Pope John IX

Pope John IX
Bishop of Rome
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	January 898
Papacy ended	January 900
Predecessor	Theodore II
Successor	Benedict IV
Orders
Ordination	by Pope Formosus
Personal details
Born	ca. 825 Tivoli, Papal States
Died	January 900 (aged about 75) Rome, Papal States
Other popes named John

Pope John IX (Latin: Ioannes IX; c. 825 – January 900) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from January 898 to his death in 900.

Early life

Little is known about John IX before he became pope. Born in Tivoli to a man named Rampoaldo, he was ordained as a Benedictine priest by Pope Formosus. With the support of the powerful duke of Spoleto he was elected pope in early 898 following the sudden death of Pope Theodore II.

Pontificate

With a view to diminish the violence of faction in Rome, John held several synods in Rome and elsewhere in 898. They not only confirmed the judgment of Pope Theodore II in granting Christian burial to Pope Formosus, but also at a council held at Ravenna decreed that the records of the Cadaver Synod held by Pope Stephen VI which had condemned him should be burned. Re-ordinations were forbidden, and those of the clergy who had been degraded by Stephen were restored to the ranks from which he had deposed them. The custom of plundering the palaces of bishops or popes on their death was ordered to be put down both by the spiritual and temporal authorities.

To keep their independence, which was threatened by the Germans, the Moravians appealed to John to let them have a hierarchy of their own. Ignoring the complaints of the German hierarchy, John sanctioned the consecration of a metropolitan bishop and three more bishops for the Moravians.

Finding that it was advisable to cement the ties between the empire and the papacy, John IX gave unhesitating support to Lambert of Spoleto in preference to Arnulf of Carinthia during the Synod of Rome, and also induced the council to determine that henceforth the consecration of the Popes should take place only in the presence of the imperial legates. The sudden death of Lambert shattered the hopes which this alliance seemed to promise.

John IX died in the year 900 and was succeeded by Pope Benedict IV (900–903).

Literature

• Gnocchi, Claudia (2000). "Giovanni IX, papa". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (in Italian). Vol. 55: Ginammi–Giovanni da Crema. Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-88-12-00032-6.
• Claudia Gnocchi: Giovanni IX. In: Massimo Bray (ed.): Enciclopedia dei Papi. Volume 2: Niccolò I, santo, Sisto IV. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2000, pp. 52–52 (treccani.it)
• Rudolf Schieffer (1991). "Johannes IX". Lexikon des Mittelalters, V: Hiera-Mittel bis Lukanien (in German). Stuttgart and Weimar: J. B. Metzler. col. 540. ISBN 3-7608-8905-0.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Pope John IX — (898-900).

Not only is the date of John's birth unknown, but the date of his election as pope, and that of his death are alike uncertain. He became pope in the early part of 898, and died in the beginning of the year 900. He was a native of Tivoli, and the son of Rampoald. Becoming a Benedictine, he was ordained priest by Pope Formosus. At this period factions filled the city of Rome, and one of them tried to force their candidate, Sergius, afterwards Sergius III, on the papal throne in opposition to John. Perhaps because he was favoured by the ducal House of Spoleto, John was able to maintain his position, and Sergius was driven from the city and excommunicated. With a view to diminish the violence of faction in Rome, John, who is acknowledged to have been both intelligent and moderate, held several synods in Rome and elsewhere (898). In them the ghastly synod of Stephen (VI) VII was condemned, and its Acts were burnt. Re-ordinations were forbidden, and those of the clergy who had been degraded by Stephen were restored to the ranks from which he had deposed them. The barbarous custom of plundering the palaces of bishops or popes on their death was ordered to be put down both by the spiritual and temporal authorities. The Synod of Rome also declared itself for Emperor Lambert and against his rival Berenger, and at the same time decided that the pope-elect was not to be consecrated except in the presence of the imperial envoys. This canon was decreed in the hope that it might lessen the evils caused by the Roman factions. A synod which John held at Ravenna decreed that steps should be taken to put an end to the deeds of violence which were being perpetrated everywhere. To keep their independence, which was threatened by the Germans, the Slavs of Moravia appealed to John to let them have a hierarchy of their own. Not heeding the hectoring letters with which some of the German bishops endeavoured to dissuade him from hearkening to the Moravians, John sanctioned the consecration of a metropolitan and three bishops for the Church of the Moravians. On John's coins the name of the emperor (Lambert) figures along with his own. He was buried just outside St. Peter's.

Flodoard, De triumph. Christi, XII, 7, in P.L., CXXXV; Auxilius And Vulgarius in Dðmmler, Auxilius and Vulgarius (Leipzig, 1866); Mansi, Concilia, XVIII, 222 sqq.; Letters of John IX in P.L., CXXXI; Duchesne, The Beginnings of the Temporal Power (London, 1908), 202 sqq.; Mann, Lives of the Popes, IV (London, 1910), 91 sqq.

External links

• Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes (in Latin)
• Literature by and about John IX in the German National Library catalogue