Pope Leo IV
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Pope Saint Leo IV |
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| Papacy began | 10 April 847 |
| Papacy ended | 17 July 855 |
| Predecessor | Sergius II |
| Successor | Benedict III |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 790 Rome, Papal States |
| Died | 17 July 855 Rome, Papal States |
| Sainthood | |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Attributes |
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Papal styles of Pope Leo IV |
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| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | Saint |
Pope Saint Leo IV (790 – 17 July 855) was Pope from 10 April 847 to his death in 855. He is remembered for repairing Roman churches that had been damaged during Arab raids on Rome, and for organizing a league of Italian cities who fought the sea Battle of Ostia against the Saracens.
A Roman by birth, he was unanimously chosen to succeed Sergius II. When he was elected, on 10 April 847, he was cardinal of Santi Quattro Coronati and had been subdeacon of Gregory IV and archpriest under his predecessor. His pontificate was chiefly distinguished by his efforts to repair the damage done by the Saracens during the reign of his predecessor to various churches of the city, especially those of St Peter and St Paul.
The Saracens were besieging Gaeta, which led to Leo's order that the walls of the city be restored and strengthened between 848 and 849. When the Muslims approached Portus, he summoned the Repubbliche Marinare (or mariner cities of Italy) – Naples, Gaeta and Amalfi – to form a league. The command of the unified fleet was given to Cesarius, son of Duke Sergius I of Naples. The subsequent Battle of Ostia was one of the most famous in history of the papacy of the Middle Ages and is celebrated in a famous fresco by Raphael and his pupils in his Rooms of the Vatican Palace in the Vatican City. Another episode of Leo's life celebrated by the Urbinate in his series of frescoes for the Incendio di Borgo is the burning of the pilgrims' district of Rome (the "Borgo"), which, according to the legend, was stopped by Leo simply making the sign of the cross.
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