St. Leo the Great Confronts Attila the Hun

Art

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Frances M. Maguire Art Museum

St. Leo the Great Confronts Attila the Hun, from St. Leo the Great Church, Tacony, Philadelphia: Full image of the stained glass window, which depicts St. Leo the Great (Pope Leo I) confronting Attila the Hun in 452AD in northern Italy. Saints Peter and Paul appear above them armed with swords.
St. Leo the Great Confronts Attila the Hun, from St. Leo the Great Church, Tacony, Philadelphia

Full image of the stained glass window, which depicts St. Leo the Great (Pope Leo I) confronting Attila the Hun in 452AD in northern Italy. Saints Peter and Paul appear above them armed with swords.

Name/Title

St. Leo the Great Confronts Attila the Hun

Description

19th-c. stained-glass window of St. Leo the Great (Pope Leo I) confronting Attila the Hun in 452AD in northern Italy. Saints Peter and Paul appear above them armed with swords. This stained glass window is from St. Leo the Great Church in the Tacony section of Philadelphia, which closed in 2013.

Artwork Details

Medium

Stained Glass, Vitreous paint

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

Franz Mayer & Co

Attribution

Studio of

Date made

1896

Time Period

19th Century

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Entire window

Height

101 in

Width

60 in

Interpretative Labels

Label

“Our most blessed Pope Leo–trusting in the help of God, who never fails the righteous in their trials–undertook the task.” (Prosper, a Christian chronicler, c. 455 C.E.) Dressed in papal regalia, Pope Leo the Great exudes confidence as he successfully halts Attila the Hun’s advance on Rome. Peter and Paul, known as defenders of Christ, descend from above and underscore the spiritual significance of the event. The founding of St. Leo the Great in 1884 coincided with the reign of Pope Leo XIII, whose advocacy for working classes possibly inspired the largely Irish congregation of the parish. This community, described as “defensive of the Roman Catholic doctrine,” constructed and decorated St. Leo’s with their own money within the primarily Protestant neighborhood of Tacony. The church served as a beacon of strength for the community until its unfortunate destruction in a fire in 2021.

Label Type

Credit Line

Label

Label written by Andrew Jarecki, ‘27

Label Type

Credit Line

Label

Gift of Carmen R. Croce, '71