LEO 



3381 



LEO 



LENTIL, BRANCH AND 

 SEED 



many varieties. It thrives best in light, dry 

 soil, as rich soil yields few pods. The Euro- 

 pean countries bordering on the Mediterranean 

 Sea and Egypt and Western Asia produce. the 

 greatest supply. 



The seeds are the part used for food. They 

 are white, brown or black, and are of various 

 sizes, never grow- 

 ing larger than 

 half an inch in 

 diameter. When 

 cooked they are 

 reddish in color. 

 They have a pro- 

 nounced flavor, 

 are among the 

 most nutritious 

 of legumes, being 

 rich in protein 

 and carbohy- 

 drates, and are 

 used for the most 

 part in making 

 soup. Excellent 

 fodder for sheep, 

 horses and cattle 

 is provided by the 

 vine. Lentils are not well known in the United 

 States, the supply found in the markets being 

 imported. 



LEO, the name of thirteen Popes. Of these, 

 Leo XIII was one of the greatest occupants 

 of the Papal chair. Several others won for 

 themselves permanent places in history. 



Leo I, known as Saint Leo, was Pope from 

 440 to 461. Even before his accession he was 

 recognized as one of the foremost of the 

 Church "fathers," and his election aroused 

 general enthusiasm. He regarded himself as 

 universal bishop, and attempted to use his 

 strong position to put down a heresy which 

 had gained considerable headway, but in vain. 

 In secular history Leo I bears a dramatic part. 

 When Attila I invaded Italy, Leo, commis- 

 sioned by the Emperor Valentinian, went to 

 meet him and induced him to spare the city 

 of Rome. Later, when another raid threatened 

 under Genseric, the Pope persuaded the Vandal 

 chief to refrain from burning the city and put- 

 ting the inhabitants to death. 



Leo III, Pope from 795 to 816, is chiefly 

 memorable as the pontiff who crowned Charle- 

 magne and so assisted in founding the Empire 

 of the West. His rule was much disturbed by 

 various outbreaks, and in 799 he besought the 

 protection of Charlemagne, who in the next 



year visited Rome. In return for the Pope's 

 services, Charlemagne guaranteed his temporal 

 sovereignty over the States of the Church, 

 with the understanding that the emperor 

 should retain a protectorate over them. 



Leo IX, who reigned from 1048 to 1054, was 

 a cousin of the emperor, Conrad II. A man 

 of learning and of upright life, he strove to 

 reform abuses in the Church, opposing simony, 

 or traffic in sacred things, and insisting upon 

 the celibacy of the clergy. He traveled in 

 France, Italy and Germany, holding councils 

 and laboring to strengthen the authority of the 

 Papal office. In 1053 he was taken prisoner 

 by the Normans in Southern Italy, and held 

 in honorable captivity until a few weeks before 

 his death. 



Leo X was of the famous family of the 

 Medici, a son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. 

 He was born in Florence in 1475, made a car- 

 dinal at the age of thirteen, and after some 

 years spent in travel and in study was chosen 

 Pope in 1513. Before all else, Leo X was a 

 scholar and a patron of learning. He chose 

 scholars for high positions at his court, and 

 made Rome the center of the artistic and 

 literary world, as it had long been the center 

 of the world's religion. 



But his reign was by no means without 

 political significance. In order to gain funds 

 for the rebuilding of Saint Peter's, he permit- 

 ted the preaching of indulgences, and this was 

 one of the things which roused the active 

 opposition of Martin Luther and led to the 

 outbreak of the Reformation. Leo issued a 

 bull against Luther in 1520, which the reformer 

 burned, but it does not appear that the Pope 

 ever viewed the Reformation seriously. 



Leo XIII (1810-1903), had one of the longest 

 reigns in the history of the Papacy, from 1878 

 to 1903, and proved himself a most active and 

 enlightened pontiff. He was born at Carpineto, 

 Italy, his name until his elevation to the Papal 

 throne having been Gioacchino Vincenzo Raf- 

 faello Luigi Pecci. After studying in the Jesuit 

 College at Viterbo and in Rome, in 1837 he 

 was ordained a priest and named domestic 

 prelate to Pope Gregory XVI. A noteworthy 

 early achievement was his suppression of brig- 

 andage and smuggling in Benevento, while 

 delegate to that duchy in 1838. Later he was 

 delegate at Spoleto and at Perugia, and in 1843 

 was made archbishop of Damietta. 



In 1846 he was consecrated archbishop of 

 Perugia, and there he remained until 1878, 

 having in the meantime (1853) been created 



