That's So Second Millennium

Popes 2D - Benedict

 

Pope Benedict XIV (and portrait-bomber) by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, courtesy of meisterdrucke.us

 

These notes were not produced by AI; at a few points Magisterium AI was asked for bits of information that I digested and included in the narrative; as usual, a great deal depends on the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).

 

Name	Dates	Birth Name
St. Benedict of Nursia	Life c. 480–543 (or 547)	Benedict
Benedict I	575–579	Bonosus (also called Benedictus)
Benedict II	684–685	Benedict
Benedict III	855–858	Benedict
Benedict IV	900–903	Benedict
Benedict V	964	Benedict
Benedict VI	973–974	Benedict
Benedict VII	974–983	Benedict
Benedict VIII	1012–1024	Son of Count Gregory of Tusculum
Benedict IX	1032–1044; 1045; 1047–1048	Theophylact of Tusculum
Antipope Benedict X	1058 – 1059 (deposed)	Unknown
Benedict XI	1303–1304	Niccolò Boccasini
Benedict XII	1334–1342	Jacques Fournier
Antipope Benedict XIII	1394–1417	Pedro de Luna
Benedict XIII	1724–1730	Pietro Francesco Orsini
Benedict XIV	1740–1758	Prospero Lambertini
Benedict XV	1914–1922	Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa
Benedict XVI	2005–2013	Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger

 

Through Benedict XII / Antipope Benedict XIII there is considerable overlap between the historical periods covered by Johns and by Benedicts.

 

St. Benedict: Hermit, abbot, founder of the Benedictines and writer of their Rule, among the most consequential men of the patristic era.

 

Benedict I: Pope in a time of great upheaval, the early stages of the Lombard invasion of Italy. The Arian Ostrogoths had ruled Italy in the early sixth century but for the most part the popes could live with them. The Byzantines under Justinian invaded and wrecked Italy, finally consolidating power by 555, but the weakened peninsula was then overwhelmed by new Germanic invaders, the Lombards, starting in 568. The Lombards became Catholic but were still political antagonists of the popes for centuries. Little is preserved about Benedict I's pontificate due to the violence of the period.

 

St. Benedict II: Despite the shortness of his pontificate, a holy and consequential Pope. Negotiated important concessions from the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Pogonatus regarding the imperial confirmation of papal elections, probably making it possible to receive them from the exarch in Ravenna instead of Constantinople, and was in general on good terms with the Byzantines. Promoted acceptance of the canons of the Sixth Council, Constantinople III (which had been held under the auspices of Pogonatus) by bishops in Spain, by Macarius of Antioch, and others. Supported St. Wilfrid in his conflict with neighboring bishops (as did John VI).

 

Benedict III: Clergy and Frankish imperial officials initially supported an antipope Anastasius against him, delaying his consecration. Into this gap a 14th century historian inserted one version of the fable of Pope Joan. His pontificate was troubled by turmoil in the Frankish realms. Apparently King Ethelwulf and Prince Alfred of Wessex visited him.

 

Benedict IV: Pope at the beginning of the troubled tenth century, but one of the better ones. Crowned Louis the Blind as Holy Roman Emperor, continued cleaning up the wreckage of the Cadaver Synod by confirming Pope Formosus' choice of Bishop of Langres.

 

Benedict V: Elected pope after the death of John XII and inherited the conflict between John and Emperor Otho, who had named Leo VIII as antipope. Otho captured Benedict and either compelled him to resign or simply carried him away from Rome to exile in Germany, where he died and was buried in the cathedral in Hamburg before his remains were returned to Rome.

 

Benedict VI: Elected to succeed John XIII. His consecration was delayed due to the time needed to get ratification from Emperor Otho II. He was captured by Crescentius, who had him strangled and intruded Antipope Boniface VII until the Emperor's legate could arrive and drive the antipope away. (This same antipope, after nine years' exile in Constantinople, returned and similarly did away with John XIV.)

 

Benedict VII: The legitimate pope that succeeded Benedict VI and Antipope Boniface VII (the first time). Worked to oppose simony (rife in that era, as discussed in previous episodes on Leo and Gregory), promoted monasticism (this must involve the Clunaic movement), and consecrated a bishop for Carthage. Overall little is recorded despite his nine year pontificate, probably due to the chaos of the period.

 

Benedict VIII: Son of the Count of Tusculum, a layman when elected, pope for 12 years. Crowned Henry II emperor and stayed on good terms with him. Was able to subjugate the descendants of Crescentius (see Benedict VI) and combated the Saracens in alliance with the Normans (this was over 250 years before the Sicilian Vespers). Went on a trip to Germany and held a synod at Pavia to condemn (again) simony and clerical concubinage. In all his pontificate seems like a surprisingly peaceful and prosperous one for the troubled tenth and eleventh centuries. See next entry...

 

Benedict IX: An awful Pope. A prototype of the "cardinal-nephew," the two previous Popes were his uncles. His father, Alberic, had him elected at the age of about 20. He "led a dissolute life" and was driven from Rome in 1044 with an Antipope Sylvester III named to replace him, but he overcame this and returned. Then came the truly notorious episode where his godfather, John Gratian, himself a fairly good priest and despondent over Benedict, offered him a bribe to resign (and take the opportunity to marry)--we mentioned this in the Gregory episode since John was elected pope and took the name Gregory VI. Benedict changed his mind; Sylvester was still in the field; and King Henry III (not yet Emperor?) intervened, called a Council in Sutri, and all three were deposed (the precedent for the resolution sought for the Western Schism almost four centuries later). Benedict continued contesting the outcome for years. He may have died an antipope, or he may have retired; a legend says he finally went to the Basilian Abbey of Grottaferrata and ended his days in quiet penance. Let's hope that's true.

 

Antipope Benedict X: As with the Johns, even though he was an antipope, he is still in the numbering scheme. He was elected against the wishes of the departed pope Stephen X, who wanted Hildebrand (the future Gregory VII) present for the election, but the same Tusculans who gave Rome Benedict VIII (and IX?) hustled through an election and got John Mincius of Velletri elected as Benedict X. Hildebrand returned to Italy from Germany and got support rounded up for a Bishop Gerhard to be elected as Nicholas II, who was able to overcome him. The whole episode was a major proximal cause of the crystallization of the College of Cardinals (under Nicholas II in 1059, heavily influenced by Hildebrand, and very controversial at first) in a shape that would evolve directly into what we know today.

 

Benedict XI: Master General of the Dominicans, he was elected pope after the tumultuous years of Boniface VIII and had a short reign.

 

Benedict XII: A French abbot and widely reputed to be a holy man. He was the third Avignon pope. He conducted some valuable church reforms, but he was politically unsavvy and was thoroughly manipulated by the French clergy and kings; these prevented him from moving the court back to Rome, although he often sent aid to Italy.

 

Antipope Benedict XIII: Peter de Luna, a character of the Western Schism, discussed in a previous episode (the Gregories, I think); claimed to be elected Pope in 1394 and hung on to his claim until his death in 1423.

 

Benedict XIII: An eldest child and heir to his uncle's duchy, he nevertheless fought his family and became a Dominican, a bit like Thomas Aquinas. Eventually his mother, sister, and two nieces joined the Dominican Third Order. He was a professor at 21 and made a cardinal and archbishop very early. He was a cardinal through five conclaves; the one that elected him Pope was over two months long, and he began a novena to Phillip Neri to bring it to a close. St. Phillip apparently got this done by bringing the electors around to Cardinal Orsini himself, who nearly refused election, but was commanded (for the last time) by the head of the Dominican order to accept. He reportedly took the name to honor Benedict XI, also a Dominican. At first he took the number XIV, but changed it to XIII in place of Peter de Luna. Religiously Benedict was a traditionalist and despiser of luxury and worldly pomp among clergy. He was politically more inclined to seek peace, and he was blind to the depredations of a favorite Cardinal Coscia. After Benedict's death Coscia was the subject of a popular uprising and spent ten years in prison.

 

Benedict XIV: A highly intelligent man, he held a series of curial positions before being made bishop of Ancona, a cardinal, and then Archbishop of Bologna, where he succeeded Corsini after his election as Clement XII. Like Benedict XIII, he was exemplary in his care for his dioceses. He was also one of the greatest scholars to become Pope and was also a sociable and beloved man. He was "said to have never allowed anyone to leave his presence dissatisfied or in anger." He took the name Benedict at the end of a six month conclave as the compromise candidate after several earlier attempts at compromises fell through. Even more so than Benedict XIII, he was keen to conciliate and end disputes in political matters, but he was thorough and precise in ecclesiastical matters. The position on mixed marriages requiring both parties to promise to raise the children in the Catholic Church was promulgated by him. He reorganized and thinned down the Church calendar. He also was a frugal Pope and ran the Papal States as prudently as he could, although he is recorded to have said, "The Pope orders, the cardinals do not obey, and the people do as they please." Benedict XIV's pontificate saw progress in the reunification of some Eastern Rite Churchs with Rome. He saw some of the measures that missionaries were taking to "inculturate" the Faith in China and Malabar to be incorporating some outright paganism and put out two bulls restricting this. He was a voluminous writer and also reorganized and expanded the Vatican Library. He even got along quite well with Voltaire.

 

Benedict XV: Also a curial functionary, then archbishop of Bologna, he was made cardinal by Pius X in 1914 shortly before the election that would make him Pope in September of that year. The first half of his pontificate coincided with the First World War, during which he importuned repeatedly for peace and offered several times to broker peace talks to no avail. But he also finished and promulgated the 1917 Code of Canon Law among other ongoing reforms.

 

Benedict XVI: Most listeners will need no discussion of this Pope, but the whirlwind tour: He was born in interwar Germany, another brilliant student like Benedict XIV; he became a famous theologian of the mid 20th century and was an influence at the Second Vatican Council. Unlike many of his peers, he found a way in that tumultuous period to hold on to the truths of the faith while engaging with the intellectual challenges of the modern world. Shortly before his death Paul VI made him Archbishop of Munich; John Paul II in 1981 made him Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he was responsible for clarifying Catholic teaching in a wide variety of circumstances; he was in that role also president of the International Theological Commission and the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

 

Upon the death of John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger was Dean of the College of Cardinals, and his inspired oratory during the transitional period seemed to lead gracefully into his election as Pope. While in many circles he is considered a "reactionary," he held to the changes made by the Council and effectively ratified by the pontificates of Paul VI and John Paul II, while notably clarifying the position of the older form of the Latin Mass and explicitly permitting it to be celebrated, and at the same time admonishing the Church to celebrate the new form with greater dignity and adhesion to the rubrics and intentions expressed in the documents of the Council. Already Dean at his election, and struggling to deal his age (and arguably with certain scandals within the Curia), he made the decision to resign the Papacy in early 2013, leading to the election of Pope Francis. He nevertheless lived another decade in quasi-monastic retirement, occasionally conversing with his successor, and publishing a few additional books.