1980s, I was sitting at a primary school desk. Today I've discovered that the 80s are being brought back by teenage fashion. I have so many memories recorded in my mind from that period: definitely the holiday beach, but also those hateful and useless smocks, Michel Platini and Maradona's Napoli, Michael Jackson concert posters, Giulio Andreotti, the Berlin Wall or the Fiat Tipo. I remember a lot, so much more. Anyway, today that day came to mind when our teacher told us the story of Pope Leo the Great. Ever since then, I've remembered that tale, fascinated by the heroism, but above all by the personality of that extraordinary Pontiff. The 10th of November is Saint Leo the Great. I don't understand why we don't celebrate him as a national hero, perhaps precisely because we do even more, we honour him as a Saint.
\nAfter him, only one other Pope was given the title the Great, namely Gregory. Two other laymen had the honour: Alexander of Macedon and Charles from beyond the Alps. Why does Leo the Great deserve more attention in our schools and culture? I shall try to recall it in the simplicity of my story. Attila, King of the Huns, the Scourge of God, where he passed no grass grew again, decided to invade Italy. He was returning from a campaign of pillage and devastation in Gaul. It was 452 AD; the previous year he had killed his brother. In Germany, Attila is considered a ruler of great administrative ability, while in Hungary, where they feel they are the heirs of the Huns, a true national hero. The point, however, was that Attila set his sights on the Italian Peninsula with his men to put it to fire and the sword and plunder it.
\nPope Leo I decided to go to meet him, accompanied by a delegation. He reached him on the banks of the River Mincio, between Mantua and Verona. He had killed his brother Attila shortly before, let us remember. That meeting is extraordinarily depicted by Raphael in a painting from 1514 at the suggestion of Pope Julius II, who died shortly before its completion, because he needed symbolic works against French \u201cinvasiveness\u201d. In this work, the Pope met Attila protected by Saints Peter and and Paul. In short, Pope Leo I arrived at the camp holding a Crucifix and met Attila. They spoke privately. They said goodbye, I imagine in the silence and tension that rippled among the warriors and the delegates, and then the Pope left with his companions for Rome. The next day Attila gathered his men and resumed the road north.
\nThere are many interpretations, explanations of various kinds. I like to recall Lucio Dalla's one. In an interview, he remembered how important the Crucifix was for the barbarians, who were not Christians. In fact, they always lived on horseback and one of the few reasons that made them dismount was the prayer they said during the day in front of their own sword stuck in the ground. Lucio Dalla told this anecdote, highlighting the Christian roots of Europe.
\nPope Leo the Great may well have persuaded the terrifying Hun using less than spiritual methods, but even if that were the case, the epithet \u2019the Great\" is all the more politically justified. Two years later, another barbarian, Gaiseric, arrived in Rome to conquer it. [Leo] went out to meet him and persuaded him to pillage, but not to kill. That is how it happened; indeed, at his request, the three main basilicas\u2014Saint Peter's, Saint Paul's and Saint John Lateran\u2014were not violated. Pope Leo\u2019s CV is extraordinary: before becoming Pope, he mediated a conflict in Gaul between plenipotentiaries of the empire, averting another war. He was sent to Gaul by the Emperor Valentinian III to settle a dispute and reconcile Flavius Aetius, the military commander of the province, and the praetorian prefect, Caecina Decius Aginatius Albinus. Mission accomplished. He is the Pope who, in a context of political, military and religious divisions, managed to establish\u2014without a war\u2014the primacy of the See of Rome over the world. Today he is celebrated as a saint, but let us also remember him as a national hero. My primary school teacher did, and I thank her for it.<\/p>\n
Nicola Tavoletta<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Anni \u201980, ero tra i banchi alle elementari. Oggi gli anni\u2019 80 ho scoperto che sono richiamati dalla moda delle teenager. Ho tantissimi ricordi registrati nella mia memoria di quel periodo: sicuramente la spiaggia delle vacanze, ma anche gli odiosi e inutili grembiuli, Michael Platini\u2019 e il Napoli di Maradona, i manifesti dei concerti di […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editoriale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1984,"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982\/revisions\/1984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montecarlostyle.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1982"}],"curies":[{"name":"WordPress","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}