goodness, and fearing lest I may be drawn afar from   
   Thee and become the prey of the wolf of souls.  Wherefore I pray Thee, O   
   Master,   
   Who alone art holy, that Thou wouldest sanctify my soul and body, my mind and   
   heart and reins, and renew me entirely. Implant in my members the fear of Thee,   
   be Thou my helper and guide, directing my life in the paths of peace, and make   
   me worthy to stand at Thy right hand with Thy Saints; through the prayers and   
   intercessions of Thine immaculate Mother, of Thy Bodiless Servitors, of the   
   immaculate Powers, and of all the Saints who from all ages have been   
   well-pleasing unto Thee.  Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)