# Letters of Leo the Great - Author: [Leo I, bishop of Rome (Leo the Great)](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/leo-i/) - Latin title: *Epistolae* - Date: 440–461 (certain) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina, vol. 54 (Paris, 1844-1864) (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/ - Passages: 16 ## Letter 4 to the bishops of Campania, Picenum and Tuscany, chapter 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/4-2/#p-4-2 - Source: PL 54:611b–613 a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo orders that husbands of widows and men married more than once be removed from clerical office, as the Apostle and Leviticus require. ### Latin text Viduæ maritum, et qui fuerit plusquam unius uxoris vir, a sacro ministerio arcendum.Qualis vero,cum unicuique constiterit natalium honestas et morum,esse debeat sacri altaris ministerio sociandus, et Apostolo nos docente (I Tim. III, 2; Tit. 1, 6), et divina præceptione didicimus(Levit. xxi,i4), et canonum regulis, a quibus plerosque fratrum declinasse et penitus deviasse reperimus. Nam constat ad sacerdotium pervenisse viduarum maritos; quosdam etiam,quibus fuerint numerosa conjugia,et ad omnem licentiam vita liberior,ad sacrum ordinem passim patefactis aditibus fuisse permissos,contra illam beati Apostoli vocem qua talibus exclamat dicens : Unius uxoris virum (l Tim, III, 2); et contra illud antiquae legis praeceptum, quo dicitur et cavetur : Sacerdos virginem uxorem accipiat, non viduam, non repudiatam (Levit. XXI, 14). Hos ergo, quicumque tales admissi sunt, ab ecclesiasticis officiis et a sacerdotali nomine, apostolicæ sedis auctoritate jubemus arceri; nec hoc enim sibi poterunt vindicare,cujus capaces, per hoc quod illis obstiterat, non fuerunt: hujus discussionis curam nobis specialiter vindicante ut si qua forsitan de his commissa sunt, corrigantur, nec liceat ultra committi, et ne qua excusatio de ignoratione nascatur; quamquam ignorare numquam licuerit sacerdotem, quod canonum fuerit regulis definitum. Haec ergo ad provincias vestras, per Innocentium, Legitimum et Segetium, fratres et coepiscopos nostros, scripta direximus; ut quae male pullulasse noscuntur, radicitus evellantur, et messem Dominicam zizania nulla corrumpant Ita enim fructum uberem quae sunt sincera præstabunt, si ea quæ natam segetem necare consueverunt diligentius amputentur. ### English translation (Claude) The husband of a widow, and one who has been the husband of more than one wife, are to be kept from the sacred ministry. What kind of man ought to be associated with the ministry of the sacred altar, once the respectability of each one's birth and character has been established, we have learned both from the teaching of the Apostle and from the divine precept and from the rules of the canons; from these we find that many of the brothers have turned aside and strayed completely. For it is established that husbands of widows have come to the priesthood; and that some also, who have had numerous marriages and a life too free for every licence, have been allowed into the sacred order, the approaches being opened indiscriminately, against that voice of the blessed Apostle by which he cries out to such men, saying, “the husband of one wife,” and against that precept of the ancient law by which it is said and provided: “Let the priest take a virgin as wife, not a widow, not one divorced.” We order, therefore, by the authority of the apostolic see, that all such as have been admitted be kept from ecclesiastical offices and from the priestly name; for they cannot claim for themselves that of which, through what stood in their way, they were not capable. We specially claim for ourselves the care of this inquiry, so that whatever has perhaps been done in these matters may be corrected and may not be allowed to be done any more, and that no excuse may arise from ignorance; although it has never been lawful for a bishop to be ignorant of what has been defined by the rules of the canons. These things, then, we have sent in writing to your provinces through Innocent, Legitimus, and Segetius, our brothers and fellow bishops, so that what is known to have sprouted wrongly may be pulled up by the roots, and no tares may spoil the Lord's harvest. For what is sound will yield abundant fruit only if those things that usually choke the young crop are cut away the more diligently. ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 3:2: quotation, high confidence - Titus 1:6: allusion, medium confidence - Lev 21:13–14: quotation, high confidence - Matt 13:24–30: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The opening sentence is the chapter heading printed in the edition. Quotations: 1 Tim 3:2 (Titus 1:6); Lev 21:13–14 (“one divorced”: repudiatam). Allusion: Matt 13:24–30 (tares). Stray page numbers (614, 615) and note marks of the edition were removed; OCR slips corrected; “meritos” is read as “maritos”. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 4.2 (PL 54:611b–613 a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/4-2). ## Letter 5 to the bishops of Illyricum, chapter 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/4-2/#p-5-3 - Source: PL 54:615c–615 a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Clergy must be married once and to a virgin; a man who remarried after baptism, his first wife having died before it, is still twice married. ### Latin text Volumus enim tales fieri Domino sacerdotes, quibus cuncta conveniant, quae sunt ecclesiasticis canonibus definita : ut episcopi, presbyteri atque diaconi unius uxoris viri sint secundum beati Apostoli sententiam (1 Tim. III, 2), et hanc secundum legis præcepta virginem acceperint, non viduam, non repudiatam, sicut legis scriptura testatur (Levit. XXI, t3, i4; Ezech. XLIV, 22). Nec se quisquam aestimet posse ad sacerdotium pervenire, qui ante baptismum, deficiente quam habebat, uxore, alteram rursum, postquam per gratiam baptismatis est renovatus, acceperit, cum u tismate peccata deleantur, non uxorum M abrogetur. Adeo autem in excusationem s obtendere non poterit, ut eorum se patrel rum, quos ante baptismum susceperit, nega possit. Neque elim uxor quæ ex legis praece citur, inter peccata quae abluuntur baptism terit numerari. ### English translation (Claude) For we wish such men to be made priests for the Lord as fit all that has been defined by the ecclesiastical canons: that bishops, presbyters, and deacons be husbands of one wife, according to the judgment of the blessed Apostle, and that they have taken her, according to the precepts of the law, as a virgin, not a widow, not one divorced, as the writing of the law testifies. Nor let anyone think that he can come to the priesthood who before baptism, when the wife he had died, took another again after he had been renewed by the grace of baptism; since by baptism sins are blotted out, the number of wives is not abolished. Nor will he be able to put this forward as an excuse to such a degree that he could deny that he is the father of the children he begot before baptism. For a wife who is taken by the precept of the law cannot be counted among the sins that are washed away in baptism. ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 3:2: quotation, high confidence - Lev 21:13–14: allusion, high confidence - Ezek 44:22: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The last lines of the digital text are cut off at the right margin (“cum u tismate”, “uxorum M abrogetur”, “ut eorum se patrel rum”, “uxor quæ ex legis praece citur”, “baptism terit”); translated by sense (“cum baptismate”, “uxorum numerus”, “patrem filiorum”, “praecepto ducitur”, “baptismate poterit”). Quotations: 1 Tim 3:2; Lev 21:13–14; Ezek 44:22. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 5.3 (PL 54:615c–615 a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/5-3). ## Letter 6 to Anastasius of Thessalonica, chapter 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/4-2/#p-6-3 - Source: PL 54:617a–617 c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo tells Anastasius of Thessalonica to ordain only proven men married once to a virgin, counting a marriage before baptism. ### Latin text Omnia quae curæ tuae videas injuncta circumfer, in mercedem tuam profutura custodiens, et his qui disciplinam canonum labefactare nitunturobsistens. Divinae legis sanctio veneranda, etcanonum specialius decretaserventur. Per commissastibi provincias tales Domino sacerdotes,quibus sola vitæ etclericalis ordinis suffragantur merita., consecrentur. Nihil gratiæ personali, nihil ambitioni, nihil redemptis permittas licere suffragis. Examinentur diligentius, et per longum vitae tramitem disciplinis ecclesiasti. cia, qui ordinandi fuerint, imbuantur. Si tamen illie omnia quae a sanctis Patribus sunt constituta conveniant,et qua beatum apostolum Paulum de talibus legimus præcepisse custodierint, ut unius uxoris vir sit,et hanc virginem, ut auctoritas divinæ legis cavet, acceperit. Quod ita sollicitus volumus custodiri, ut omnibus excusation ibus locum adimamus,ne se quis. quam credat posse ad sacerdotium pervenire,qui uxorem antequam Christi gratiam consequeretur accepit, qua deficiente alteram post baptismum conjunxerit sibi. Cum negari uxor illa non possit, nec prio-. ris conjugii numerus aboleri, et eorum ita sit pater filiorum quos ante baptismum ex illa susceperit, quemadmodum et illorum sit quos ex altera post baptismum noscit suscepisse. Sicut enim peccata et quae illicita esse noscuntur per lavacrum baptismatis abolentur,ita quæ sunt legis præcepto concessa vel licita non delentur. ### English translation (Claude) Carry round all the things you see enjoined on your care, keeping them as profitable for your reward, and resisting those who strive to undermine the discipline of the canons. Let the venerable sanction of the divine law and, more particularly, the decrees of the canons be observed. Throughout the provinces entrusted to you, let such men be consecrated priests for the Lord as are supported only by the merits of their life and of their clerical order. Allow nothing to be lawful for personal favour, nothing for ambition, nothing for bought votes. Let those who are to be ordained be examined very carefully and be trained in ecclesiastical disciplines through a long course of life; and only if everything established by the holy Fathers fits them, and they have kept what we read the blessed apostle Paul commanded about such men, that he be the husband of one wife, and that he took her as a virgin, as the authority of the divine law provides. This we wish to be kept so carefully that we take away room for all excuses: let no one believe that he can come to the priesthood who took a wife before he obtained the grace of Christ and, when she died, joined another to himself after baptism. For that wife cannot be denied, nor the number of the former marriage abolished; and he is as much the father of the sons he begot from her before baptism as of those he is known to have begotten from the other after baptism. For as sins and things known to be unlawful are abolished by the washing of baptism, so things granted or lawful by the precept of the law are not blotted out. ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 3:2: allusion, high confidence - Lev 21:13–14: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The first letter of the section (“Omnia”) is lost in the digital text. Allusion: 1 Tim 3:2; Lev 21:13–14. Many OCR slips (joined and split words) translated by sense; the clearest are corrected. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 6.3 (PL 54:617a–617 c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/6-3). ## Letter 12 to the bishops of Mauretania Caesariensis, chapter 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/4-2/#p-12-3 - Source: PL 54:647a–649 a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo rules that neither a man married twice nor a man whose wife had been married before may be ordained, because priestly marriage figures Christ's marriage to the one church. ### Latin text Dicente enim Apostolo ut inter alias electionis regulas is episcopus ordinetur quem unius uxoris virum fuisse aut esse constiterit (Timoth. III,2),tam sacrata semper habita est ista præceptio, ut etiam de muliere sacerdotis eligendi eam intelligeretur servanda conditio ;ne forte illa,priusquam in matrimonium ejus veniret,qui aliam non habuisset uxorem, alterius viri esset experta conjugium .Qui igitur tolerare audeat quod in tanti sacramenti perpetratur injuriam,cum huic magnovenerandoque mysterio nec divinae quidem legis statuta defuerint, quibus evidenter est definitum ut virginem sacerdos accipiat uxorem (Levit, xxi, i3 et t4; Ezech. XLIV, 22), et alterius torum nesciat conjugis, quae uxor futura est sacerdotis? Jam tum enim in sacerdotibus figurabatur Christi et Ecclesiæ spiritale conjugium,ut quoniam vir caput est mulieris (Eph. v, 23; I Cor, XI, 3) discat Sponsa Verbi non alium virum nosse quam Christum,qui merito unam eligit,unam diligit et aliam præter ipsam suo consortio non adjungit. Si ergo. etiam in veteri Testamento haec sacerdotalium conjugiorum forma servata est, quanto magis sub Evangelii gratia constituti,apostolicis debemus servire præceptis, at quamlibet quis bonis moribus praeditus, et sanctis operibus inveniatur ornatus ;nequaquam tamen vei ad diaconi gradum, vel ad presbyterii honorem,vel ad episcopatus culmen ascendat, si aut ipsum non unius uxoris virum, aut uxorem ejus non unius viri fuisse claruerit ? ### English translation (Claude) For since the Apostle says that, among the other rules of election, that man is to be ordained bishop who is established to have been or to be the husband of one wife, this precept has always been held so sacred that the same condition was understood to be kept also regarding the wife of a priest to be chosen: that she should not perhaps, before she came into marriage with him who had had no other wife, have known marriage with another man. Who, then, would dare to tolerate what is perpetrated to the injury of so great a sacrament, when this great and venerable mystery has not lacked even the statutes of the divine law, by which it is plainly defined that the priest is to take a virgin as wife, and that she who is to be a priest's wife is not to know the bed of another husband? For even then the spiritual marriage of Christ and the church was prefigured in the priests, so that, since the husband is the head of the wife, the Bride of the Word may learn to know no other husband than Christ, who rightly chooses one, loves one, and joins no other besides her to his fellowship. If, then, even in the Old Testament this form of priestly marriages was kept, how much more ought we, established under the grace of the Gospel, to serve the apostolic precepts, so that, however endowed with good character and adorned with holy works anyone may be found, he should by no means ascend either to the grade of deacon, or to the honour of the presbyterate, or to the summit of the episcopate, if it becomes clear either that he himself was not the husband of one wife or that his wife was not the wife of one husband? ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 3:2: quotation, high confidence - Lev 21:13–14: allusion, high confidence - Ezek 44:22: allusion, medium confidence - Eph 5:23: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 11:3: allusion, medium confidence - Eph 5:32: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Tim 5:9: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Quotations and allusions: 1 Tim 3:2; Lev 21:13–14; Ezek 44:22; Eph 5:23; 1 Cor 11:3; 1 Tim 5:9 (“wife of one husband”). Stray page number (661) removed; OCR slips corrected or translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 12.3 (PL 54:647a–649 a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/12-3). ## Letter 159 to Nicetas of Aquileia, inscription and introduction - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-159-0 - Source: PL 54:1135a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo opens his reply to Nicetas of Aquileia on questions raised by the barbarian invasions. ### Latin text LEO episcopus NICETÆ Aquileiensi episcopo salutem, Regressus ad nos filius meus Adeodatus sedis nostræ diaconus, dilectionem tuam poposcisse memoravit, ut de his a nobis auctoritatem apostolicæ sedis accipere, quae quidem magnam difficultatem dijudicationis videntur afferre. Sed pro inspectione temporalium necessitatum adhibenda curatio est, ut vulnera quae hostilitatis adversitate illata sunt, religionis maxime ratione sanentur. ### English translation (Claude) Leo, bishop, to Nicetas, bishop of Aquileia, greeting. My son Adeodatus, deacon of our see, on returning to us, reported that your love had asked to receive from us the authority of the apostolic see on matters that seem indeed to present great difficulty of judgment. But a remedy must be applied with a view to the necessities of the times, so that the wounds inflicted by the adversity of enemy attack may be healed above all by the rule of religion. ### Translation notes - Compared after translation with NPNF² 12, Letter 159. OCR slips were corrected by logged corrections. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 159.0 (PL 54:1135a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/159-0). ## Letter 159 to Nicetas of Aquileia, chapter 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-159-1 - Source: PL 54:1135a–1135 c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo rules that when husbands return from captivity, the first, lawful marriages of wives who had remarried in the belief that their husbands were dead are to be restored. ### Latin text Cum ergo per bellicam cladem et per gravissimos hostilitatis incursus, ita quaedam dicatis divisa esse conjugia, ut abductis in captivitatem viris feminæ eorum remanserint destitutæ, quae cum viros proprios aut interemptos putarent, aut numquam a dominatione crederent liberandos, ad aliorum conjugium, solitudine cogente, transierint. Cumque nunc statu rerum, auxiliante Domino, in meliora converso, nonnulli eorum qui putabantur periisse, remeaverint, merito charitas tua videtur ambigere quid de mulieribus quæ aliis junctæ sunt viris, a nobis debeat ordinari. Sed quia novimus scriptum, quod a Deo jungitur mulier viro (Prov. XIX, 14), et iterum praeceptum agnovimus ut quod Deus junxit homo non separet (Matth. XIX, 6), necesse est ut legitimarum fædera nuptiarum redintegranda credamus, et remotis malis quae hostilitas intulit, unicuique hoc quod legitime habuit reformetur, omnique studio procurandum est ut recipiat unusquisque quod proprium est. ### English translation (Claude) Since, then, you say that through the disaster of war and the most grievous incursions of the enemy some marriages have been so divided that, when the husbands were carried off into captivity, their wives remained destitute; and that these, thinking their own husbands either killed or never to be freed from the enemy's domination, have passed into marriage with others under the pressure of loneliness; and since now, the state of affairs having turned for the better with the Lord's help, some of those who were thought to have perished have returned, your love seems rightly to be in doubt about what we should ordain concerning the women who have been joined to other husbands. But since we know that it is written that a wife is joined to a husband by God, and again we recognize the precept that what God has joined man should not separate, we must hold that the covenants of lawful marriages are to be restored, and, the evils that the enemy brought having been removed, that each should have restored to him what he lawfully had; and every effort must be made that each receive back what is his own. ### Scripture references - Prov 19:14: quotation, high confidence - Matt 19:6: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Compared after translation with NPNF² 12, Letter 159. Leo includes this letter of 458 in the corpus by editor's decision because it rules on remarriage during a spouse's captivity. Quotations: Prov 19:14 (LXX); Matt 19:6. Many OCR slips were corrected by logged corrections. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 159.1 (PL 54:1135a–1135 c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/159-1). ## Letter 159 to Nicetas of Aquileia, chapter 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-159-2 - Source: PL 54:1135c–1137 a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo holds that the second husband is not guilty, but that, as with property, the returning husband's marriage must be restored. ### Latin text Nec tamen culpabilis judicetur, et tamquam alieni juris pervasor habeatur, qui personam ejus mariti, qui jam non esse existimabatur,assumpsit.Sic enim multa quae ad eos qui in captivitatem ducti sunt pertinebant in jus alienum transire potuerunt,et tamen plenum justitiæ est ut eisdem reversis propria reformentur.Quod si in mancipiis vel in agris, aut etiam in domibus ac possessionibus rite servatur,quanto magis in conjugiorum redintegratione faciendum est,ut quod bellica necessitate turbatum est pacis remedio reformetur? ### English translation (Claude) Yet the one who took the place of the husband who was thought no longer to exist is not to be judged culpable, nor held as an invader of another's right. For in this way many things that belonged to those led into captivity could pass into another's right, and yet it is entirely just that on their return their own be restored to them. And if this is duly observed with slaves or fields, or even with houses and possessions, how much more must it be done in the restoration of marriages, so that what was disturbed by the necessity of war may be restored by the remedy of peace? ### Translation notes - Compared after translation with NPNF² 12, Letter 159. The edition's manuscript apparatus, which leaked into the digital text and split the word “assumpsit”, was removed by a logged correction. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 159.2 (PL 54:1135c–1137 a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/159-2). ## Letter 159 to Nicetas of Aquileia, chapter 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-159-3 - Source: PL 54:1137a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo rules that if a returning husband wants his wife back, she is to return, and the second union, forced by necessity, is judged blameless. ### Latin text Et ideo, si viri post longam captivitatem reversi ita in dilectione suarum conjugum perseverent, ut eas cupiant in suum redire consortium,omittendum est et inculpabile judicandum quod necessitas intulit, et restituendum quod fides poscit. ### English translation (Claude) And therefore, if the husbands who have returned after long captivity so persevere in love of their wives that they desire them to return to their fellowship, what necessity brought about must be passed over and judged blameless, and what faithfulness demands must be restored. ### Translation notes - Compared after translation with NPNF² 12, Letter 159. The restoration depends on the returning husband's wish. A leaked page number was removed by a logged correction. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 159.3 (PL 54:1137a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/159-3). ## Letter 159 to Nicetas of Aquileia, chapter 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-159-4 - Source: PL 54:1137a–1137 b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo rules that wives who refuse to return to their returning husbands, preferring their second husbands, are to be excommunicated. ### Latin text Si autem aliquae mulieres ita posteriorum virorum amore sunt captæ, ut malint his cohaerere quam ad legitimum redire consortium,merito sunt notandæ; ita ut etiam ecclesiastica communione priventur:quæ de re excusabili contaminationem criminis elegerunt, ostendentes sibimet pro sua incontinentia placuisse, quod justa remissio poterat expiare. Redeant ergo in suum statum voluntaria redintegratione conjugia, neque ullo modo ad opprobrium malæ voluntatis trahatur, quod conditio necessitatis extorsit : quia sicut hae mulieres, quae reverti ad viros suos nolunt, impiae habendae sunt, ita illae quae in affectum ex Deo initum redeunt merito sunt laudandae. ### English translation (Claude) But if some women are so captivated by love of their later husbands that they prefer to cleave to them rather than return to their lawful union, they are rightly to be censured, so that they are even deprived of ecclesiastical communion: for from a matter that was excusable they have chosen the defilement of a crime, showing that, because of their incontinence, they were pleased with what a just pardon could have expiated. Let marriages, then, return to their own state by voluntary restoration, and let what the condition of necessity extorted in no way be dragged into the reproach of an evil will; for just as those women who refuse to return to their husbands are to be held impious, so those who return to the affection begun from God are rightly to be praised. ### Translation notes - Compared after translation with NPNF² 12, Letter 159. OCR slips were corrected by logged corrections. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 159.4 (PL 54:1137a–1137 b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/159-4). ## Letter 159 to Nicetas of Aquileia, chapter 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-159-5 - Source: PL 54:1137b–1137 a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo rules that captives who ate sacrificial food under fear or hunger are to be restored after penance measured by compunction rather than time. ### Latin text De his autem Christianis qui inter eos a quibus fuerant captivati immolatitiis cibis asseruntur esse polluti, consultationi charitatis tuae hoc etiam respondendum esse credidimus,ut paenitentiae satisfactione purgentur, quae non tam temporis longitudine quam cordis compunctione pensanda est. Et sive hoc terror extorserit, sive fames suaserit, non dubitetur abolendum, cum hujusmodi cibus pro metu aut indigentia, non pro religionis veneratione sit sumptus. ### English translation (Claude) But concerning those Christians who are said to have been polluted with sacrificial foods among those by whom they had been taken captive, we have thought that the consultation of your love should be answered thus: that they be purged by the satisfaction of penance, which is to be weighed not so much by length of time as by compunction of heart. And whether terror extorted this or hunger persuaded it, let there be no doubt that [the fault] is to be wiped away, since food of this kind was taken from fear or want, not out of religious veneration. ### Translation notes - Compared after translation with NPNF² 12, Letter 159. OCR slips were corrected by logged corrections. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 159.5 (PL 54:1137b–1137 a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/159-5). ## Letter 159 to Nicetas of Aquileia, chapter 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-159-6 - Source: PL 54:1137a–1137 b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo rules that those who were rebaptized are to be received back through penance and the bishop's imposition of hands, with communion given in danger of death. ### Latin text His vero de quibus dilectio tua similiter nos credidit consulendos,qui ad iterandum baptismum vel metu coacti sunt vel errore traducti, et nunc se contra catholicæ fidei sacramentum egisse cognoscunt,ea custodienda est moderatio,qua in societatem nostram non nisi per poenitentiae remedium,et per impositionem episcopalis manus,communionis recipiant unitatem; tempora pænitudinis,habita moderatione,tuo constituente judicio, prout conversorum animos perspexeris esse devotos: pariter etiam habens senilis aetatis intuitum,et periculorum quorumque aut ægritudinis respiciens necessitates. In quibus si quis ita graviter urgeatur, ut dum adhuc pænitet,de salute ipsius desperetur,oportet ei per sacerdotalem sollicitudinem communionis gratia subveniri. ### English translation (Claude) As for those about whom your love likewise believed we should be consulted, who were either compelled by fear or led astray by error to repeat baptism, and now recognize that they acted against the sacrament of the Catholic faith, this moderation must be kept: that they recover the unity of communion in our fellowship only through the remedy of penance and the imposition of the bishop's hand, the times of penance being fixed with moderation by your judgment, according as you see the minds of the converted to be devout; having regard equally to old age, and considering the needs arising from any dangers or illness. In these cases, if anyone is so gravely pressed that his life is despaired of while he is still doing penance, he must be helped with the grace of communion through priestly care. ### Translation notes - Compared after translation with NPNF² 12, Letter 159. Leaked page numbers and OCR slips were corrected by logged corrections. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 159.6 (PL 54:1137a–1137 b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/159-6). ## Letter 159 to Nicetas of Aquileia, chapter 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-159-7 - Source: PL 54:1137b–1139 a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Leo rules that those baptized by heretics are not to be rebaptized but received by imposition of hands with invocation of the Holy Spirit; the letter is dated 21 March 458. ### Latin text Nam hi qui baptismum ab hæreticis acceperunt,cum antea baptizati non fuissent, sola invocatione Spiritus sancti per impositionem manuum confirmandi sunt,quia formam tantum sumpserunt baptismi sine sanctificationis virtute Et hanc regulam,ut scitis,servandam in omnibus Ecclesiis prædicamus,ut lavacrum semel initum,nulla iteratione violetur,dicente Apostolo : Unus Dominus, una fides, unum baptisma.Cujus ablutio nulla iteratione temeranda est, sed,ut diximus,sola.sanctificatio Spiritus sancti invocanda est : ut quod ab hæreticis nemo accipit,a catholicis sacerdotibus consequatur.Hanc autem epistolam nostram,quam ad consultationem tuae fraternitatis emisimus, ad omnes fratres et comprovinciales tuos episcopos facies pervenire ut omnium observantiae data prosit auctoritas.Data XII kalendarum Aprilium, consulatu Majoriani Augusti. ### English translation (Claude) For those who received baptism from heretics, when they had not been baptized before, are to be confirmed only by invocation of the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands, because they received only the form of baptism without the power of sanctification. And this rule, as you know, we proclaim must be kept in all the churches: that the washing once entered be violated by no repetition, as the Apostle says, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Its washing must be profaned by no repetition, but, as we have said, only the sanctification of the Holy Spirit is to be invoked, so that what no one receives from heretics he may obtain from Catholic priests. This our letter, which we have issued in response to the consultation of your brotherhood, you will cause to reach all your brothers and fellow bishops of your province, so that the authority given may benefit the observance of all. Given on the twelfth day before the Kalends of April, in the consulship of Majorian Augustus. ### Scripture references - Eph 4:5: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Compared after translation with NPNF² 12, Letter 159 (NPNF has “the Lord says” where the Latin has “the Apostle says”; the Latin is followed). Date: 21 March 458. Quotation: Eph 4:5. Leaked page numbers and OCR slips were corrected by logged corrections. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 159.7 (PL 54:1137b–1139 a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/159-7). ## Letter 167 to Rusticus of Narbonne, inquiry 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-167-3 - Source: PL 54:1203a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Deacons, like bishops and presbyters, must live in continence with their wives after ordination, without putting them away. ### Latin text III. — De his qui altario ministrant et conjuges habent, utrum eis licito misceantur ? RESP.— Lex continentiæ eadem est ministris altaris quae episcopis atque presbyteris, qui cum essent laici sive lectores, licito et uxores ducere et filios procreare potuerunt. Sed cum ad prædictos pervenerunt gradus. caepit eis non licere quod licuit. Unde, ut de carnali fiat spirituale conjugium, oportet eos nec dimittere uxores, et quasi non habeant sic habere, quo et salva sit charitas connubiorum, et cessent opera nuptiarum. ### English translation (Claude) III. — Concerning those who minister at the altar and have wives: may they lawfully have intercourse with them? Answer. — The law of continence is the same for the ministers of the altar as for bishops and presbyters, who, when they were laymen or lectors, could lawfully both marry wives and beget children. But when they reached the said grades, what had been lawful began to be unlawful for them. Hence, so that a carnal marriage may become a spiritual one, they ought not to put away their wives, and yet to have them as though they had them not, so that both the love of the marriages may be kept safe and the works of the nuptials may cease. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 7:29: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Ministers of the altar” are deacons (and subdeacons). Allusion: 1 Cor 7:29 (“as though they had none”). Leo forbids the clergy to put away (dimittere) their wives. OCR slips corrected. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 167.3 (PL 54:1203a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/167-3). ## Letter 167 to Rusticus of Narbonne, inquiry 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-167-4 - Source: PL 54:1203a–1205 a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: A cleric who gives his daughter to a man with a concubine has not given her to a married man, since a concubine is not a wife unless freed, dowered, and publicly married. ### Latin text IV.— De presbytero vel diacono qui filiam suam virginem illi viro in conjugium dederit qui jam habebat conjunctam mulierem, ex qua etiam filios susceperat. RESP. -Non omnis mulier juncta viro uxor est viri, quia nec omnis filius hæres est patris. Nuptiarum autem fœdera inter ingenuos sunt legitima et inter aequales ; multo prius hoc ipsum Domino constituente (Gen. II, 24) quam initium Romani juris existeret. Itaque aliud est uxor, aliud concubina; sicut aliud ancilla, aliud libera. Propter quod etiam Apostolus ad manifestandam harum personarum discretionem testimonium ponit ex Genesi, ubi dicitur Abrahae : Ejice ancillam et filium ejus : non enim hæres erit filius ancillæ cum filio meo Isaac (Galat. IV, 30; Gen. XXI, 10). Unde cum societas nuptiarum ita ab initio constituta sit, ut præter sexuum conjunctionem haberet in se Christi et Ecclesiæ sacramentum (Eph. v, 32) dubium non est eam mulierem non pertinere ad matrimonium, in qua docetur nuptiale non fuisse mysterium. Igitur cujuslibet loci clericus, si filiam suam viro habenti concubinam in matrimonium dederit, non ita accipiendum est quasi eam conjugato dederit; nisi forte illa mulier, et ingenua facta, et dotata legitime, et publicis nuptiis honestata videatur. ### English translation (Claude) IV. — Concerning a presbyter or deacon who has given his virgin daughter in marriage to a man who already had a woman joined to him, from whom he had even received children. Answer. — Not every woman joined to a man is the man's wife, because not every son is his father's heir either. The bonds of marriage are lawful between the freeborn and between equals; the Lord established this very thing long before the beginning of Roman law existed. So a wife is one thing, a concubine another; just as a slave woman is one thing, a free woman another. For this reason the Apostle too, to make plain the distinction between these persons, sets down testimony from Genesis, where it is said to Abraham: “Cast out the slave woman and her son; for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” Hence, since the fellowship of marriage was so established from the beginning that, besides the union of the sexes, it should have in it the sacrament of Christ and the church, there is no doubt that a woman does not belong to marriage in whom, it is shown, the nuptial mystery was not present. Therefore if a cleric of whatever place has given his daughter in marriage to a man who has a concubine, it is not to be taken as though he had given her to a married man; unless perhaps that woman should appear to have been made free, lawfully dowered, and honoured with a public wedding. ### Scripture references - Gen 2:24: allusion, high confidence - Gal 4:30: quotation, high confidence - Gen 21:10: quotation, high confidence - Eph 5:32: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Leo distinguishes a lawful wife from a concubine (here a slave woman); the man's earlier union is therefore not a marriage, and his marriage to the cleric's daughter is not a second marriage. Quotations: Gen 2:24; Gal 4:30 (Gen 21:10); Eph 5:32. Stray note mark removed; OCR slips corrected. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 167.4 (PL 54:1203a–1205 a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/167-4). ## Letter 167 to Rusticus of Narbonne, inquiry 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-167-5 - Source: PL 54:1205a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: Girls married by their fathers to men who had concubines are blameless, since the concubines were not wives. ### Latin text V. — De puellis quæ viris concubinas habentibus nupserint. RESP.- Paterno arbitrio viris junctæ carent culpa, si mulieres quae a viris habebantur in matrimonio non fuerunt. ### English translation (Claude) V. — Concerning girls who have married men who have concubines. Answer. — Those joined to husbands by their father's decision are without fault, if the women whom the men had were not in marriage. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 167.5 (PL 54:1205a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/167-5). ## Letter 167 to Rusticus of Narbonne, inquiry 6 (with inquiries 7 and 8) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/leo-epistulae/159-0/#p-167-6 - Source: PL 54:1205a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-21 Summary: A man who leaves a slave concubine to marry a free wife has not married twice; penitents who recover must be urged to complete penance; those who die before reconciliation are left to God's judgment. ### Latin text VI. - De his , qui mulieres ex quibus filios habent relinquant, et uxores accipiunt. RESP.–Quia aliud est nupta, aliud concubina ancillam a toro abjicere et uxorem certae ingenuitatis accipere, non duplicatio conjugii, sed profectus est honestatis. INQUIS VII. - De his qui in ægritudine pænitentiam accipiunt, et cum revaluerint, agere eam nolunt. RESP. — Culpanda est talium negligentia, sed non penitus deserenda : ut crebris cohortationibus incitati, quod necessarie expetierunt, fideliter exsequantur. Nemo enim desperandus est dum in hoc corpore constitutus est: quia non numquam quod diffidentia ætatis differtur, consilio maturiore perficitur. INQUIS. VIII. De his qui jam deficientes pœnitentiam accipiunt, et ante communionem moriuntur. RESP.–Horum causa Dei judicio reservanda est, in cujus manu fuit ut talium obitus usque ad communionis remedium differretur. Nos autem quibus viventibus non communicavimus, mortuis communicare non possumus. ### English translation (Claude) VI. — Concerning those who leave the women by whom they have children and take wives. Answer. — Since a married woman is one thing and a concubine another, to cast a slave woman from one's bed and to take a wife of assured free birth is not a doubling of marriage but an advance in honourableness. Inquiry VII. — Concerning those who receive penance in sickness and, when they have recovered, are unwilling to do it. Answer. — The negligence of such men is to be blamed, but they are not to be abandoned altogether; so that, roused by frequent exhortations, they may faithfully carry out what they sought out of necessity. For no one is to be despaired of while he is placed in this body, because sometimes what is put off through the distrust of youth is accomplished by riper counsel. Inquiry VIII. — Concerning those who receive penance when already failing, and die before communion. Answer. — Their case is to be reserved to the judgment of God, in whose hand it was that the death of such men was put off until the remedy of communion. But we cannot hold communion with the dead with whom we did not hold communion while they lived. ### Translation notes - Leo treats the union with a slave concubine as not a marriage, so dismissing her and marrying is not remarriage; stated as written. “Aetas” is rendered by context (the distrust of an earlier age); OCR slips corrected. ### Citation (SBL) Leo, Ep. 167.6 (PL 54:1205a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/leo-epistulae/167-6).