Throughout the history of the Roman Catholic Church, 13 popes have taken the name Leo. Among them, five – Leo I, Leo II, Leo III, Leo IV, and Leo IX—have been honoured as saints.
Leo I (St.) (#45) (the Great) (440 – 461)
Pope St Leo I was the 45th pope of the Catholic Church and the first to use the name Leo, which was also his birth name. Known for convincing Attila the Hun to not invade Italy, the pope is a saint in the Eastern Christian Church. Historians know much about his life and papacy, which lasted for more than two decades.
Leo II (St.) (#80) (682 – 683)
Pope Leo II served the Catholic Church as pontiff for less than a year from his coronation on August 17, 682 to July 3, 683. As a personally accomplished singer, he encouraged music in the church. Leo II also fought against heresy, approved the acts from the important sixth Council of Constantinople in 680 A.D, and kept positive relations with the Eastern Emperors in Constantinople.
For his accomplishments and devotion, the Western Church canonized him as St. Leo II following his death.
Leo III (St.) (#96) (795 – 816)
Pope Leo III served the Catholic Church as the pontiff from the years 795 A.D. to 816 A.D. for more than 20 years. The interactions he had with Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne caused lasting implications for the temporal and ecclesiastical powers of the papacy and for relations with the Eastern empire and church.
The Catholic Church made Pope Leo III a saint hundreds of years after his death. He was canonized by Pope Clement X in 1673.
Leo IV (St.) (#103) (847 – 855)
Pope Leo IV served in the role of pontiff as bishop of Rome and Papal States’ ruler from April 10, 847 A.D. until his death in 855 A.D. He has been immortalized for his work building the Leonine Wall that surrounds Vatican Hill and for repairing the substantial damage to churches in Rome caused by Arab attacks on the city.
Leo IV also put together an Italian cities’ defensive league to fight the maritime Battle of Ostia in which they defeated the Saracens.
Leo V (#118) (903 – 904)
Pope Leo V was born in a dark and dangerous time for the papacy in the turbulent days of the late 800s to early 900s.
A native son of Priapi, he grew up in the small settlement that lay in the Ardea district.
Leo V served as pope in a time when the pontiff held very little political authority.
Leo VI (#124) (928)
Pope Leo VI served as the head of the papacy and the temporal ruler of the Papal Estates in some of the most tumultuous years of the Catholic Church. He faced division among the bishops within one of the ecclesiastical provinces and threats from Arab raiders who were harrying the Papal territories and threatening Rome.
As the pontiff, he held the position for slightly over seven months from June of 928 A.D. until he died in office in February of the next year. Leo’s pontificate took place in the chaotic era for the Western Church called the Saeculum obscurum.
Leo VII (#126) (936 – 939)
Pope Leo VII was the 126th pope. HIs reign happened in a politically turbulent era for the papacy as an institution. As the successor to Pope John XI, Leo assumed the mantle of the pontiff from a predecessor whose mother had been the true power behind the throne of the church and the Papal States.
In his short reign of only three years, Pope Leo VII carried out numerous acts of land grants and allowed for the Jewish people in Germany to be expelled in one the first of such tragic Catholic Church episodes.
Leo VIII (#132) (963 – 964)
Pope Leo VIII served as a Roman prelate before claiming the office of the papacy from 963 until 964 as a rival pope to both Popes John XII and Benedict V. His second term as pope from June 23 of 964 lasted until his death.
Today the Catholic Church regards his first time in the office as illegal, labeling him an antipope. His second reign is considered to be legitimate, making him an actual pope. As an appointee of the then-Holy Roman Emperor Otto I of Germany, Leo VIII served in the office of the papacy during a chaotic time called the Saeculum obscurum.
Leo IX (St.) (#152) (1049 – 1054)
Pope St. Leo IX served as lord of the Papal States and bishop of Rome during the years 1002 A.D. through 1054 A.D. Leo has received near-universal recognition for being the most important German pontiff from the Middle Ages.
His papacy saw the start of the devastating Great Schism in 1054 that separated the Catholic Church and Orthodox Church for nearly a millennium until the modern era.
Leo X (#217) (1513 – 1521)
Pope Leo X was the 217th leader of the Catholic Church and the 10th among that lot to take the name “Leo.” He was also one of the four Medici family popes.
Born Giovanni de’ Medici, Pope Leo X’s papacy took place during the Renaissance. His rise from the renowned Medici clan of Florence to the papal seat in 1513 began a period that reshaped European Christianity.
Leo XI (#232) (1605)
Leo XI was born Alessandro Ottaviano de’ Medici as a scion of the famous Medici family of Florence. He was the 232nd Pope and Bishop of Rome and one of the four Medici popes.
Before becoming Pope Leo XI, he served as bishop of Pistoia, archbishop of Florence, and finally cardinal.
Leo was elected and succeeded his predecessor Pope Clement VIII on the first of April in 1605.
Pope Leo XI died the same month, becoming the man to hold the papacy for the 9th shortest time ever.
Leo XII (#252) (1823 – 1829)
Leo XII was the 252nd pope to serve as the leader of the Catholic Church and the 12th to assume the papal name of Leo.
Born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiore Girolamo Nicola della Genga, he ascended to the papacy in 1823, embarking on a tenure that would last until his death in 1829.
Leo XIII (#256) (1878 – 1903)
Leo XIII was the 256th man to serve as the leader of the Catholic Church and the 13th to assume the papal name of Leo. He was also the oldest living Pope aged 93 and 140 days.
This article intends to highlight his complete history in order to make it easier to recall and study.