Leo the Great, Sermons

(a) ‹In Natali S. Petri› · printed under col 429

Erat in editis, In nativitate sanctorum Petri et Pauli; male, cum S. Paulus nec nominetur. Correximus ex vetustiss. Vat., qui sic habet: Item sermo S. Leonis papae in Natali S. Petri apostoli.

The printed editions had In nativitate sanctorum Petri et Pauli [On the nativity of Saints Peter and Paul]; wrongly, since St Paul is not even named. We have corrected it from the very old Vat., which reads thus: Item sermo S. Leonis papae in Natali S. Petri apostoli [Likewise a sermon of St Leo the pope on the Birthday of St Peter the Apostle].

(b) ‹contulit orbi terrarum.› · printed under col 429

Eadem serm. 3, c. 3.

The same words in Sermon 3, chapter 3.

(c) ‹apostolico cordi,› · printed under col 429

Sic emendavimus ex eodem Vat., uti etiam babetur serm. 3, cap. 3, unde haec a Leone sumpta fuerunt. Vulg., omnium.

So we have corrected it from the same Vat., as it is also found in Sermon 3, chapter 3, from which Leo took these words. The printed editions, omnium.

(d) ‹Evangelica siquidem› · printed under col 429

Editi, referente. Correximus ex laudato Vat., cui concinunt illa memorati sermonis cap. 3: Sicut evangelica lectione reseratum est.

The printed editions, referente. We have corrected it from the cited Vat., with which agree those words of chapter 3 of the sermon mentioned: Sicut evangelica lectione reseratum est [As has been disclosed by the Gospel reading].

(e) ‹reserante historia,› · printed under col 429

Haec ex Serm. 4. c. 2 seqq.

These words are from Sermon 4, chapter 2 and following.

(f) ‹opinentur interrogat.› · printed under cols 429–430

Haec periodus usque ad verbum, explicatur omittitur in prima editione, nec non in eodem Vat.

This sentence, up to the word explicatur, is omitted in the first edition, and also in the same Vat.

(g) ‹(Matth. XVI, 16, 17);› · printed under col 430

Ex eodem codice adjecimus, id est, uti legitur pariter serm. 4, cap. 2.

We have added id est from the same manuscript, as is likewise read in Sermon 4, chapter 2.

(h) ‹et non caro› · printed under col 430

Particulam nec pro et vulgatorum, supposuimus ex tribus Vat., inter quos antiquissimus reperitur.

We have substituted the particle nec for the et of the printed editions from three Vatican manuscripts, among which the very old one is found.

SYNOPSIS. — I. Petri confessio et excellentia. — II. Quid ipsi Christus contulerit. — III. Pro ipsius fide oravit, et firmitatem fidei tribuit. Totius Ecclesiae principem fecit.

SYNOPSIS. — I. Peter's confession and excellence. — II. What Christ conferred on him. — III. He prayed for his faith, and granted him firmness of faith. He made him prince of the whole Church.

Quod difficultatem non exiguam videtur facessere, illud unum est, excepto exordio sermonis, caetera transcripta deprehendi partim ex sermone tertio, partim ex quarto de Natali suo. At usitatum Leoni fuisse sua repetere atque transcribere, ex Epistolis liquet. Nam in epist. 28, ad Flavianum, cap. 3 et 4, plures sententiae leguntur quae ad verbum sumptae sunt ex serm. 21 et 22. In epist, 124, ad Palaestinos, septem capitula continentur quae totidem verbis (paucis exceptis) inveniuntur in epist. 165, ad Leonem Augustum; et in duabus his epistolis longus occurrit textus sermonis 65, qui duo integra capita perficit. Duae etiam epistolae 30 et 31 non pauca repetita exhibent; epistola autem 18 nonnulla repetit ex epist. 1 et 2. Quis igitur miretur si idipsum in hoc sermone accidit?

What seems to cause no small difficulty is this one thing: that, apart from the opening of the sermon, the rest is found to have been copied partly from the third and partly from the fourth sermon on his own anniversary. But that it was customary for Leo to repeat and copy out his own words is plain from the Letters. For in Letter 28, to Flavian, chapters 3 and 4, several sentences are read which were taken word for word from Sermons 21 and 22. In Letter 124, to the Palestinians, seven chapters are contained which are found in as many words (with a few exceptions) in Letter 165, to Leo Augustus; and in these two letters a long passage of Sermon 65 occurs, which makes up two whole chapters. Letters 30 and 31 also show not a few repeated passages; and Letter 18 repeats some things from Letters 1 and 2. Who then would wonder if the same thing happened in this sermon?

(f) continued from col 429, set in n429

(g), (h) printed under col 430 but called in col 429, set in n429

(i) ‹Propter quod dicitur› · printed under col 430

Ita ex eodem antiquiss. codice, sicut etiam serm. 4, cap. 3. Editi, beato Petro Apostolo.

So from the same very old manuscript, as also in Sermon 4, chapter 3. The printed editions, beato Petro Apostolo.

(j) ‹Transivit quidem› · printed under col 430 (the call is (j) in the text; the note is misprinted "(i)")

Particulam etiam inseruimus ex laudato ms. atque sermone.

We have inserted the particle etiam from the cited manuscript and sermon.

(k) ‹omnibus intimetur.› · printed under col 430

Sic ex iisdem cod. et serm. Editi, Petro enim singulariter hoc creditur.

So from the same manuscript and sermon. The printed editions, Petro enim singulariter hoc creditur.

(l) ‹nisi quod› · printed under col 430

Vocem beatus omissam in editis addidimus ex iisdem cod. et serm.

We have added the word beatus, omitted in the printed editions, from the same manuscript and sermon.

Quod si nihil ejusmodi in aliis qui prodierunt Leonis sermonibus deprehenditur, id eam habere videtur causam, quo recitata in una solemnitate non ita convenirent alteri, uti accommodari potuerunt Natali S. Petri quae olim in Natali suo de Petri laudibus disseruerat. Satis in hoc fuit novum exordium festo S. Petri congruum concinnare; reliqua vero, quae hinc et hinc ex serm. 3 ac 4 excerpta fuerunt, adeo apte et cohaerenter connectuntur, ut eumdem auctorem ac magistrum praeferant; nec quidquam incongruum ullibi recipiunt uti contigit in serm. 1 appendici inserendo, qui etsi ex variis Leonis fragmentis contextus, alicubi tamen consarcinatorem incautum manifestat, quemadmodum suo loco annotabimus, Quid quod nonnullos sermones quibusdam mutatis Leonem repetivisse probabiliter conjecimus annot. 13 in serm. 90, sicut et alios Patres aliquot id genus repetitiones usurpasse ex SS. Zenone et Ambrosio cognoscimus? Quidni igitur noster S. pontifex ex uno et altero sermone plura excerpens atque conjungens, novo praefixo exordio alius festivitatis proprio, novam quamdam formam ac novum sermonem effinxerit?

And if nothing of this kind is detected in the other sermons of Leo that have been published, the reason seems to be this, that things recited on one solemnity would not suit another in the way that what he had once discoursed on his own anniversary in praise of Peter could be adapted to the Birthday of St Peter. In this case it was enough to compose a new opening suited to the feast of St Peter; while the rest, excerpted here and there from Sermons 3 and 4, is joined so aptly and coherently that it displays the same author and master; nor does it admit anything incongruous anywhere, as happened in Sermon 1, to be put in the appendix, which, although woven together from various fragments of Leo, yet in some places betrays a careless patcher, as we shall note in its place. What of the fact that we have conjectured with probability, in note 13 on Sermon 90, that Leo repeated some sermons with certain things changed, just as we know from Saints Zeno and Ambrose that some other Fathers too made use of repetitions of this kind? Why then should our holy pontiff not, by excerpting and joining several things from one sermon and another and prefixing a new opening proper to another festival, have fashioned a certain new form and a new sermon?

Porro verba Beatum Petrum huic civitati dignatus est praerogare, quae in nostris codicibus retinentur, sermonem Romae et a pontifice habitum declarant; nec dubium est quin mutatio vocum in codice quem Quesnellus vidit tribuenda sit arbitrio librarii, qui pro alia Ecclesia particulari Lectionarium scribens, Petrum non suae, sed Romanae civitati praepositum indicare voluit.

Moreover, the words Beatum Petrum huic civitati dignatus est praerogare, which are kept in our manuscripts, show that the sermon was delivered at Rome and by the pontiff; nor is there any doubt that the change of words in the manuscript which Quesnel saw must be attributed to the discretion of a copyist who, writing a Lectionary for another particular Church, wished to indicate that Peter had been set over not his own city but the city of Rome.

(a) ‹rogavi pro te,› · printed under col 431

Ita antiquissimus Vat. et cod. Casin. collect. 1. Editi, ut non deficiat. Mox in vulgatis erat, ne intrent. Correximus ex laudatis codd. ex duobus aliis Vat., quibus concinit lectio serm. 4, cap. 3. Vide quae de hac additione, quam nec in Graeco textu, nec in Latino vulgato reperire est, ibidem animadvertimus annot. 22.

So the very old Vat. and the Monte Cassino manuscript of collection 1. The printed editions, ut non deficiat. Next, the printed editions had ne intrent. We have corrected it from the cited manuscripts [and] from two other Vatican ones, with which the reading of Sermon 4, chapter 3 agrees. See what we have remarked in the same place, note 22, on this addition, which is found neither in the Greek text nor in the Latin Vulgate.

(b) ‹conferatur. Nam et› · printed under col 431

In sequentibus alia omissa, alia transposita, alia mutuata ex serm. 4, c. 4.

In what follows some things are omitted, some transposed, some altered from Sermon 4, chapter 4.

(c) called in col 432, printed under cols 431–432, set in n432

ADMONITIO IN SERMONEM SEQUENTEM.

ADMONITION ON THE FOLLOWING SERMON.

In titulum sequentis sermonis hanc prolixam annotationem Quesnellus apposuit: Ad Attilanam cladem, quae dicuntur in hoc sermone, referenda esse censet card. Baronius ad an. 452 et 455. De direptione Vandalica potius intelligenda esse nonnulla sermonis verba persuadent. Significat enim consuevisse populum, superioribus scilicet annis, confluere ad gratias Deo agendas, ob diem castigationis et liberationis. Dolet Romanos, nec de correptione compungi, nec de remissione laetari. Eisdem objicit vocem hanc propheticam: Flagellasti eos, et non doluerunt; castigasti, et noluerunt accipere disciplinam. Misericordiae Dei imputat quod corda furentium barbarorum mitigare dignatus est. Quae omnia magis vastitati Romanae urbi a Vandalis illatae convenire videntur, quam irruptioni Attilae, a quo Urbs nihil damni passa est, barbaro, antequam illuc irrumperet, divinitus mitigato. Sed haec clarius adhuc elucent ex his capitis 1 verbis: Quis hanc urbem, inquit, reformavit saluti? quis a captivitate eruit? quis a caede defendit? Haec, inquam, clare innuunt de Urbe a Vandalis occupata Leonis sermonem esse explicandum. Nemo enim saluti restituitur, nemo eruitur a captivitate, qui non in hostium fuerit potestate, et cujus salus in summum discrimen adducta non fuerit. Denique quod a caede defensam commemorat civitatem, omnino congruit M⟨i⟩scellae historiae narrationi, quae ita habet: « Gensericus continuo vacuam praesidio civitatem capit, et occursu Leonis papae mitigatus, ab « incendio, caedibus atque suppliciis urbem immunem servavit. » Porro sermonem ipsum in octava apostolorum dictum fuisse a Leone nostro, solus titulus indicat; de cujus veritate propter penuriam codd. mss. inquirere non licuit: unicus enim Victorinus, isque admodum recens, adfuit nobis.

On the title of the following sermon Quesnel added this lengthy annotation: "Cardinal Baronius, at the years 452 and 455, holds that the things said in this sermon are to be referred to the disaster of Attila. Some words of the sermon persuade rather that they are to be understood of the Vandal sack. For he indicates that the people had been accustomed, namely in former years, to flock together to give thanks to God on account of the day of chastisement and deliverance. He laments that the Romans are neither pricked to the heart by the correction nor gladdened by the remission. He sets against them this prophetic saying: 'Thou hast scourged them, and they have not grieved; Thou hast chastised them, and they have refused to receive correction.' He ascribes to the mercy of God that He deigned to soften the hearts of the raging barbarians. All of which seems to suit the devastation brought on the city of Rome by the Vandals better than the irruption of Attila, from whom the City suffered no harm, the barbarian having been divinely softened before he could burst in there. But these things shine out still more clearly from these words of chapter 1: 'Who,' he says, 'has restored this city to safety? Who has rescued it from captivity? Who has defended it from slaughter?' These words, I say, clearly indicate that Leo's sermon is to be explained of the City occupied by the Vandals. For no one is restored to safety, no one is rescued from captivity, who has not been in the power of enemies and whose safety has not been brought into the utmost peril. Finally, his recalling that the city was defended from slaughter agrees entirely with the narrative of the Historia Miscella, which runs thus: 'Genseric at once takes the city, empty of any garrison, and, softened by the meeting with Pope Leo, kept the city free from burning, slaughter and executions.' Further, that the sermon itself was spoken by our Leo on the octave of the apostles is indicated by the title alone, of whose genuineness it has not been possible to inquire for lack of manuscripts: for only the Victorinus manuscript, and that a very recent one, was available to us.

(c) ‹pietatis suae curam› · printed under cols 431–432

Ita in eodem antiquiss. Vat. et serm. laudato cap. 4. Editi omittunt, omni, et dein, nobis; ac pro, praetendit habent, protendit.

So in the same very old Vat. and in the cited sermon, chapter 4. The printed editions omit omni, and then nobis; and for praetendit they have protendit.

(d) ‹in sacro› · printed under col 432

Vox beatae adjecta ex memorato Vat. habetur similiter in laudato sermone.

The word beatae, added from the Vat. mentioned, is likewise found in the cited sermon.

(e) ‹sempiterno Regi› · printed under col 432

Secuti sumus lectionem vetustiss. Vat., conformem sermoni 4, cap. 3. Vulgati, et Redemptori nostro Jesu Christo.

We have followed the reading of the very old Vat., which agrees with Sermon 4, chapter 3. The printed editions, et Redemptori nostro Jesu Christo.

(f) ‹laudem nominis sui:› · printed under col 432

H⟨u⟩nc clausulam Leoni usitatam sumpsimus ex eodem codice. Vulg., Qui cum Deo Patre et Spiritu sancto vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

We have taken this closing clause, customary with Leo, from the same manuscript. The printed editions, Qui cum Deo Patre et Spiritu sancto vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Si sola Leonis verba attendas, unum clarum est, habitum esse sermonem hunc paulo post solemnitatem publicae supplicationis ad S. Petrum indictae in gratiarum actionem pro liberata Urbe ab exercitu hostili. Alio autem tempore quam qui vel festo, vel octavae apostolorum dicatus est, concionem istam habitam esse a pontifice nostro, hinc probari posse videtur, quod tunc ludi Circenses in Urbe celebrabantur, quos III kalendas Martias solitos esse dari ex Ovidii II Fastorum eruit Jul. Caes. Bulengerius lib. de Circo Rom. et Circensibus ludis, cap. 1. Aliis etiam diebus Circenses ludi notantur in Calendario Romano ab Aldis et ab aliis edito ex Maffeiano marmore; sed non vel III kal. Julii, in quo festum apostolorum occurrit, vel pridie Nonas ejusdem mensis, in quo octava. Huic enim soli Apollinares ludi assignati leguntur. »

If you attend to Leo's words alone, one thing is clear: that this sermon was delivered shortly after the solemnity of a public supplication proclaimed at St Peter's in thanksgiving for the City's deliverance from the enemy army. That this discourse was delivered by our pontiff at a time other than that dedicated either to the feast or to the octave of the apostles seems provable from this, that the Circensian games were then being celebrated in the City, which Julius Caesar Bulenger, in his book On the Roman Circus and the Circensian Games, chapter 1, has shown from the second book of Ovid's Fasti used to be given on the third day before the Kalends of March. The Circensian games are also marked on other days in the Roman Calendar edited by the Aldi and by others from the Maffei marble; but not either on the third day before the Kalends of July, on which the feast of the apostles falls, or on the day before the Nones of the same month, on which falls the octave. For to this day alone the Apollinarian games are found assigned."

Tria hic notavit Quesnellus: Primum, de irruptione Vandalorum accipienda esse, quae hoc in sermone continentur, verissimum est.

Quesnel has noted three things here. The first, that what is contained in this sermon is to be taken of the irruption of the Vandals, is most true.

Quoad alterum vero, id est titulum. In Octavis apostolorum Petri et Pauli, praemonendum est hunc sermonem, cujus unicum codicem Victorinum collect. 5 Quesnellus vidit, a nobis inventum fuisse in mss. quatuor collect. 2, 3, 4 et 5. ac praeterea in Lectionario Vallicell. A. 6. Soli quidem codices collect. 3, 4 et 5 eum titulum praeferunt. Quamvis vero alius titulus legatur in tabula ms. Casanat. collect. 2 et in Lectionario Vallicell., non tamen idcirco hic sermo a die octavae apostolorum excludendus fuit. Dum enim tabula codicis Casanat. titulum exhibet argumento ipsius sermonis congruentem De neglecta solemnitate, diei octavae nequaquam opponitur. Dum vero ms. Vallicell. eumdem sermonem describit Dom. 6 post Natale apostolorum cum titulo: Sermo S. Leonis papae ad populum, animadvertendum est ita hunc sermonem in octava habitum ibidem posteriori aevo in divinorum officiorum usum translatum fuisse ad memoratam Dominicam sextam, sicuti tres sermones de Collectis certissime habitos infra octavam eorumdem apostolorum eadem de causa in eodem codice descripti inveniuntur Dom. 2, 3 et 4 post ipsorum Natale, de quo vide admonitionem praemissam sermoni 6. Hinc ejusmodi sermonem in

As to the second, that is, the title In Octavis apostolorum Petri et Pauli [On the Octave of the Apostles Peter and Paul], it must first be said that this sermon, of which Quesnel saw only the one Victorinus manuscript of collection 5, has been found by us in the manuscripts of the four collections 2, 3, 4 and 5, and besides in the Vallicelliana Lectionary A. 6. Only the manuscripts of collections 3, 4 and 5, indeed, carry that title. But although another title is read in the table of the Casanatense manuscript of collection 2 and in the Vallicelliana Lectionary, this sermon ought not on that account to be excluded from the day of the octave of the apostles. For while the table of the Casanatense manuscript shows a title in keeping with the subject of the sermon itself, De neglecta solemnitate [On the neglected solemnity], this in no way conflicts with the day of the octave. And while the Vallicelliana manuscript copies the same sermon for the 6th Sunday after the Birthday of the apostles, with the title Sermo S. Leonis papae ad populum [Sermon of St Leo the pope to the people], it must be observed that this sermon, delivered on the octave, was in the same place transferred in a later age, for use in the divine offices, to the said sixth Sunday; just as three sermons on the Collections, most certainly delivered within the octave of the same apostles, are found copied in the same manuscript for the same reason on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sundays after their Birthday, on which see the admonition prefixed to Sermon 6. Hence a sermon of this kind in […]