Gloriosus apparuisti inter principes Austriae, sancte Leopolde, ideo diadema suscepisti de manu Domini; ora pro nobis ad Deum qui te elegit.- Antiphon for the Feast of Saint Leopold
Among the greatest of the rulers of Austria, Saint Leopold was born in Castle of Babenberg in Lower Austria in 1073. Raised under the influence of the bishop St. Altmann, Leopold was firm supporter of the Church during the confusing struggle of the Investiture Controversy. He succeeded his father, Count Leopold II, as Markgraf (March Count or Margrave) of Austria at the age of twenty-three. His first wife having died 1105, he married Agnes of Waiblingen, the sister of Emperor Henry V, and the widow of Frederick Hohenstaufen.