He left a reputation for prodigious and charitable deeds, earning the Greek epithet (Thaumaturgus translates literally as worker of miracles).

[4] Local legend has it that the Catanians, needing a new bishop, dreamt collectively that an angel pointed them to the Calabrian city of Reggio, where a man in the odour of sanctity was to be found in a hermitage.

Eventually he must have been won over: regardless of the historic worth of this attractive tale, Leo did indeed come to be appointed to serve Catania's christians in 765.

[citation needed] The Byzantine governor of Sicily ordered his arrest, forcing him to leave Catania and find refuge on the Tyrrhenian side of the island.

[6] According to a local tale, a Catanian dignitary of noble birth called Heliodorus had been one of the unsuccessful candidates for the episcopate.

For his part, Leo is said to have repeatedly tried in vain by peaceful means to persuade Heliodorus away from such devilish work.

[7] The scene in this legend now shifts to the nearby Achillean Thermal Baths, where the Catania Cathedral now stands.

After ordering that wood be heaped up on a fire inside, Leo is alleged to have suddenly wrapped his Omophorion (bishop's vestment) round Heliodorus and dragged him towards it.