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Name:
Pope Sergius III
Preceded by: Leo V (903 - 904)
Succeeded by: a href="bldef_anastasiusiii.htm">Anastasius III (911 - 913)
Roman Catholic Pope #120
Dates:
Born: ? (Rome, Italy)
Died: April 14, 911
Pope: January 29, 904 - April 14, 911 (7 years)
Biography:
Sergius III had a violent start to a violent papacy. He had technically been elected
back in 897, but he had to step aside in favor of John IX who had greater imperial
favor. Serguis not only regarded John IX as an antipope, but also his legitimate
successor, Leo V.
The violent occasion which perciptated Sergius' final rise to the papacy was, however, an actual antipope - Christopher. Christopher had taken Leo prisoner and threw him into prison. Sergius led an armed force against Christopher and had both him and Leo strangled to death, finally winning the papal throne for himself.
Once pope. Sergius was determined to undo everything which had been done by the three preceeding occupants of the papacy. He forced the clergy under him to attend a synod which nullified all of the decrees and synods which occurred during the reigns of those interlopers. Moreover, he reaffirmed the conclusions of the infamus "Cadaver Synod, " a synod which exumed the body of Pope Formosus, put it on trial, and declared all of his ordinations invalid.
Not only were the bishops he ordained not really bishops, but this had the domino effect of invalidating all of the ordinations of priests performed by those now-illegitimate bishops. This, obviously enough, threw the Church into a state of mass confusion - no one quite knew who was legitiamte and who wasn't. This should have led to rebellion against Sergius, but he support among the noble families was too strong.
It is reputed that he even had a son with Marozia, the fifteen-year-old daughter of a wife of one of his supporters - a son who would go on to become Pope John XI. Sergius began an era of such corruption and debauchery and the decades after his reign have come to be called the "pornocracy" of the papacy.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
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