A Curious Picture of Pope St. Leo the Great

This has been a busy week, with calls, illnesses, canceled surgery, and lying in bed at home praying for a speedy recovery from the common cold.

During a moment of lucidity, I came across the picture below of Pope St. Leo the Great. Look at the man in left center, bowing to the Pope. What is that thing on his head?

Granted the copy/scan/upload has taken some of the details from it, but I thought(and so did the members of my family) it looked like a rubber chicken on the man's head. On further inspection, it appears as if Pope St. Leo the Great as well as the angel behind him are staring at it as well. Perhaps their conversation would go something like this:

Angel: "Leo, Leo, what is that thing on that guy's head?"

Leo: "It looks like a rubber chicken."

Angel: "That is impossible. Rubber will not be invented for centuries."

Leo: "Then perhaps it is a REAL chicken."

Angel: "Don't trust anyone with a chicken, real or rubber, on his head, Leo."

It is probably a dragon of some sort, but for someone feeling under the weather, it gave me a few minutes of mirth.