Pope Victor III

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    Pope Victor III (c. 1026 – 16 September 1087), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 May 1086 to his death. He was the successor of Pope Gregory VII, yet his pontificate is far less notable than his time as Desiderius, the great abbot of Monte Cassino.

    His failing health was the factor that made him so reluctant to accept his pontifical election and his health was so poor that he fell to illness during his coronation. The only literary work of his that remains is his Dialogues on the miracles performed by Benedict of Nursia and other saints at Monte Cassino.

    Family

    Daufer was born in c. 1026.[2] He obtained permission to enter the monastery of S. Sophia at Benevento.

    Abbacy

    The life at S. Sophia was not strict enough for the young monk, who betook himself first to the island monastery of

    Abruzzi. About this time he was brought to the notice of Pope Leo IX, and it is probable that the pope employed him at Benevento to negotiate peace with the Normans after the fatal battle of Civitate
    .

    Somewhat later Desiderius attached himself to the court of

    Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, with whom he returned in 1055. He joined the community and was shortly afterwards appointed superior of the dependent house at Capua. In 1057 Pope Stephen IX, who had retained the abbacy of Monte Cassino, came to visit and at Christmas, believing himself to be dying, ordered the monks to elect a new abbot. Their choice fell on Desiderius. The pope recovered, and, desiring to retain the abbacy during his lifetime, appointed the abbot-designate his legate for Constantinople. It was at Bari, when about to sail for the East, that the news of the pope's death reached Desiderius. Having obtained a safe-conduct from Robert Guiscard, the Norman Count (later Duke) of Apulia, he returned to his monastery and was duly installed by Cardinal Humbert on Easter Day 1058.[4]

    cardinalate as the Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Sergio e Bacco on 6 March 1058. He opted to be the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia
    in 1059.

    Desiderius rebuilt the church and conventual buildings, perfected the products of the

    Justinian, the works of Terence, Virgil and Seneca, Cicero's De natura deorum, and Ovid
    's Fasti.

    Desiderius had been appointed

    Benedictine brethren in whatever churches or monasteries he desired, of those that had lost their patron".[7]

    Within two years of the consecration of the Cassinese Basilica, Alexander II died and was succeeded by Hildebrand as

    Tivoli. In 1083 the peace-loving abbot joined Hugh of Cluny in an attempt to reconcile pope and emperor, and his proceedings seem to have aroused some suspicion in Gregory's entourage. In 1084, when Rome was in Henry's hands and the pope besieged in Castel Sant'Angelo, Desiderius announced the approach of Guiscard's army to both emperor and pope.[4]

    Papacy

    Main article:
    Papal election, 1086

    Though certainly a strong partisan of the Hildebrandine reforms, Desiderius belonged to the moderate party and could not always see eye-to-eye with

    election. Finding, however, that they were bent on forcing the papal dignity upon him, he fled to Monte Cassino, where he busied himself in exhorting the Normans and Lombards to rally to the support of the Holy See. When autumn came, Desiderius accompanied the Norman army on its march to Rome. However, when he became aware of the plot between the cardinals and the Norman princes to force the papal tiara on him, he would not enter Rome unless they swore to abandon their design. They refused to do that, and the election was postponed. At about Easter[8] the bishops and cardinals
    assembled at Rome summoned Desiderius and the cardinals who were with him at Monte Cassino to come to Rome to treat concerning the election.

    On 23 May a great meeting was held in the deaconry of St. Lucy, and Desiderius was again importuned to accept the papacy but persisted in his refusal, threatening to return to his monastery in case of violence. On the next day, the feast of

    Urban II
    ), but this was rejected by some of the cardinals on the grounds that the translation of a bishop was contrary to ecclesiastical law.

    Cardinal Desiderio, abbot of Montecassino, was elected successor to Gregory VII on 24 May 1086, in the deaconry of S. Lucia in Septisolis and took the name Victor III.[9] Four days later, pope and cardinals had to flee from Rome before the imperial prefect of the Eternal City, and at Terracina, in spite of all protests, Victor laid aside the papal insignia and once more retired to Monte Cassino, where he remained nearly a whole year. In the middle of Lent 1087, the pope-elect assisted at a council of cardinals and bishops held at Capua as "Papal vicar of those parts" (letter of Hugh of Lyons) together with the Norman princes, Cencius the Consul and the Roman nobles. Here, Victor finally yielded and "by the assumption of the cross and purple confirmed the past election".[10] How much his obstinacy had irritated some of the prelates is evidenced in the letter of Hugh of Lyons preserved by Hugh of Flavigny.[11]

    Desiderius was elected on 24 May 1086, taking the throne name of Victor III, but his consecration did not take place until 21 March 1087 owing to the presence of the Antipope Clement III in Rome.[12] After celebrating Easter of 1087 in his monastery, Victor proceeded to Rome. After the Normans had driven the soldiers of the Antipope Clement III out of St. Peter's, he was consecrated and enthroned on 21 March 1087. He only remained eight days in Rome and then returned to Monte Cassino, though with the help of Matilda and Jordan, he took back the Vatican Hill. Before May was out, he was once more in Rome in answer to a summons for the countess Matilda of Tuscany, whose troops held the Leonine City and Trastevere. By the end of June Clement III once more gained possession of St. Peter's, Victor again withdrew at once to his Monte Cassino abbey.

    Synod and death

    In August 1087, a

    chapter-house. Odo was duly elected his successor as Pope Urban II
    .

    Writings

    Pope Victor's only existing literary work Dialogues, is on the miracles wrought by Benedict and other saints at Monte Cassino. In his De Viris Illustribus Casinensibus, Peter the Deacon ascribes to him the composition of a "Cantus ad B. Maurum" and letters to King Philip I of France and to Hugh of Cluny, which no longer exist.

    Victor is the probable author of a letter to the empress-mother Anna Dalassene concerning the molestation of pilgrims to the Holy Land in the Byzantine Empire.[14] There is also a letter to the bishops of Sardinia, where (since c. 1050 brought under Pisan and Genoan control) he sent monks while still abbot of Monte Cassino.

    Posthumous legacy

    Vincenzo Carducci The Vision of Pope Victor III (1626–1632)

    The cult of Blessed Victor III seems to have begun not later than the pontificate of

    moved
    to the Chapel of St. Victor.

    During World War II, his body was removed and placed in Rome for safekeeping. The main abbey at Monte Cassino was destroyed in February 1944 by US bombing. Victor's body was moved back to the rebuilt abbey in 1963.

    See also

    References

    1. ISBN 978-0415939294
      .
    2. ^ McBrien 2000, p. 189.
    3. ^ The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 12 p. 178.
    4. ^ a b "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Blessed Victor III". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
    5. ^ Chron. Cass., III, 18 (20)
    6. ^ Chron. Cass., III, 63
    7. ^ Chron. Cas., III, 34
    8. ^ Chron. Cass., III, 66
    9. OCLC 53276621
      .
    10. ^ Chron. Cass., III, 68
    11. ^ Monumenta German. History: Script. VIII, 466–468
    12. ^ Grant 2016, p. 995.
    13. ^ Robinson 1999, p. 264.
    14. doi:10.1515/bz-1992-1-211

    Sources

    External links
    Catholic Church titles
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    1086–87     		Succeeded by
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