POPE JOHN VIII, FIRST ASSASSINATED POPE
POPE VICTOR III, "A MAN OF UNUSUAL HOLINESS"
Photo by Tom Podmore on Unsplash
Dauferio of Benevento, Pope Victor III, was born around 1026, possibly the son of Prince Landulf V, a Lombard prince. As an only son, Dauferio was expected to marry and carry on the family name. However, twice he managed to escape arranged marriages and go to a monastery. The second time he fled to Cava, getting permission to enter the monastery of S. Sophia, established by the Benevento family a generation before. He took the name Desiderius. This monastery was not strict enough, so he went to the island monastery of Tremite on the Adriatic. In 1053, he joined some hermits at Majella in Abruzzi.
About this time, Desiderius was brought to the attention of Pope Leo IX. Leo was fighting the Normans who had taken over much of southern Italy. Possibly, Desiderius was hired to negotiate peace with the Normans after the battle of Civitate, as Pope Leo was held prisoner for months. Leo was freed but died a month later.
The new pope, Victor II invited Desiderius to join the papal court being held in Florence. While there, the young monk met two monks from Monte Cassino. The next year he joined them at the monastery. He soon joined the religious community and was appointed the superior of a dependent house at Capua.
In under two years, Pope Stephen, who was also the abbot of Monte Cassino, returned to the abbey, sick, and ordered an election for a new abbot. Desiderius won. Stephen recovered and insisted that he would hold on to the abbacy. He then appointed Desiderius as legate to Constantinople. About to go aboard a ship at Bari, the monk heard of Stephen’s death. Getting safe-conduct from the Normans, Desiderius went back to Monte Cassino and was installed as abbot at Easter, 1058.
This began the golden age of Monte Cassino. Besides St. Benedict, Desiderius was the premier abbot of Monte Cassino’s history. He rebuilt the church and conventual buildings, established schools of art and reestablished disciplines. His reputation brought many gifts and donations to the monastery. He acquired many of the gifts from the Byzantine Empire that had been stolen and pawned some years before. This abbot pushed the monastery to be a center of intellect. He ordered at least seventy books copied including those of Augustine, Ambrose, Josephus and Virgil. Desiderius was also appointed papal vicar for much of southern Italy with the power to reform monasteries.
In recognition of his work, Nicholas II consecrated Desiderius a cardinal.
Desiderius began to work with Pope Gregory VII, the strict reformist. He negotiated with the Normans and, later, Emperor Henry IV for the pope. The abbot was gentler than the pope and felt he was a middleman. They did not always agree. However, Gregory named the abbot as one of the fittest to succeed him.
When Gregory died in exile, 25 May 1085, getting a new pope into Rome was very difficult. The emperor nominated his own “pope”, Clement. Clement received an army and marched on Rome. Many cardinals wanted Desiderius to be elected. Desiderius did not want the honor. So, he went into hiding on several occasions to avoid it. Eventually, he was elected on 24 May 1086, a year after Gregory’s death. At the same time, the Normans, who had signed fealty to the pope, were attacking Sicily. They would have gotten rid of the Muslims by the turn of the century.
Between the antagonism of Anti-Pope Clement, Emperor Henry and the Normans, Desiderius, took the name Pope Victor III and left for Monte Cassino, before being consecrated. He went back and forth several times before being consecrated and enthroned on 9 May 1087, a year after the election. At his First Mass, it was obvious that Pope Victor was very sick. He could not complete the Mass.
The summer of 1087 was very busy for Victor. He called a council at Benevento. Here, he renewed the excommunication of Clement, and condemned lay investiture, putting another nail in the coffin of this illicit act. At the same time, Victor sent an army of Italian troops to Africa where they captured the town of El Mahadia. His representatives forced the Muslim ruler of Tunis to free Christian slaves and pay tribute to the Holy See.
At the council, Victor got sick. He returned to Monte Cassino, knowing he was dying. He suggested Odo of Ostia as a successor to the throne of Peter. He died 16 September. Victor is one of the few popes not buried in Rome. He was buried at the church at Monte Cassino.
Pope Victor III was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1887.
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About the Author
Debra Booton McCoy is a cradle Catholic and is a native of central New York. She works in the health care field and spends her spare time writing and enjoying her family, two grown children, and husband Bob. Growing up through the Vatican II era, she remembers the traditional teaching of the Church and was witness to the changes. For many years Debra was a Catholic on the sidelines, going to Mass every week, but not living the Faith. When she decided to homeschool her son, she found that she had to teach herself what she had forgotten or never learned. That is when she realized her role.
Debra is a published author, having written a column for a women’s monthly newspaper in the mid-1990s. In addition, she published her first book in 2014, an edited version of a French book from the 1800s, “A Catholic Mother Speaks to Her Children” by Marie, Countess de Flavigny. This is an advice book for children. She is also in the midst of editing four more Catholic advice books in a series for different ages. Debra started a Catholic publishing company in 2013, Lanternarius Press, with the purpose of adding another moral compass to print media.
You can visit her website at http://lanternariuspress.net or visit Lanternarius Press on Facebook.
