BENEDICT (Benedictus), the name taken by 14 of the popes.
Benedict I. succeeded John III. and was pope from 575 to 579, during the incursions of the Lombards and the series of plagues and famines which followed these invasions.
Benedict II. was pope from 684 to 685. He succeeded Leo II. but his ordination was delayed for some months until the leave of the emperor Constantine was obtained.
Benedict III. was pope from 855 to 858. He was chosen by the clergy and people of Rome, but the election was not con firmed by the emperor, Louis II., who appointed an anti-pope, Anastasius (the librarian). The imperial government at length recognized Benedict and discontinued its opposition. The mythical pope Joan is usually placed between Benedict and his predecessor Leo IV.
Benedict IV. was pope from 90o to 903.
Benedict V. was pope from 964 to 965. He was elected by the Romans on the death of John XII. The emperor Otto I. did not approve of the choice and carried off the pope to Hamburg, where he died.
Benedict VI. was pope from 972 to 974. He was installed pope under the protection of the emperor Otto the Great. On the death of the emperor the turbulent citizens of Rome renewed their outrages, and the pope himself was strangled by order of Crescen tius, the son of the notorious Theodora, who replaced him by a deacon called Franco who took the name of Boniface VII.
Benedict VII. was pope from 974 to 983. He was elected through the intervention of a representative of the emperor, Count Sicco, who drove out the intruder Franco (afterwards Pope Boniface VII). Benedict governed Rome quietly for nearly nine years, a somewhat rare thing in those days.
Benedict VIII., pope from 1012 to 1024, was called originally Theophylactus. He was a layman, a member of the family of the count of Tusculum, and was opposed by an anti-pope, Gregory; but defeated him with the aid of King Henry II. of Saxony, whom he crowned emperor in 1014. In his pontificate the Saracens began to attack the southern coasts of Europe and effected a settlement in Sardinia. The Normans also then began to settle in Italy, but their relations with Benedict were friendly. In Italy Benedict supported the policy of the emperor Henry II., and at the Council of Pavia (102 2) exerted himself in favour of ecclesiastical discipline.
Benedict IX., pope from 1033 to 1056, son of Alberic, count of Tusculum, and nephew of Benedict VIII., was also called Theophylactus. He was installed pope at the age of 12 through the influence of his father. The disorders of his conduct, though tolerated by the emperors, Conrad II. and Henry III., at length disgusted the Romans, who drove him out in 1044 and appointed Silvester III. his successor. Silvester remained in the papal chair but a few weeks, as the people of Tusculum quickly recovered their influence and reinstated their pope. Benedict, however, sold his rights to his godfather, the priest Johannes Gratianus, who was installed under the name of Gregory VI. (1045) . The follow ing year Henry III. obtained, at the Council of Sutri, the deposi tion of the three competing popes and replaced them by Suidger, bishop of Bamberg, who took the name of Clement II. But before the close of 1047, Clement II. died, and Benedict was reinstalled for the third time. At last, on July 17, 5048, the marquis of Tuscany drove him from Rome, where he was never seen again.
Benedict X. (Johannes "Mincius," i.e., the lout or dolt, bishop of Velletri) was pope from 1058 to 1059. He was elected on the death of Stephen IX. through the influence of the Roman barons, who, however, had pledged themselves to take no action without Hildebrand, who was then absent from Rome. Hildebrand put forward an opposition pope in the person of Gerard, bishop of Florence (pope as Nicholas II.) whom he supported against the Roman aristocracy. With the help of the Normans, Hildebrand seized the castle of Galeria, where Benedict had taken refuge, and degraded him to the rank of a simple priest.
Benedict XI. (Niccolo Boccasini), pope from 1303 to 1304, the son of a notary, was born in 124o at Treviso. Entering the Dominican order in 12S4, he became lector, prior of the convent, provincial of his order in Lombardy, and in 1296 its general. In 1298 he was created cardinal priest of Santa Sabina, and in 1300 cardinal bishop of Ostia and Velletri. He was a loyal supporter of Boniface VIII. in his struggle with Philip the Fair of France, and in 13o2 he was papal legate in Hungary. On Oct. 22, 1303, he was unanimously elected pope. He did much to conciliate the enemies made by his predecessor, notably France, the Colonnas and King Frederick II. of Sicily : nevertheless on June 7, 1304, he excommunicated William of Nogaret and all the Italians who had captured Boniface in Anagni. Benedict died at Perugia on July 7, 5304; if he was really poisoned, suspicion would fall primarily on Nogaret. His successor, Clement V., transferred the papal residence to Avignon. Among Benedict's works are com mentaries on part of the Psalms and on the Gospel of Matthew. His beatification took place in See C. Grandjean "Registres de Benoit XI." (Paris, 1883 ff.), Bibliotheque des Ecoles f rancaises d'Athenes de Rome.
Benedict XII. (Jacques Fournier), pope from 1334 to 1342, was born at Saverdun on the Arriege. Entering the Cistercian cloister, Bolbonne and graduating doctor of theology at Paris, he became, in 1311, abbot of Fontfroide, in 1317 bishop of Pamiers, and in 1327 of Mirepoix. Created cardinal priest of Santa Prisca, in Dec. 1327, by his uncle John XXII., he was elected his successor on Dec. 20, Benedict made appoint ments carefully, reformed monastic orders and consistently op posed nepotism. Unable to remove his capital to Rome or to Bologna, he began to erect a great palace at Avignon. He was a learned theologian, and in 1336 he declared that souls of saints may attain the fullness of beatific vision before the last judgment. In 1339 he entered upon fruitless negotiations for the reunion of the Greek and Roman churches. French influence made futile his attempt to come to an understanding with the emperor Louis the Bavarian, who had been excommunicated by John XXII. for stirring up sedition in Italy. He died on April 25, 1342.
See the source publications of G. Daumet (Lettres closes, patentes, et -curiales, ... Paris, 1899 ff.) and J. M. Vidal (Lettres communes . . . Paris, 1993 ff.).
Benedict XIII. (Pedro de Luna) (c. 1328-1422 or 1423), anti pope belonged to one of the most noble families in Aragon. His high birth, his legal learning—he was for a long time professor of canon law at Montpelier—and the irreproachable purity of his life recommended him to Pope Gregory XI., who created him cardinal deacon of S. Maria in Cosmedin in 1374. He was elected pope, or rather anti-pope, by the cardinals of Avignon on Sept. 28, 1394. The hopes he had aroused that, by a voluntary abdica tion, he would restore unity to the church, were vain ; though called upon by princes of France to carry out this plan, abandoned by his cardinals, besieged and finally kept under close observation in the palace of the popes (1398-1403), he stood firm. Escaping from Avignon, he again won obedience in France. He yielded, however, to the instances of the government of Charles VI., and began pourparlers for an interview with Gregory XII., with a view to their simultaneous abdication. The failure of these nego tiations, for which he was only in part responsible, led to the universal movement of indignation and impatience, which ended, in France, in the declaration of neutrality (1408) and, at Pisa, in the decree of deposition against the two pontiffs (14o9). Bene dict XIII., who had on his part tried to call together a council at Perpignan, was by this time recognized hardly anywhere but in his native land, in Scotland, and in the estates of the countship of Armagnac. Abandoned by nearly all his adherents, he took refuge in the impregnable castle of Peniscola, on a rock dominat ing the Mediterranean (1415). The Council of Constance then deposed him, as a perjurer, an incurable schismatic, and a heretic July 26, 1417. After struggling with the popes of Rome, Urban VI., Boniface IX., Innocent VII., and Gregory XII., and against the popes of Pisa, Alexander V. and John XXIII., Pedro de Luna, clinging more than ever to that apostolic seat which he still professed not to desire, again took up the struggle against Martin V., although the latter was recognized throughout almost all Christendom, and before his death (Nov. 29, 1422, or May 23, 1423) he nominated four new cardinals in order to carry on the schism.
See Fr. Ehrle. Archie f iir Lit and Kirchengesch. vols. v., vi., vii.: N. Valois, La France et le grand schisme d'occident (1896-1902) ; Fr. Ehrle "Martin de Alpartils chronica acitatorum temporibus domini Benedicti XIII." (Quellen and Forschungen aus dem Geb. der Gesch., Gorres-Gesellschaf t, Paderborn, 1906).
Benedict XIII. (Piero Francesco Orsini), pope from 1724 to 1730, at first styled Benedict XIV., was born on Feb. 2, 1649, of the ducal family of Orsini-Gravina. In 1667 he became a Dominican (as Vincentius Maria), studied theology and philos ophy, was made a cardinal in 1672 and archbishop of Benevento in 1686. Elected pope on May 2g, 1724, he attempted to reform clerical morals; but neither the decrees of the Latin council (172 5) nor his personal precepts had much effect. He confirmed the bull Unigenitus; but, despite the Jesuits, allowed the Domin icans to preach the Augustinian doctrine of grace. State affairs he left entirely to the unpopular Cardinal Nicolo Coscia. He died on Feb. 21, His works were published in 3 vols. at Ravenna in 1728.
Benedict XIV. (Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini), pope from 174o to 1758, was born at Bologna on March 31, 1675. At the age of 13 he entered the Collegium Clementinum at Rome. He served the Curia in many and important capacities, yet devoted his leisure time to theological and canonistic study. In 1725 Benedict XIII. made him an archbishop of Theodosia in partibus, then of Xiii. made him an archbishop of Theodosia in partibus, then of Ancona (1727), and the next year created him cardinal priest. In 1731 Clement XII. translated him to his native city of Bologna, where, as archbishop, he was both efficient and popular. He pub lished valuable works, notably De sevorum Dei beati ficatione et canonizatione, De sacrificio missae, as well as a treatise on the feasts of Christ and the Virgin and of some saints honoured in Bologna. In a conclave which had lasted for months he was elected on Aug. 17, 1740, the successor of Clement XII. Benedict XIV. bettered the economic conditions of the papal states but Xiv. bettered the economic conditions of the papal states but was disinclined to undertake the needed thorough-going reform of its administration. He was the first pope expressly to recognize the king of Prussia as such. In 1741 he issued the bull Immensa pastorum principis demanding more humane treatment for the Indians of Brazil and Paraguay, and in the bulls Ex quo singulari (1742) and Omnium sollicitudinum (1744) he rebuked the mis sionary methods of the Jesuits in accommodating their message to the heathen usages of the Chinese and of the natives of Mala bar. He reduced the number of holy days in several Catholic countries. To the end of his life he kept up his studies and his intercourse with other scholars, and founded several learned societies. His masterpiece, Libri octo de synode diocesana, begun in Bologna, appeared during his pontificate. He died on May 3, 1758.
His works, published in twelve quarto volumes at Rome (1747 1751), appeared in more nearly complete editions at Venice in 1767 and at Prato 1839-1846; also Brie f e Benedicts XIV., ed. F. X. Kraus (2nd ed., Freiburg, 1888) ; Benedicti XIV. Pupae opera inedita, ed. F. Heiner (Freiburg, 1904). See Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie ii. 572 ff.; Wetzer and Welter, Kirchenlexikon 317 ff.