Pope Leo XIII was a good pope.
I know him from three things he wrote. One of them is the prayer to the Archangel Michael, which he asked be read after every Mass. He composed the prayer after a vision he had in which he saw the church threatened by demons.
"I do not remember the exact year. One morning the great Pope Leo XIII had celebrated a Mass and, as usual, was attending a Mass of thanksgiving. Suddenly, we saw him raise his head and stare at something above the celebrant's head. He was staring motionlessly, without batting an eye. His expression was one of horror and awe; the colour and look on his face changing rapidly. Something unusual and grave was happening in him."Finally, as though coming to his senses, he lightly but firmly tapped his hand and rose to his feet. He headed for his private office. His retinue followed anxiously and solicitously, whispering: 'Holy Father, are you not feeling well? Do you need anything?' He answered: 'Nothing, nothing.' About half an hour later, he called for the Secretary of the Congregation of Rites and, handing him a sheet of paper, requested that it be printed and sent to all the ordinaries around the world. What was that paper? It was the prayer that we recite with the people at the end of every Mass. It is the plea to Mary and the passionate request to the Prince of the heavenly host, [St. Michael: Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle] beseeching God to send Satan back to hell."
The practice of saying the prayer after Mass was suppressed in 1964; in my view, unwisely. I am hoping that Pope Benedict will reinstate it at some point.
The second document of his which I admire is the encyclical Providentissimus Deus, which is an encyclical he wrote explaining how Catholics are to read and interpret Sacred Scripture. It is a work that is in the preface to my Douay-Rheims Bible, and is a sound guide to the proper reading of Scripture.
The third document I read today as I prepared my reading of the Summa for my exercise in blogging it; it is the encyclical Aeterni Patris in which he commends the works of St. Thomas Aquinas to be read anew by the church. It is a good read; in includes passages such as this:
Lastly, the duty of religiously defending the truths divinely delivered, and of resisting those who dare oppose them, pertains to philosophic pursuits. Wherefore, it is the glory of philosophy to be esteemed as the bulwark of faith and the strong defense of religion. As Clement of Alexandria testifies, the doctrine of the Saviour is indeed perfect in itself and wanteth naught, since it is the power and wisdom of God. And the assistance of the Greek philosophy maketh not the truth more powerful; but, inasmuch as it weakens the contrary arguments of the sophists and repels the veiled attacks against the truth, it has been fitly called the hedge and fence of the vine.(22) For, as the enemies of the Catholic name, when about to attack religion, are in the habit of borrowing their weapons from the arguments of philosophers, so the defenders of sacred science draw many arguments from the store of philosophy which may serve to uphold revealed dogmas. Nor is the triumph of the Christian faith a small one in using human reason to repel powerfully and speedily the attacks of its adversaries by the hostile arms which human reason itself supplied. This species of religious strife St. Jerome, writing to Magnus, notices as having been adopted by the Apostle of the Gentiles himself; Paul, the leader of the Christian army and the invincible orator, battling for the cause of Christ, skillfully turns even a chance inscription into an argument for the faith; for he had learned from the true David to wrest the sword from the hands of the enemy and to cut off the head of the boastful Goliath with his own weapon.(23) Moreover, the Church herself not only urges, but even commands, Christian teachers to seek help from philosophy. For, the fifth Lateran Council, after it had decided that "every assertion contrary to the truth of revealed faith is altogether false, for the reason that it contradicts, however slightly, the truth,"(24) advises teachers of philosophy to pay close attention to the exposition of fallacious arguments; since, as Augustine testifies, "if reason is turned against the authority of sacred Scripture, no matter how specious it may seem, it errs in the likeness of truth; for true it cannot be."(25)
That's just beautiful. The Church is never more beautiful than when it is embattled; Leo XIII was under no illusions that the church could make peace with the modern age or politely submit to its tutelage. It's a good Pope who stands athwart history and demands that the modern age learn from the medieval church. The Catholic church is at its best when it acts as a brake or a corrective to the spirit of the age (which is almost always a false spirit); I think our current pope recognizes this, and is cut from similar cloth.
Thank you, Pope Leo XIII.