Saint Leo of Sens

Leo (died Sens, before 549) was a Frankish bishop of Sens in the first half of the 6th century, venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. According to the oldest episcopal catalogues, Leo was the 16th bishop of the Archdiocese of Sens. He is historically documented on two occasions: he was represented by the priest Orbatus at the Council of Orléans in 533, and he took part directly in the Council of Orléans held on May 7, 538. He was certainly no longer bishop of Sens in 549, as his successor, Constitutus, is attested by that date. A letter remains from Saint Leo, undated, in which the bishop of Sens, already elderly, protests to King Childebert I against the request to establish a diocese at Melun, which would have considerably reduced the territory of his own diocese. Traditionally, Leo's episcopate is placed between 525 and 541 or 547. The question remains open regarding a letter from 512 in which three bishops—Heraclius, Leo, and Theodosius, mentioned without their respective sees—protested to Remigius of Reims for being too lenient toward a priest guilty of theft and sacrilege. According to some authors, the Leo of this letter could be identified as the bishop of Sens, while the other two would be Heraclius of Paris and Theodosius of Auxerre, both attested in 511. Those who support the traditional chronology exclude the possibility that it was Leo of Sens, as he would not yet have been bishop in 512; according to these authors, of the three bishops cited in the 512 document, the one from Sens was Heraclius, the 14th bishop in the episcopal catalogues of Sens. The Hieronymian Martyrology mentions Saint Leo on April 22: In the city of Sens, the deposition of the blessed bishop Leo. The commemoration, on the same date, later passed into the Roman Martyrology compiled by Baronius. The current martyrology, reformed according to the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, remembers the holy bishop with these words: