Pope St Leo IX (Bruno of Toul) reforming pope 1048-54
From Toul in Alsace
Bruno was born in 1002 at
Toul on the River Moselle in Alsace.
He became a deacon of the local
diocese and he was given command of troops provided by the bishop to put
down a Lombard rebellion, which he accomplished with success.
While he
was away, the bishop died and Bruno was chosen as his successor.
He
ruled the diocese for twenty years encouraging reform, attacking
clerical marriage, simony and nepotism.
Chosen as pope
That he was a distant relative of
the emperor Henry III was a factor in the choice of Bruno by an assembly
at Worms to succeed Pope Damasus II when he died in 1048.
But Bruno
insisted on going to Rome as a pilgrim and was acclaimed by the Roman
clergy and people.
His choice of the name Leo was probably to evoke the
memory Pope St Leo the Great.
Travels and reform
Once acclaimed, Leo determined
to take the papacy out beyond Rome through Italy, Germany and France.
He held reforming synods at Pavia, Cologne, Aachen, Mainz and Reims
working with and through the kings to do away with simony and clerical
marriage.
At Reims he made a purge of bishops who had gained their sees
by simony.
Those who confessed were restored; others were excommunicated
or deposed.
He also enforced orthodox doctrine condemning Berengarius
of Tours for heretical teaching on the Eucharist.
Assistants and advisors
He gathered round him an
international body of experts and activists that included Peter Damian
(See 21st February), Humbert of Moyenmoutier, later cardinal and his
delegate to Constantinople, Abbot Hugh of Cluny (See 29th April) and the
energetic Roman monk Hildebrand of Savona, later to become Pope St
Gregory VII (1073-85) (See 25th May).
Struggle with the Normans
Leo was less successful
in dealing with the Normans who had invaded southern Italy.
In fact
although he had an army of German and Italian volunteers, he was
defeated and captured by them in June 1053 at Civitella and detained in
captivity at Benevento during the winter of 1053-4.
Dispute with Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople
Because
on his intervention in the south of Italy where the Byzantine Church
had many churches, Leo IX came under attack from Michael Cerularius,
Patriarch of Constantinople, who accused Rome of heresy,
especially because of its use of unleavened bread for the Eucharist.
Leo
replied citing the Donation of Constantine claiming that the Pope had
both an earthly and a heavenly authority.
The Patriarch rejected the
claims of papal primacy, and subsequently the Catholic Church was split
in two in the Great East-West Schism of 1054.
Leo's death and influence
But Leo did not live to
see the full outcome of that conflict.
The campaign against the Normans
took its toll on him.
He returned to Rome a sick man and died piously
on April 9, 1054.
Many miraculous cures were attributed to him and he
was acclaimed a saint.
His military involvement was criticised by St
Peter Damian, but he did set in train a programme to end simony,
clerical marriage and lay investiture that was later brought forward by
Pope St Gregory VII.