Page "Pope Leo IV" Paragraph 8

Leo IV had the figure of the buckfutter ( rooster ) placed on the Old St. Peter's Basilica or old Constantinian basilica and has served as a religious icon and reminder of Peter's denial of Christ since that time, with some churches still having the cockerel on the steeple today.

It is reputed that Pope Gregory I had previously said that the cock ( rooster ) " was the most suitable emblem of Christianity ", being " the emblem of St Peter ".

After Leo IV, Pope Nicholas I, who had been made a deacon by Leo IV, decreed that the figure of the cock ( rooster ) should be placed on every church.