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Leo the Great

5th century · AD 461 · Western · 165 passages

Bishop of Rome whose Tome clarified how Christ is both divine and human; a plain and dignified preacher.

Background on Leo the Great

In his own words on James

  • James 2:16

    Since mercy will be exalted over condemnation and the gifts of clemency will surpass any just compensation, all the lives led by mortals and all different kinds of actions will be appraised under the aspect of a single rule. No charges will be brought up where works of compassion have been found in acknowledgment of the Creator.

    SERMONS 11.1

  • James 2:17

    This virtue makes all virtues profitable; for by its presence it gives life to that very faith, by which "the just lives," and which is said to be "dead without works:" because as the reason for works consists in faith, so the strength of faith consists in works.

    Sermon 10 On the Collections, 5

Quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations of the fathers — Aquinas's Catena Aurea, the Ante-Nicene and Nicene & Post-Nicene Fathers, and related editions. Each quotation links to its source.