Photo Credit: Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali/Art Resource, NY
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None of us gets to choose the time and place of our birth. But if that were possible, few of us would pick Rome in the fifth century.
It was a time of crumbling hopes and mounting fears. Barbarian armies were rampaging throughout Europe. In 410, as the century began, Alaric and his Visigoths invaded and pillaged Rome—a bloody and terrifying event that sent shock waves rippling out, like a 9/11 magnified many times over. To many people, it seemed that the world was coming to an end. In a sense, it was. The Roman Empire was collapsing. Much of civilization in Western Europe was about to be swept away.
There was turmoil in the church as well. Heresies and doctrinal controversies were dividing Christians and sowing confusion about basics of the faith. If ever there was a time to feel discouraged and apprehensive, this was it.
Into this disheartening scene stepped a remarkable leader—Pope Leo I, one of only three popes so far who have…
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