Bruno of Egisheim was born into an aristocratic family. He was educated at Toul, where he first became canon and then was consecrated bishop on September 9, 1027, at the early age of 25. Dynamic, purposeful, and zealous in the cause of reform, he began to raise the moral standards of important monasteries in his diocese, as well as those of the secular diocesan clergy, by holding frequent meetings and by constant exhortations. In accordance with prevailing practice, he was appointed pope at the age of 47 by the emperor Henry III. He insisted, however, upon being elected by the people and clergy of Rome, an action that implicitly indicated his opposition to the firmly entrenched lay intervention, especially by the emperors, in purely ecclesiastical matters. After he obtained the approval of the Romans, he was enthroned as pope on February 12, 1049.
Leo IX’s aim was the eradication of what he saw as the chief evils of the time—that is, concubinage (clerical marriage), simony (buying and selling of ecclesiastical offices), and lay investiture (conferment of an ecclesiastical office by a lay ruler). In order to achieve these ends, it was necessary for the Roman church itself to be made the center of Christian society and life. Leo therefore called to Rome men whom he had known in his capacity as bishop of Toul. They not only were aware of the pressing need for reform but were also first-class scholars and administrators as well as men who realized the difficulties with which they were to be confronted. Among them were Humbert of Moyenmoutier, Frederick of Lorraine (later Pope Stephen IX), and Hugh of Remiremont, all of whom became cardinals. A notable monk at Cluny, Hildebrand, also obeyed the call to Rome, where he was destined to play a historic role as Pope Gregory VII, becoming the consummator of the reform initiated by Leo. These men and their assistants infused new blood into the Roman church. Leo also entertained regular contact with other leading churchmen, such as St. Peter Damian and St. Hugh of Cluny, who by virtue of their reputations exercised great influence upon their immediate surroundings and thus prepared the way for the acceptance of measures to reform Christian society.
These men succeeded in transforming the papacy from a local Roman institution into an international power. This farsighted and able group was determined to make papal ideology a social reality. The pivotal point in this ideology was the primatial position of the pope as so-called successor of St. Peter—an ecclesiastical expression for papal monarchy. The organizational apparatus of the papacy experienced a great expansion at this time, notably the chancery, which became the nerve center of the papacy in which the universally valid and applicable law and the instructions and mandates to distant ecclesiastical officers were drafted.
Although the effect of these legal measures was not immediately conspicuous, they nevertheless prepared the ground for their subsequent successful implementation. During Leo IX’s pontificate the cardinals became more and more prominent as the most intimate counsellors of the pope, and within a few years they were to form the body known as the Sacred College of Cardinals. Pope Leo IX died on 19 April 1054, and that date is his feastday.