STEPHEN. The name of nine popes. STEPHEN I., Pope 254-257. The chief interest of his pon tificate lies in the controversy over the validity of baptism by heretics, in which Stephen declared definitely that baptism, no matter by whom ad ministered, was valid so long as the proper mat ter and form were employed. (See HERETIC BAPTISM.) He is called a martyr in the Liter Pontificalis, but the tradition cannot be traced further back than the sixth century.—STEPHEN H., Pope 752-757. During, his pontificate oc curred the epoch-making Donation of Pepin (q.v.), which was the real foundation of the Papal States in the modern sense. Consult Schniiren, Die Entstehung des Kirehenstaates (Cologne, 189-O.—STEPHEN HI., Pope 768-772, a Sicilian by birth. He held a synod at the Lateran in 769, supported by the sons of Pepin, at which an attempt was made to exclude secular influence in Papal elections, and a decree passed against the Eastern Iconoelasts. The relations between the Franks and Lombards troubled the latter years of his reign, and Desiderius, King of the Lombards, had the chief influence in Rome until after Stephen's death.—STEPHEN TV., Pope 816-817. He was closely allied with the Em peror Louis the Pious, whom he crowned at Rheims.—STEPHEN V., Pope 885-891.—STEPHEN VI., Pope 896-897. The most striking event of his pontificate is characteristic of the darkness of the times. Urged on by the faction to whom he owed his elevation, Stephen had the body of his predecessor Formosus d isint erred, and after the formality of a trial and condemnation stripped of its sacerdotal robes and thrown into the Tiber.
Stephen himself was soon imprisoned by a popu lar uprising, and died in prison.—STEPHEN Vii., Pope 929-931, during the period when Theodora and Alarozia held sway in Rome.—STEP EN VIII., Pope 939-942, while llarozia's son Alberic 11. held the temporal power and restricted the Pope to purely spiritual functions. Ile was able, however, by threats of excommunication to re duce to obedience the rebellious vassals of Louis IV. of France.—STEPHEN IX., Pope 1057-58, Frederick by baptism, brother of Gozelo, Duke of Lorraine. He was made a cardinal and chancel lor of the Roman Church by Leo IX. On his return from an embassy to Constantinople he en tered the Monastery of Monte Cassino, and be came its abbot in 1057. As Pope he followed his German predecessors in their zeal for reform, but died in less than a year. Consult Will, Die Anfiinge der Restauration der Kirehe fm 11. Jahrhundert (Marburg, 1864). Some lists of popes enumerate ten Stephens. The confusion arises from the fact that another of the name was elected immediately before Stephen 11., but died four days after, before he had received epis copal consecration, and is therefore not properly called Pope.