Pope Saint Leo IX

Bruno of Egisheim-Dagsburg was born in 1002 in Alsace, related to the German imperial family. He became bishop of Toul in 1026 and served there for more than twenty years as a devoted, reforming pastor. In 1048 Emperor Henry III chose him as pope, but Bruno insisted on being accepted by the clergy and people of Rome, entering the city as a barefoot pilgrim. He took the name Leo IX in 1049.

Leo brought gifted reformers to Rome, including the monk Hildebrand, the future Gregory VII. He held synods in Italy, France and Germany against simony and clerical immorality, traveling tirelessly to strengthen the bishops. In 1053 he led an army against the Normans in southern Italy, was defeated and held captive for months. During his pontificate tensions with Constantinople grew, leading to the mutual excommunications of 1054. He died in Rome on April 19, 1054.

Leo IX is honored especially in Alsace, where he is a beloved local saint, and in Toul. His pontificate is remembered as the beginning of the great Gregorian reform that renewed the Church in the eleventh century.