Hierarch Leo of Catania

Hierarch Leo was born in Ravenna, Italy, to a pious noble family. He was ordained presbyter in Ravenna; in 765, after the death of Bishop Sabinus, he was consecrated bishop of the city of Catania in Sicily — the fifteenth in succession.

He became renowned for works of mercy: he supported orphans, widows, the sick, and travelers from church estates, and possessed a gift of healing.

The principal account of the hierarch concerns the sorcerer Heliodorus — a native of Catania, once a Christian, who had apostatized and turned to sorcery, by which he held the city in fear and deception. St. Leo repeatedly called him to repentance, but Heliodorus did not heed the admonitions and once burst into the church during the Divine Liturgy, causing confusion among the worshippers through sorcery. The hierarch calmly came out from the altar, bound the sorcerer's neck with his own omophorion, led him out to the city square, ordered a fire to be built, and entered the flames together with Heliodorus: the sorcerer was burned to ashes, while the hierarch, by the power of God, emerged from the fire completely unharmed — a miracle that confounded the demonic power of sorcery before the holiness of the hierarch.

According to tradition, he was invited to Constantinople by Emperors Leo IV and Constantine VI. He reposed in 789; he was buried in a church he had built in honor of the Great Martyr Lucy, and his relics were later translated to the Church of St. Martin of Tours.

His feast is kept on February 20/March 5.

NOTE: the original bio_ru and summary_ru were an unprocessed fragment of a Menaion caption ("[Rus. 17th c.] Menaion - February...") with not a single biographical fact — completely rewritten based on the saint's life. The previously empty feast_days field has been filled in.