Pope Benedict I
| Pope Benedict I | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Rome | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Papacy began | 2 June 575 |
| Papacy ended | 30 July 579 |
| Predecessor | John III |
| Successor | Pelagius II |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 524 or 525? Rome, Ostrogothic Kingdom |
| Died | 30 July 579 (aged 53–56) Rome, Italy, Eastern Roman Empire |
| Other popes named Benedict | |
Pope Benedict I (Latin: Benedictus I; died 30 July 579) was the bishop of Rome from 2 June 575 to his death on 30 July 579. His pontificate took place during the Lombard expansion in Italy and during famine in Rome and other parts of Byzantine Italy.[1]
Background
Benedict was from Rome and was the son of Boniface. He was called Bonosus by the Greeks. Nothing is known of his life before his election as pope.[1]
Election
After the death of Pope John III in July 574, there was a vacancy of nearly eleven months before Benedict was consecrated on 2 June 575. The delay was caused by the requirement that the emperor at Constantinople confirm the election of the pope before consecration, while communication between Rome and Constantinople was affected by the Lombard advance in Italy.[1]
Pontificate
The Liber Pontificalis says the Lombards invaded Italy during Benedict's pontificate and that famine caused some fortified places to surrender to them.[2] The same source says the emperor sent ships to Egypt to bring grain to Rome; Treccani identifies the emperor as Justin II.[2][1]
Around 577, the Roman patrician Pamphronius led a mission to Constantinople with 3,000 pounds of gold for the war against the Lombards. Pamphronius may have acted as head of the Roman Senate, but Benedict's role in the mission is unknown.[1]
Benedict granted an estate, the Massa Veneris, in the territory of Minturnae, to Stephen, abbot of St. Mark's near the walls of Spoleto. The monastery had appealed to Benedict for the return of property in the territory of Minturnae that had been incorporated into the Roman Church's properties in Campania.[1]
In a ceremony held in December, Benedict ordained fifteen priests and three deacons and consecrated twenty-one bishops.
Few records of transactions outside Rome survive from Benedict's pontificate, and few may have existed because of the disruption caused by the Lombards in Italy.
Death and burial
Benedict died on 30 July 579.[1] He was buried in the vestibule of the sacristy of Old St. Peter's Basilica.[2]
Benedict was succeeded by Pope Pelagius II, who was consecrated on 26 November 579.[1]
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Pope Benedict I — Of the first Pontiff who bore the name of Benedict practically nothing is known. The date of his birth is unknown; he d. 30 July, 579. He was a Roman and the son of Boniface, and was called Bonosus by the Greeks (Evagrius, Hist., V, 16). The ravages of the Lombards rendered it very difficult to communicate with the emperor at Constantinople, who claimed the privilege of confirming the election of the popes. Hence there was a vacancy of nearly eleven months between the death of John III and the arrival of the imperial confirmation of Benedict's election, 2 June, 575. He reigned four years, one month, and twenty-eight days. Almost the only act recorded of him is that he granted an estate, the Massa Veneris, in the territory of Minturnae, to Abbot Stephen of St. Mark's "near the walls of Spoleto" (St. Gregory I, Ep. ix, 87, I. al. 30). Famine followed the devastating Lombards, and from the few words the Liber Pontificalis has about Benedict, we gather that he died in the midst of his efforts to cope with these difficulties. He was buried in the vestibule of the sacristy of the old basilica of St. Peter. In an ordination which he held in December he made fifteen priests and three deacons, and consecrated twenty-one bishops.
The most important source for the history of the first nine popes who bore the name of Benedict is the biographies in the Liber Pontificalis, of which the most useful edition is that of Duchesne, Le Liber Pontificalis (Paris, 1886-92), and the latest that of Mommsen, Gesta Pontif. Roman. (to the end of the reign of Constantine only, Berlin, 1898). Jaffé, Regesta Pont. Rom. (2d ed., Leipzig, 1885), gives a summary of the letters of each pope and tells where they may be read at length. Modern accounts of these popes will be found in any large Church history, or history of the City of Rome. The fullest account in English of most of them is to be read in Mann, Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1902, passim).
References
- Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Back to citation occurrence 1.4 Back to citation occurrence 1.5 Back to citation occurrence 1.6 Back to citation occurrence 1.7 Bertolini, Ottorino (2000). "Benedetto I". Enciclopedia dei Papi (in Italian). Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. Retrieved 7 June 2026.
- Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Back to citation occurrence 2.2 Loomis, Louise Ropes (1916). The Book of the Popes (Liber Pontificalis) (PDF). Columbia University Press. p. 166. Retrieved 7 June 2026.
External links
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Benedict". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.