Pope Anacletus
Pope Anacletus known as Cletus, was the third Bishop of Rome, following Saint Peter and Pope Linus. Anacletus served as pope between c. 79 and his death, c. 92. Cletus was a Roman, who during his tenure as Pope, is known to have ordained a number of priests and is traditionally credited with setting up about twenty-five parishes in Rome. Although the precise dates of his pontificate are uncertain, he "...died a martyr about 91". Cletus is mentioned in the Roman Canon of the mass; the name "Cletus" in Ancient Greek means "one, called," and "Anacletus" means "one, called back." "Anencletus" means "unimpeachable." The Roman Martyrology mentions the Pope in question only under the name of "Cletus." The Annuario Pontificio gives both forms as alternatives. Eusebius, Saint Irenaeus, Saint Augustine and Optatus all suggest that both names refer to the same individual. St. Cletus/Anacletus was traditionally understood to have been a Roman who served as pope for twelve years; the Annuario Pontificio states, "For the first two centuries, the dates of the start and the end of the pontificate are uncertain."
It gives the years 80 to 92 as the reign of Pope Cletus/Anacletus. Other sources give the years 77 to 88. According to tradition, Pope Anacletus divided Rome into twenty-five parishes. One of the few surviving records concerning his papacy mentions him as having ordained an uncertain number of priests, he died and was buried next to his predecessor, Saint Linus, near the grave of St. Peter's, in what is now Vatican City, his name is included in the Roman Canon of the Mass. The Tridentine Calendar reserved 26 April as the feast day of Saint Cletus, who the church honoured jointly with Saint Marcellinus, 13 July for Saint Anacletus. In 1960, Pope John XXIII, while keeping the 26 April feast, which mentions the saint under the name given to him in the Canon of the Mass, removed 13 July as a feast day for Saint Anacletus; the 14 February 1961 Instruction of the Congregation for Rites on the application to local calendars of Pope John XXIII's motu proprio Rubricarum instructum of 25 July 1960, decreed that "the feast of'Saint Anacletus,' on whatever ground and in whatever grade it is celebrated, is transferred to 26 April, under its right name,'Saint Cletus.'"
Use of this calendar, included in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal, continues to be authorized under the conditions indicated in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Although the day of his death is unknown, Saint Cletus continues to be listed in the Roman Martyrology among the saints of 26 April. List of popes Donald Attwater and Catherine Rachel John, The Penguin Dictionary of Saints, 3rd edition, New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-14-051312-4. Louise Ropes Loomis, The Book of Popes. Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 1-889758-86-8 (Reprint of the 1916 edition.. Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes. ISBN 0-06-065304-3 Writings attributed to Pope Anacletus/Cletus The Society of Pope Saint Anacletus, an Independent Catholic association in the United States
Monothelitism
Monothelitism or monotheletism is a particular teaching about how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus. The Christological doctrine formally emerged in Armenia and Syria in 629. Monothelitism is the view that Jesus Christ has two natures but only one will; that is contrary to the Christology that Jesus Christ has two wills that correspond to his two natures. Monothelitism is a development of the Neo-Chalcedonian position in the Christological debates. Formulated in 638, it enjoyed considerable popularity garnering patriarchal support, before being rejected and denounced as heretical in 681, at the Third Council of Constantinople. During the 5th century, some regions of the Christian Church were thrown into confusion because of the debates that erupted over the nature of Jesus Christ. Although the Church had determined that Christ is the son of God, just what his exact nature is remained open to debate; the Church had declared heretical the notion that Jesus is not divine in the 4th century, during the debates over Arianism and had declared that he is God the Son become human.
However, in arguing that he is both God and man, there now emerged a dispute over how the human and divine natures of Christ exist within the person of Christ. The Christological definition of Chalcedon, as accepted by the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and Reformed churches, is that Christ remains in two distinct natures, yet these two natures come together within his one hypostasis. More Christ is known as "both human and Divine, one in being with the Father"; this position was opposed by the Monophysites. The term Monophysitism of which Eutychianism is one type, held that the human and divine natures of Christ were fused into one new single nature; as described by Eutyches, his human nature was "dissolved like a drop of honey in the sea", therefore his nature is divine. This is distinct from Miaphysitism, which holds that, after the union, Christ is in one theanthropic nature and is generated from the union of two natures; the two are thus united without separation, without confusion, without alteration, with each having a particularity.
Miaphysitism is the christological doctrine of the Oriental Orthodox churches. The resultant debates led the Chalcedonians to accuse the non-Chalcedonians of teaching Christ's humanity to be of a different kind from our own. Meanwhile, the non-Chalcedonians accused the Chalcedonians of espousing a form of Nestorianism, a rejected doctrine that held that Jesus Christ was two distinct subsistences; this internal division was dangerous for the Byzantine Empire, under constant threat from external enemies as many of the areas most to be lost to the empire were the regions that were in favour of Monophysitism, who considered the religious hierarchy at Constantinople to be heretics only interested in crushing their faith. In these provinces, the non-Chalcedonians were far more numerous than the Chalcedonians. In Egypt for instance, some 30,000 Greeks of Chalcedonian persuasion were ranged against some five million Coptic non-Chalcedonians. Meanwhile and Mesopotamia were divided between Nestorianism and Jacobitism, while the religion of Armenia was wholly Cyrilline Non-Chalcedonian.
The Monothelite teaching emerged as a compromise position. The Byzantine emperor Heraclius tried to unite all of the various factions within the empire with this new formula, more inclusive and more elastic; this approach was needed to win over the non-Chalcedonians, since they believing Christ possesses a single nature also believed that he holds a single will. But it was unclear whether the Chalcedonians should believe in Christ's human and divine energy and/or will as well as his human and divine nature, because the ecumenical councils had made no ruling on this subject. A ruling in favour of this new doctrine would provide common ground for the non-Chalcedonians and the Chalcedonians to come together, as the non-Chalcedonians could agree that Jesus has two natures if he only had one will, some Chalcedonians could agree that Jesus has one will if he has two natures. Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople was the driving force behind this doctrine, with the full blessing of the Emperor Heraclius.
Coming to the imperial throne in 610, the patriarch had long since converted the emperor to the new doctrine, as by 622, Heraclius had communicated with Bishop Paul of Armenia where the emperor asserted that the energy, or the active force, of Christ was single. This doctrine of Monoenergism was the precursor of Monotheletism. Heraclius' interest at the time was focused on Armenia, it was at this time that the emperor decided to use Monoenergism as a political weapon and reconcile the Non-Chalcedonian Church of Armenia with the Imperial Church. To help bring this about, a synod was held in 622 at Theodosiopolis, called the Synod of Garin where Monoenergism was discussed. Over the next few years Heraclius was preoccupied with his prosecution of the war against the Sassanids, but by 626 he had issued a decree to Arcadius, Bishop of Cyprus, requesting that he teach the doctrine of "one hegumenic energy". By all accounts this was met with notable success as there was a large colony of Armenians on the island at that time, this encouraged Heraclius to attempt to seek a wider approval of his compromise.
In 626, he asked Patriarch Sergius to approach Bishop of Phasis, to secure his cooperation. With the successful conclusion to the Persian war, Heraclius could devote more time to promot
Pope Linus
Linus was the second Bishop of Rome, is listed by the Catholic Church as the second pope. His papacy lasted from c. AD 67 to his death. Among those to have held the position of pope, Peter and Clement are mentioned in the New Testament. Linus is mentioned in the closing greeting of the Second Epistle to Timothy as being with Paul in Rome near the end of Paul's life; the earliest witness to Linus's status as bishop was Irenaeus, who in about the year 180 wrote, "The blessed apostles having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate." The Oxford Dictionary of Popes interprets Irenaeus as classifying Linus as the first bishop of Rome. Linus is presented by Jerome as "the first after Peter to be in charge of the Roman Church" and by Eusebius as "the first to receive the episcopate of the church at Rome, after the martyrdom of Paul and Peter". John Chrysostom wrote, "This Linus, some say, was second Bishop of the Church of Rome after Peter", while the Liberian Catalogue presents Peter as the first Bishop of Rome and Linus as his successor in the same office.
The Liber Pontificalis presents a list that makes Linus the second in the line of bishops of Rome, after Peter, while stating that Peter consecrated two bishops and Anacletus, for the priestly service of the community, devoting himself instead to prayer and preaching, that it was to Clement that he entrusted the Church as a whole, appointing him as his successor. Tertullian too wrote of Clement as the successor of Peter. Jerome classified Clement as "the fourth bishop of Rome after Peter", adding that, "most of the Latins think that Clement was second after the apostle."The Apostolic Constitutions denote that Linus, consecrated by Paul, was the first bishop of Rome and was succeeded by Clement, ordained and consecrated by Peter. Cletus is considered Linus's successor by Irenaeus, the others cited above, who present Linus either as the first bishop of Rome or, if they give Peter as the first, as the second; the Liberian Catalogue and the Liber Pontificalis date Linus's episcopate to 56–67, during the reign of Nero, but Jerome dates it to 67–78, Eusebius puts the end of his episcopate at the second year of the reign of Titus.
Linus is mentioned in the closing greeting of the Second Epistle to Timothy. In that epistle, Linus is noted as being with Paul in Rome near the end of Paul's life. Irenæus stated that this is the same Linus who became Bishop of Rome, a view, still accepted. According to the Liber Pontificalis, Linus was an Italian born in Volterra in the Tuscany region, his father's name was recorded as Herculanus. The Apostolic Constitutions name his mother as Claudia. According to Liber Pontificalis, Linus issued a decree that women should cover their heads in church, created the first fifteen bishops, that he died a martyr and was buried on the Vatican Hill next to Peter, it gives the date of his death as 23 the date on which his feast is still celebrated. His name is included in the Roman Canon of the Mass. With respect to Linus's supposed decree requiring women to cover their heads, J. P. Kirsch commented in the Catholic Encyclopedia: "Without doubt this decree is apocryphal, copied by the author of the Liber Pontificalis from Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians and arbitrarily attributed to the first successor of the Apostle in Rome.
The statement made in the same source, that Linus suffered martyrdom, cannot be proved and is improbable. For between Nero and Domitian there is no mention of any persecution of the Roman Church; the entry about him is as follows: "At Rome, commemoration of Saint Linus, who, according to Irenaeus, was the person to whom the blessed Apostles entrusted the episcopal care of the Church founded in the City, whom blessed Paul the Apostle mentions as associated with him."A tomb found in St. Peter's Basilica in 1615 by Torrigio was inscribed with the letters LINVS, was once taken to be Linus's tomb; however a note by Torrigio shows that these were the last five letters of a longer name. A letter on the martyrdom of Peter and Paul was once attributed to him, but in fact dates to the 6th century. List of Catholic saints List of popes Papal selection before 1059 Louise Ropes Loomis, The Book of Popes. Merchantville, New Jersey: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 1-889758-86-8. Herbermann, Charles, ed.. "Pope St. Linus".
Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company
Constantine IV
Constantine IV, sometimes incorrectly called Pogonatos, "the Bearded", out of confusion with his father, was Byzantine Emperor from 668 to 685. His reign saw the first serious check to nearly 50 years of uninterrupted Islamic expansion, while his calling of the Sixth Ecumenical Council saw the end of the monothelitism controversy in the Byzantine Empire; the eldest son of Constans II, Constantine IV had been named a co-emperor with his father in 654. He had been given the responsibility of managing the affairs at Constantinople during his father’s extended absence in Italy and became senior Emperor when Constans was assassinated in 668, his mother was daughter of patrician Valentinus. The first task before the new Emperor was the suppression of the military revolt in Sicily under Mezezius which had led to his father's death. Within seven months of his accession, Constantine IV had dealt with the insurgency with the support of Pope Vitalian, but this success was overshadowed by troubles in the east.
As early as 668 the Caliph Muawiyah I received an invitation from Saborios, the commander of the troops in Armenia, to help overthrow the Emperor at Constantinople. He sent an army under his son Yazid against the Byzantine Empire. Yazid took the important Byzantine center Amorion. While the city was recovered, the Arabs next attacked Carthage and Sicily in 669. In 670 the Arabs captured Cyzicus and set up a base from which to launch further attacks into the heart of the Empire, their fleet captured Smyrna and other coastal cities in 672. In 672, the Arabs sent a large fleet to attack Constantinople by sea. While Constantine was distracted by this, the Slavs laid siege to Thessalonica. Commencing in 674, the Arabs launched the long-awaited siege of Constantinople; the great fleet, assembled set sail under the command of Abdu'l-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr before the end of the year. Additional squadrons reinforced the forces of Abd ar-Rahman before they proceeded to the Hellespont, into which they sailed in about April 674.
From April to September 674 the fleet lay moored from the promontory of Hebdomon, on the Propontis, as far as the promontory of Kyklobion, near the Golden Gate, throughout those months continued to engage with the Byzantine fleet which defended the harbour from morning to evening. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before Constantinople was under siege, Constantine had ensured that the city was well provisioned, he constructed a large number of fireships and fast-sailing boats provided with tubes or siphons for squirting fire. This is the first known use of Greek fire in combat, one of the key advantages that the Byzantines possessed. In September the Arabs, having failed in their attempts to take the city, sailed to Cyzicus, which they made their winter quarters. Over the following five years, the Arabs would return each spring to continue the siege of Constantinople, but with the same results; the city survived, in 678 the Arabs were forced to raise the siege. The Arabs withdrew and were simultaneously defeated on land in Lycia in Anatolia.
This unexpected reverse forced Muawiyah I to seek a truce with Constantine. The terms of the concluded truce required the Arabs to evacuate the islands they had seized in the Aegean, to pay an annual tribute to the Emperor consisting of fifty slaves, fifty horses, 3,000 pounds of gold; the raising of the siege allowed Constantine to go to the relief of Thessalonica, still under siege from the Slavs. With the temporary passing of the Arab threat, Constantine turned his attention to the Church, torn between Monothelitism and Orthodoxy. In November 680 Constantine convened the Sixth Ecumenical Council. Constantine presided in person during the formal aspects of the proceedings, surrounded by his court officials, but he took no active role in the theological discussions; the Council reaffirmed the Orthodox doctrines of the Council of Chalcedon in 451. This solved the controversy over monothelitism; the council closed in September 681. Due to the ongoing conflicts with the Arabs during the 670s, Constantine had been forced to conclude treaties in the west with the Lombards, who had captured Brindisi and Taranto.
In 680, the Bulgars under Khan Asparukh crossed the Danube into nominally Imperial territory and began to subjugate the local communities and Slavyanic tribes. In 680, Constantine IV led a combined land and sea operation against the invaders and besieged their fortified camp in Dobruja. Suffering from bad health, the Emperor had to leave the army, which panicked and was defeated by the Bulgars. In 681, Constantine was forced to acknowledge the Bulgar state in Moesia and to pay tribute/protection money to avoid further inroads into Byzantine Thrace. Constantine created the Theme of Thrace, his brothers Heraclius and Tiberius had been crowned with him as Augusti during the reign of their father, this was confirmed by the demand of the populace, but in 681 Constantine had them mutilated so they would be ineligible to rule. At the same time he associated on the throne his own young son Justinian II. Constantine died of dysentery in September 685. By his wife Anastasia, Constantine IV had at least two sons: Justinian II, who succeeded him as emperor Heraclius, known only from an episode in which his father sent locks of his and his brother's hair to Pope Benedict II.
Constantine I
Pope Clement I
Pope Clement I known as Saint Clement of Rome, is listed by Irenaeus and Tertullian as Bishop of Rome, holding office from 88 to his death in 99. He is considered to be the first Apostolic Father of the Church, one of the three chief ones together with Polycarp and Ignatius of Antioch. Few details are known about Clement's life. Clement was said to have been consecrated by Saint Peter, he is known to have been a leading member of the church in Rome in the late 1st century. Early church lists place him as the third bishop of Rome after Saint Peter; the Liber Pontificalis states that Clement died in Greece in the third year of Emperor Trajan's reign, or 101 AD. Clement's only genuine extant writing is his letter to the church at Corinth in response to a dispute in which certain presbyters of the Corinthian church had been deposed, he asserted the authority of the presbyters as rulers of the church on the ground that the Apostles had appointed such. His letter, one of the oldest extant Christian documents outside the New Testament, was read in church, along with other epistles, some of which became part of the Christian canon.
These works were the first to affirm the apostolic authority of the clergy. A second epistle, 2 Clement, was attributed to Clement, although recent scholarship suggests it to be a homily by another author. In the legendary Clementine Literature, Clement is the intermediary through whom the apostles teach the church. According to tradition, Clement was imprisoned under the Emperor Trajan. Thereafter he was executed by being thrown into the sea. Clement is recognized as a saint in many Christian churches and is considered a patron saint of mariners, he is commemorated on 23 November in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Church. In Eastern Orthodox Christianity his feast is kept on 25 November; the Liber Pontificalis presents a list that makes Pope Linus the second in the line of bishops of Rome, with Peter as first. Tertullian considered Clement to be the immediate successor of Peter. In one of his works, Jerome listed Clement as "the fourth bishop of Rome after Peter", added that "most of the Latins think that Clement was second after the apostle".
Clement is put after Linus and Cletus/Anacletus in the earliest account, that of Irenaeus, followed by Eusebius of Caesarea. Early succession lists name Clement as the first, third successor of Saint Peter. However, the meaning of his inclusion in these lists has been controversial; some believe there were presbyter-bishops as early as the 1st century, but that there is no evidence for a monarchical episcopacy in Rome at such an early date. There is however, no evidence of a change occurring in ecclesiastical organization in the latter half of the 2nd century, which would indicate that a new or newly-monarchical episcopacy was establishing itself. Dionysius of Corinth and Irenaeus of Lyon both viewed Clement as a monarchial bishop who intervened in the dispute in the church of Corinth. Starting in the 3rd and 4th century, tradition has identified him as the Clement that Paul mentioned in Philippians 4:3, a fellow laborer in Christ. While in the mid-19th century it was customary to identify him as a freedman of Titus Flavius Clemens, consul with his cousin, the Emperor Domitian, this identification, which no ancient sources suggest, afterwards lost support.
The 2nd-century Shepherd of Hermas mentions a Clement whose office it was to communicate with other churches. A large congregation existed in Rome c. 58, when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans. Paul arrived in Rome c. 60. His Captivity Epistles, as well as Mark, Acts, 1 Peter were written here, according to many scholars. Paul and Peter were said to have been martyred there. Nero persecuted Roman Christians after Rome burned in 64, the congregation may have suffered further persecution under Domitian. Clement was the first of early Rome's most notable bishops; the Liber Pontificalis, which documents the reigns of popes, states that Clement had known Saint Peter. Clement is known for his epistle to the church in Corinth, in which he asserts the apostolic authority of the bishops/presbyters as rulers of the church; the epistle mentions episkopoi or presbyteroi as the upper class of minister, served by the deacons, since it does not mention himself, it gives no indication of the title or titles used for Clement in Rome.
According to apocryphal acta dating to the 4th century at earliest, Clement was banished from Rome to the Chersonesus during the reign of the Emperor Trajan and was set to work in a stone quarry. Finding on his arrival that the prisoners were suffering from lack of water, he knelt down in prayer. Looking up, he saw a lamb on a hill, went to where the lamb had stood and struck the ground with his pickaxe, releasing a gushing stream of clear water; this miracle resulted in the conversion of large numbers of the local pagans and his fellow prisoners to Christianity. As punishment, Saint Clement was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown from a boat into the Black Sea; the legend recounts that every year a miraculous ebbing of the sea revealed a divinely built shrine containing his bones. However, the oldest sources on Clement's life and Jerome, note nothing
Lombards
The Lombards or Longobards were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the Historia Langobardorum that the Lombards descended from a small tribe called the Winnili, who dwelt in southern Scandinavia before migrating to seek new lands. In the 1st century AD, they formed part of the Suebi, in north-western Germany. By the end of the 5th century, they had moved into the area coinciding with modern Austria and Slovakia north of the Danube river, where they subdued the Heruls and fought frequent wars with the Gepids; the Lombard king Audoin defeated the Gepid leader Thurisind in 551 or 552. Following this victory, Alboin decided to lead his people to Italy, which had become depopulated and devastated after the long Gothic War between the Byzantine Empire and the Ostrogothic Kingdom there. In contrast with the Goths and the Vandals, the Lombards left Scandinavia and descended due south through Germany and Slovenia, only leaving Germanic territory a few decades before reaching Italy.
The Lombards would have remained a predominantly Germanic tribe by the time they invaded Italy. The Lombards were joined by numerous Saxons, Gepids, Bulgars and Ostrogoths, their invasion of Italy was unopposed. By late 569 they had conquered all of northern Italy and the principal cities north of the Po River except Pavia, which fell in 572. At the same time, they occupied areas in southern Italy, they established a Lombard Kingdom in north and central Italy named Regnum Italicum, which reached its zenith under the 8th-century ruler Liutprand. In 774, the Kingdom was integrated into his Empire. However, Lombard nobles continued to rule southern parts of the Italian peninsula, well into the 11th century when they were conquered by the Normans and added to their County of Sicily. In this period, the southern part of Italy still under Longobardic domination was known to the foreigners, by the name Langbarðaland, in the Norse runestones, their legacy is apparent in the regional name Lombardy. The fullest account of Lombard origins and practices is the Historia Langobardorum of Paul the Deacon, written in the 8th century.
Paul's chief source for Lombard origins, however, is the 7th-century Origo Gentis Langobardorum. The Origo Gentis Langobardorum tells the story of a small tribe called the Winnili dwelling in southern Scandinavia; the Winnili were split into three groups and one part left their native land to seek foreign fields. The reason for the exodus was overpopulation; the departing people were led by the brothers Ybor and Aio and their mother Gambara and arrived in the lands of Scoringa the Baltic coast or the Bardengau on the banks of the Elbe. Scoringa was ruled by the Vandals and their chieftains, the brothers Ambri and Assi, who granted the Winnili a choice between tribute or war; the Winnili were young and brave and refused to pay tribute, saying "It is better to maintain liberty by arms than to stain it by the payment of tribute." The Vandals prepared for war and consulted Godan, who answered that he would give the victory to those whom he would see first at sunrise. The Winnili were fewer in number and Gambara sought help from Frea, who advised that all Winnili women should tie their hair in front of their faces like beards and march in line with their husbands.
At sunrise, Frea turned her husband's bed so that he was facing east, woke him. So Godan spotted the Winnili first and asked, "Who are these long-beards?," and Frea replied, "My lord, thou hast given them the name, now give them the victory." From that moment onwards, the Winnili were known as the Longbeards. When Paul the Deacon wrote the Historia between 787 and 796 he was a Catholic monk and devoted Christian, he thought the pagan stories of his people "silly" and "laughable". Paul explained. A modern theory suggests that the name "Langobard" comes from a name of Odin. Priester states that when the Winnili changed their name to "Lombards", they changed their old agricultural fertility cult to a cult of Odin, thus creating a conscious tribal tradition. Fröhlich inverts the order of events in Priester and states that with the Odin cult, the Lombards grew their beards in resemblance of the Odin of tradition and their new name reflected this. Bruckner remarks that the name of the Lombards stands in close relation to the worship of Odin, whose many names include "the Long-bearded" or "the Grey-bearded", that the Lombard given name Ansegranus shows that the Lombards had this idea of their chief deity.
The same Old Norse root Barth or Barði, meaning "beard", is shared with the Heaðobards mentioned in both Beowulf and in Widsith, where they are in conflict with the Danes. They were a branch of the Langobards. Alternatively some etymological sources suggest an Old High German root, meaning “axe”, while Edward Gibbon puts forth an alternative suggestion which argues that: …Börde still signifies “a fertile plain by the side of a river,” and a district near Magdeburg is still called the lange Börd
Papal name
A papal name or pontificial name is the regnal name taken by a pope. Both the head of the Catholic Church known as the Pope, the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria choose papal names; as of 2013, Pope Francis is the Catholic Pope, Tawadros II or Theodoros II is the Coptic Pope. This article lists the names of Catholic Popes. While popes in the early centuries retained their birth names after their accession to the papacy on popes began to adopt a new name upon their accession; this first became customary in the 10th century. Since 1555, every pope has taken a papal name; the pontificial name is given in Latin by virtue of the Pope's status as Bishop of the Holy See of Rome. The Pope is given an Italian name by virtue of his Vatican citizenship. However, it is customary when referring to popes to translate the regnal name into all local languages. Thus, for example, Papa Franciscus, is Papa Francesco in Italian, Papa Francisco in his native Spanish, Pope Francis in English; the official style of the Catholic Pope in English is His Holiness Pope.
Holy Father is another honorific used for popes. The full title used, of the Catholic Pope in English is: His Holiness, Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, Servant of the servants of God; the official title of the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of all Africa on the Holy See of St. Mark the Apostle; the Successor of St. Mark the Evangelist, Holy Apostle and Martyr, on the Holy Apostolic Throne of the Great City of Alexandria, he is considered to be Father of Fathers. Shepherd of Shepherds. Hierarch of all HierarchsHonorary titles attributed to the Hierarch of the Alexandrine Throne are The Pillar and Defender of the Holy, Apostolic Church and of the Orthodox Faith; the Dean of the Great Catechetical School of Theology of Alexandria. The Ecumenical Judge of the Holy Apostolic and Catholic Church.
The Thirteenth among the Holy Apostles. During the first centuries of the church, the bishops of Rome continued to use their baptismal names after their elections; the custom of choosing a new name began in AD 533: Mercurius deemed it inappropriate for a pope to be named after the pagan Roman god Mercury, adopted the name John II in honor of his predecessor John I, venerated as a martyr. In the 10th century clerics from beyond the Alps Germany and France, acceded to the papacy and replaced their foreign-sounding names with more traditional ones; the last pope to use his baptismal name was Marcellus II in 1555, a choice, then quite exceptional. Names are chosen by popes, not based on any system. Names of immediate or distant predecessors, saints, or family members—as was the case with John XXIII—have been adopted. In 1978 Cardinal Albino Luciani became the first pope to take a double name, John Paul I, to honour his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI. John Paul I was the first pope in 1,100 years since Lando in 913 to adopt a papal name that had not been used.
After John Paul I's sudden death a month Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła was elected and, wishing to continue his predecessor's work, became the second Pope to take a double name as John Paul II. In 2013, a new name was introduced into the lineage: on being elected Pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio selected the name Francis to emphasize the spirit of poverty and peace embodied by Saint Francis of Assisi; the new pontiff's choice of name upon being elected to the papacy is seen as a signal to the world of who the new pope will emulate, what policies he will seek to enact, or the length of his reign. Such was the case with Benedict XVI – it was speculated that he chose the name because he wished to emulate Benedict XV, to call attention to the fact that at 7.5 years, Benedict XV's reign was short. Benedict XVI's own reign, which ended with his resignation on 28 February 2013 lasted less than 8 years. Saint Peter was the first Pope. Since the 1970s some antipopes, with only a minuscule following, took the name Pope Peter II.
Because of the controversial fifteenth-century antipope known as Pope John XXIII, this name was avoided for over 500 years until the election in 1958 of Pope John XXIII. After John XXIII's election as pope in 1958, it was not known if he would be John XXIII or XXIV; the number used by an antipope is ignored if possible, but this is not possible if, by the time someone is reckoned as antipope, the name has since been used by one or more legitimate popes. After a new pope is elected, accepts the election, he is asked in Latin "By what name shall you be called?"† The new pope chooses the name by which he will be known from that point on. The senior Cardinal Deacon, or Cardinal Protodeacon appears on the balcony of Saint Peter's to proclaim the new pope by his birth name, announce his papal name: †Unless impeded, the Dean of the College of Cardinals asks the newly elected po
Mann, Horace Kinder (1910). . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. 9. New York: Robert Appleton.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Mann, Horace Kinder (1910). . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. 9. New York: Robert Appleton.
