From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   July 17th -  Pope St. Leo IV   
      
   847 - 855 AD   
      
   With St. Peter's standing forlorn and desolate, the Romans, terrified at the   
   Saracen peril, hastened to elect the holy priest Leo. After two months'   
   delay,   
   they decided to go ahead with his consecration without waiting for imperial   
   confirmation. But they sent to Emperor Lothair to assure him that they did   
   not   
   mean to lessen his prerogative.   
      
   Though Leo was a Roman, his father's name Radoald might possibly be an   
   indication of Teutonic descent. Educated in the monastery of St. Martin, Leo   
   made such a reputation for holiness that Gregory IV took him for the papal   
   service. Sergius II made him cardinal-priest of the Four Crowned Martyrs'   
   Church.   
      
   Leo, though a spiritual man, had to devote a great deal of time to temporal   
   matters. Determined that the sack of St. Peter's should not be repeated, Leo   
   started to build a wall around the Vatican Hill and district. It was a great   
   undertaking for those rude times, but the energy of the Pope was unflagging.   
   He   
   got money from the Emperor and workers from the agricultural estates of the   
   patrimony. But while the walls were rising, news came that near Sardinia a   
   great   
   Saracen fleet was being readied to sail against Rome. This time, however,   
   the   
   Italians took measures to defend the Eternal City. A fleet from the Southern   
   seaports of Naples, Amalfi and Gaeta, sailed into the Tiber. Since these   
   cities   
   were nominally under the Eastern Emperor, the Romans wondered whether the   
   fleet   
   had come to help them or attack them. When Admiral Caesarius reassured the   
   Pope,   
   Leo led a Roman army to Ostia to join the fleet. He celebrated Mass and gave   
   Holy Communion to all hands. Thus fortified spiritually and ready with their   
   arms, the Christians met the Saracens. After some indecisive fighting, a   
   strong   
   wind blew up, separated the fleets, and completely wrecked the Saracen   
   fleet;   
   Rome was saved.   
      
   Leo did not remain idle. He kept the walls rising, and finally in 852, they   
   were   
   ready. The new enclosed area, justly called the Leonine City, was dedicated   
   by   
   the Pope with a solemn procession around the walls and a Mass. Leo also   
   built a   
   fortified town at Portus near the mouth of the Tiber and settled Corsican   
   refugees there to man the walls. He rebuilt Centumcellae, sacked by the   
   Saracens   
   back in 813, in a better location. He also did what he could to restore St.   
   Peter's and adorn other churches.   
      
   Leo held a synod in 853 which renewed the reform canons of Eugene's synod in   
   826. He gave added solemnity to the feast of Mary's Assumption by giving it   
   an   
   octave. He protected his subjects from rapacious underlings.   
      
   Two monarchs were crowned by Leo. Louis, Lothair's son, was crowned emperor   
   in   
   850. In 853 a far more interesting coronation took place. Ethelwulf, king of   
   the   
   West Saxons, sent his young son Alfred to be crowned by Pope Leo. The Pope   
   made   
   Alfred his spiritual son.   
      
   St. Leo died July 17, 855, with a great reputation for sanctity. Indeed he   
   was   
   credited with working miracles. His feast is kept on July 17.   
      
      
   Quote:   
   No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does   
   you   
   harm. You have no enemy except yourselves.   
   -St. Francis of Assisi   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And they sung to thy holy name, O Lord, and they praised with one accord thy   
   victorious hand. For wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the   
   tongues   
   of infants eloquent.  (Wisdom 10:20-21)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   (Prayer to St. Joseph before Mass)   
      
   From the Roman Missal.  This prayer is a prayer for priests, but since all   
   the faithful are obliged to unite with our priest in offering Holy Mass, it   
   would be suitable for the laity as well:   
      
   O Blessed Joseph, happy man, to whom it was given not only to see and to   
   hear that God Whom many kings longed to see, and saw not, to hear, and   
   heard not; but also to carry Him in your arms, to embrace Him, to clothe   
   Him, and guard and defend Him.   
      
   V. Pray for us, O Blessed Joseph.   
   R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.   
      
     O God, Who has given us a royal priesthood, we beseech Thee, that as   
   Blessed Joseph was found worthy to touch with his hands, and to bear in his   
   arms, Thine only-begotten Son, born of the Virgin Mary, so may we be made   
   fit, by cleanness of heart and blamelessness of life, to minister at Thy   
   holy altar; may we, this day, with reverent devotion partake of the Sacred   
   Body and Blood of Thine Only-begotten Son, and may we in the world to come   
   be accounted worthy of receiving an everlasting reward. Through the same   
   Christ our Lord. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)