- Pope Stephen IX
Infobox Pope
English name=Stephen IX
birth_name=Frédéric de Lorraine
term_start=August 3 ,1057
term_end=March 29 ,1058
predecessor=Victor II
successor=Nicholas II
birth_date=c. 1020
birthplace=Lorraine, Holy Roman Empire
dead=dead|death_date=death date|1058|3|29|mf=y
deathplace=Florence ,Italy
other=StephenPope Stephen IX (c. 1020 [cite book|first=Karl|last=Mittermaier|title=Die deutschen Päpste. Benedikt XVI. und seine deutschen Vorgänger|year=2006|pages=102] -
March 29 ,1058 ) wasPope fromAugust 3 ,1057 to March 1058.His baptismal name was Frederick of Lorraine ( _fr. Frédéric de Lorraine), and he was a younger brother of
Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine , who, as Marquis ofTuscany (by his marriage withBeatrice of Bar , widow ofBoniface III of Tuscany ), played a prominent part in the politics of the period.Frederick, who had been raised to the cardinalate by
Pope Leo IX (1049–54), discharged for some time the function ofpapal legate atConstantinople , and was with Leo IX in his unlucky expedition against theNormans . He shared the vicissitudes of his brother's fortunes, and at one time had to take refuge from Emperor Henry II (1002–24) inMonte Cassino . Five days after the death ofPope Victor II (who had made him cardinal-priest and abbot of Monte Cassino) he was chosen to succeed him as Pope Stephen IX [He explicitly took the name and the number IX. He signed all his official documents "Stephanus Nonus Papa" (Stephen Ninth Pope), although some lists called him "Stephen X" from the second half of the 16th century to the first half of 20th.] . He showed great zeal in enforcing the policies of theGregorian Reform as to clericalcelibacy , and was planning large schemes for the expulsion of the Normans from Italy, and the elevation of his brother to the imperial throne, when he was seized by a severe illness, from which he only partially and temporarily recovered. Stephen IX died atFlorence March 29, 1058, and is considered by the current-day Roman Catholic Church to have been succeeded byPope Nicholas II (1059–61), though others consider his successor to bePope Benedict X (1058–59), officially regarded as anantipope .Notes
References
*adapted from the 9th edition (1888) of the "
Encyclopædia Britannica "
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.