View source for Pope Victor III

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 1086 to 1087}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|Victor III|Victor III (bishop of Chur)|Victor-class submarine}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
|type                = Pope
|honorific-prefix    = [[Beatification|Blessed]]
|honorific_suffix    = 
|name                = Victor III
|title               = [[Bishop of Rome]]
|church              = [[Catholic Church]]
|image               = Victor III. - Desiderius of Montecassino.jpg
|caption             = Desiderius of Montecassino in a contemporary manuscript
|birth_name          = Dauferio Epifani Del Zotto
|term_start          = 24 May 1086
|term_end            = 16 September 1087
|predecessor         = [[Pope Gregory VII|Gregory VII]]
|successor           = [[Pope Urban II|Urban II]]
|consecration        = 9 May 1087
|consecrated_by      = [[Pope Urban II|Otho de Lagery]]
|cardinal            = 6 March 1058
|created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Nicholas II]]
|rank = Cardinal Deacon (1058 - 1059)
Cardinal Priest (1059 - 1086)
|birth_date          = {{circa|1026}}
|birth_place         = [[Benevento]], [[Duchy of Benevento]]
|death_date          = 16 September 1087 (aged c. 61)
|death_place         = [[Monte Cassino]], [[Papal States]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
|previous_post       = {{unbulleted list|[[Santi Sergio e Bacco|Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Sergio e Bacco]] (1058–59)|[[Abbot of Montecassino]] (1058–59)|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia (1059–86)|Legate to Constantinople (1059)}}
|feast_day           = {{unbulleted list|[[16 September]] (Roman Martyrology)|[[16 October]] (Roman Proper)}}
|venerated           = [[Catholic Church]]
|saint_title         = 
|beatified_date      = 23 July 1887
|beatified_place     = [[Rome]], [[Kingdom of Italy]]
|beatified_by        = [[Pope Leo XIII]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kleinheinz |first=Christopher |title=Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Routledge |date=December 17, 2003 |isbn=978-0415939294 |pages=295}}</ref>
|canonized_date      = 
|canonized_place     = 
|canonized_by        = 
|attributes          = {{unbulleted list|[[Papal regalia and insignia|Papal vestments]]|[[Papal tiara]]|[[Crozier]]}}
|patronage           = {{unbulleted list|[[Montecassino]]|[[Abbot]]s}}
|shrine              = 
|suppressed_date     = 
|other               = Victor
}}

'''Pope Victor III''' ({{circa}} 1026 – 16 September 1087), born '''Dauferio Epifani Del Zotto''', was the head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 24 May 1086 to his death. He was the successor of [[Pope Gregory VII]]. Prior to becoming pope he had held the important post of abbot of the great [[List of abbots of Monte Cassino|monastery of Montecassino]], under his monastic name of Desiderius and during those years played a historically important role. 

He is the most recent lawfully elected pope to have taken the [[pontifical name]] "Victor".<ref group="note">Two [[antipope]]s, [[Antipope Victor IV (1138)|Gregorio dei Conti]] in 1138 and [[Antipope Victor IV (1159–1164)|Octavianus]] from 1159 to 1164, both took the style '''Victor IV''' but neither has ever been recognised as a lawful pope.</ref>

In contrast with his early public life, as Pope Victor, as he had become, he made a less significant contribution. His failing health was the chief factor that made him so reluctant to accept election as pope and that  his health was in fact seriously impaired was clear when he fell ill during the ceremony of his [[papal coronation|coronation]] as pope.

== Family ==
Daufer was born in {{circa}} 1026.{{sfn|McBrien|2000|p=189}} The ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' states his father died in 1047 in battle. He obtained permission to enter the monastery of St. Sophia at Benevento.

== Abbacy ==
The life at St. Sophia was not strict enough for the young monk, who betook himself first to the island monastery of [[Tremiti Islands|Tremite San Nicolo]]<ref>''The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge'', '''12''' p. 178.</ref> in the [[Adriatic]] and in 1053 to the hermits at [[Majella]] in the [[Abruzzi]]. About this time he was brought to the notice of [[Pope Leo IX]], and it is probable that the pope employed him at Benevento to negotiate peace with the Normans after the fatal [[battle of Civitate]].

Somewhat later Desiderius attached himself to the court of [[Pope Victor II]] at [[Florence]]. There he met two monks of the renowned [[Benedictine]] monastery of [[Monte Cassino]], with whom he returned in 1055. He joined the community and was shortly afterwards appointed superior of the dependent house at [[Capua]]. In 1057 [[Pope Stephen IX]], who had retained the abbacy of Monte Cassino, came to visit and at Christmas, believing himself to be dying, ordered the monks to elect a new [[abbot]]. Their choice fell on Desiderius. The pope recovered, and, desiring to retain the abbacy during his lifetime, appointed the abbot-designate his [[Papal legate|legate]] for [[Constantinople]]. It was at [[Bari]], when about to sail for the East, that the news of the pope's death reached Desiderius. Having obtained a safe-conduct from [[Robert Guiscard]], the Norman Count (later Duke) of [[Apulia]], he returned to his monastery and was duly installed by Cardinal Humbert on Easter Day 1058.<ref name="webster">{{Cite web|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Blessed Victor III|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15410a.htm|access-date=2021-12-15|website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>

[[Pope Nicholas II]] elevated him into the [[Catholic Cardinal|cardinalate]] as the [[Santi Sergio e Bacco|Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Sergio e Bacco]] on 6 March 1058. He opted to be the [[Santa Cecilia in Trastevere|Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia]] in 1059.

Desiderius rebuilt the church and conventual buildings, perfected the products of the ''[[scriptorium]]'' and re-established monastic discipline, so that there were 200 monks in the monastery in his day. On 1 October 1071, the new Basilica of Monte Cassino was consecrated by [[Pope Alexander II]]. Desiderius' reputation brought gifts and exemptions to the abbey. The money was spent on church ornaments, including a great golden altar front from Constantinople adorned with gems and [[Vitreous enamel|enamels]] and "nearly all the church ornaments of Victor II, which had been pawned here and there throughout the city".<ref>Chron. Cass., III, 18 (20)</ref> [[Peter the Deacon]] gives<ref>Chron. Cass., III, 63</ref> a list of some seventy books Desiderius had copied at Monte Cassino, including works of [[Augustine of Hippo]], [[Ambrose]], [[Bede]], [[Basil of Caesarea]], [[Jerome]], [[Gregory of Nazianzus]] and [[John Cassian|Cassian]], the histories of [[Josephus]], [[Paul Warnfrid]], [[Jordanes]] and [[Gregory of Tours]], the ''Institutes'' and ''Novels'' of [[Justinian]], the works of [[Terence]], [[Virgil]] and [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], [[Cicero]]'s ''De natura deorum'', and [[Ovid]]'s ''Fasti''.

Desiderius had been appointed [[papal vicar]] for [[Campania]], Apulia, [[Calabria]] and the [[Principality of Beneventum]] with special powers for the reform of monasteries. So great was his reputation with the Holy See that he "...was allowed by the Roman Pontiff to appoint Bishops and Abbots from among his [[Benedictine]] brethren in whatever churches or monasteries he desired, of those that had lost their patron".<ref>Chron. Cas., III, 34</ref>

Within two years of the consecration of the Cassinese Basilica, Alexander II died and was succeeded by Hildebrand as [[Pope Gregory VII]]. Desiderius was able to call forth the help of the [[Italo-Normans|Normans]] of southern Italy repeatedly in favour of the Holy See. Already in 1059 he had persuaded Robert Guiscard and [[Richard I of Capua|Richard of Capua]] to become vassals of St. Peter for their newly conquered territories: now Gregory VII immediately after his election sent for him to give an account of the state of Norman Italy and entrusted him with the negotiation of an interview with Robert Guiscard on 2 August 1073, at [[Benevento]]. In 1074 and 1075 he acted as intermediary, probably as Gregory's agent, between the Norman princes themselves, and even when the latter were at open war with the pope, they still maintained the best relations with Monte Cassino. At the end of 1080 Desiderius obtained Norman troops for Gregory. In 1082 he visited the Italian king and future [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Emperor Henry IV|Henry IV]] at [[Albano Laziale|Albano]], while the troops of the Imperialist antipope [[Antipope Clement III|Clement III]] were harassing the pope from [[Tivoli, Italy|Tivoli]]. In 1083 the peace-loving abbot joined [[Hugh of Cluny]] in an attempt to reconcile pope and emperor, and his proceedings seem to have aroused some suspicion in Gregory's entourage. In 1084, when Rome was in Henry's hands and the pope besieged in [[Castel Sant'Angelo]], Desiderius announced the approach of Guiscard's army to both emperor and pope.<ref name=webster/>

== Papacy ==
{{main|Papal election, 1086}}
Though certainly a strong partisan of the Hildebrandine reforms, Desiderius belonged to the moderate party and could not always see eye-to-eye with [[Pope Gregory VII]] in his most intransigent proceedings. Yet when the latter lay dying at [[Salerno]] on 25 May 1085, the Abbot of Monte Cassino was one of those whom he recommended to the cardinals of southern Italy as fittest to succeed him. The Roman people had expelled the [[Antipope Clement III]] from the city, and hither Desiderius hastened to consult with the cardinals on the approaching [[Papal election, 1086|election]]. Finding, however, that they were bent on forcing the papal dignity upon him, he fled to Monte Cassino, where he busied himself in exhorting the Normans and Lombards to rally to the support of the Holy See. When autumn came, Desiderius accompanied the Norman army on its march to Rome. However, when he became aware of the plot between the cardinals and the Norman princes to force the [[papal tiara]] on him, he would not enter Rome unless they swore to abandon their design. They refused to do that, and the election was postponed. At about Easter<ref>Chron. Cass., III, 66</ref> the bishops and [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinals]] assembled at Rome summoned Desiderius and the cardinals who were with him at Monte Cassino to come to Rome to treat concerning the election.

On 23 May a great meeting was held in the deaconry of St. Lucy, and Desiderius was again importuned to accept the papacy but persisted in his refusal, threatening to return to his monastery in case of violence. On the next day, the feast of [[Pentecost]], the same scene was repeated very early in the morning. The Roman [[consul]] Cencius now suggested the election of Odo, [[Cardinal-Bishop]] of [[Ostia Antica (district)|Ostia]] (afterwards pope [[Urban II]]), but this was rejected by some of the cardinals on the grounds that the [[Translation (ecclesiastical)|translation]] of a bishop was contrary to ecclesiastical law.

Desiderius was finally elected on 24 May 1086 in the deaconry of St. Lucia in Septisolis. He took the name Victor III.<ref name="Miranda">{{cite web|authorlink=Salvador Miranda (historian) |last=Miranda |first=Salvador |title=Papal elections of the 11th Century (1061-1099): Election of May 24, 1086 (Victor III)|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/conclave-xi.htm#1086|work=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church |accessdate=|publisher=[[Florida International University]]|oclc=53276621}}</ref> Four days later, pope and cardinals had to flee from Rome due to the presence of the Antipope Clement III,<ref>Grant 2016, p. 995</ref> and at [[Terracina]], in spite of all protests, Victor laid aside the papal insignia and once more retired to Monte Cassino, where he remained nearly a whole year. In the middle of [[Lent]] 1087, the pope-elect assisted at a council of cardinals and bishops held at [[Capua]] as "Papal vicar of those parts" (letter of Hugh of Lyons) together with the Norman princes, Cencius the Consul and the Roman nobles. Here, Victor finally yielded and "by the assumption of the cross and purple confirmed the past election".<ref>Chron. Cass., III, 68</ref> How much his obstinacy had irritated some of the prelates is evidenced in the letter of Hugh of Lyons preserved by [[Hugh of Flavigny]].<ref>Monumenta German. History: Script. VIII, 466–468</ref>

After the Normans had driven the soldiers of the Antipope Clement III out of St. Peter's, Victor  III was finally consecrated and enthroned on 21 March 1087. He only remained eight days in Rome and then returned to Monte Cassino, though with the help of Matilda and Jordan, he took back the [[Vatican Hill]]. Before May was out, he was once more in Rome in answer to a summons for the countess [[Matilda of Tuscany]], whose troops held the [[Leonine City]] and [[Trastevere]]. By the end of June Clement III once more gained possession of St. Peter's, Victor again withdrew at once to his Monte Cassino abbey.

== Synod and death ==
In August 1087, a [[synod]] was held at [[Benevento]] which renewed the [[excommunication]] of the Antipope Clement III, the condemnation of [[Investiture Controversy|lay investiture]], proclaimed a crusade against the [[Saracens]] in northern Africa, and anathematised Hugh of Lyons and Richard, Abbot of Marseilles.{{sfn|Robinson|1999|p=264}} After three days, Victor became seriously ill and retired to [[Monte Cassino]] to die. He had himself carried into the chapter-house, issued various decrees for the benefit of the abbey, appointed with the consent of the monks the prior, [[Cardinal Oderisius]], to succeed him in the abbacy, just as he himself had been appointed by Stephen IX, and proposed Odo of Ostia to the assembled cardinals and bishops as the next pope. He died on 16 September 1087 and was buried in [[List of extant papal tombs|the tomb he had prepared for himself]] in the abbey's [[chapter-house]]. Odo was duly elected his successor as [[Pope Urban II]].

== Writings ==
Pope Victor's only existing literary work, ''Dialogues'', is on the miracles wrought by Benedict and other saints at Monte Cassino. In his ''De Viris Illustribus Casinensibus'', [[Peter the Deacon]] ascribes to him the composition of a "Cantus ad B. Maurum" and letters to King [[Philip I of France]] and to [[Hugh of Cluny]], which no longer exist.

Victor is the probable author of a letter to the empress-mother [[Anna Dalassene]] concerning the molestation of pilgrims to the Holy Land in the [[Byzantine Empire]].<ref>[[H. E. J. Cowdrey]] (1992), "Pope Victor and the Empress A.", ''Byzantinische Zeitschrift'', 84–85(1–2): 43–48. {{doi|10.1515/bz-1992-1-211}}</ref> There is also a letter to the bishops of [[Sardinia]], where (since c. 1050 brought under [[Pisa]]n and [[Genoa]]n control) he sent monks while still abbot of Monte Cassino.

== Posthumous legacy ==
[[File:Vicente Carducho. "Visión del papa Víctor III" (1626-1632), Cartuja del Paular-Museo del Prado.jpg|thumb|[[Vincenzo Carducci]] ''The Vision of Pope Victor III'' (1626–1632)]]
The cult of Blessed Victor III seems to have begun not later than the pontificate of [[Pope Anastasius IV]], about six decades after his death (Acta Sanctorum, Loc. cit.). In 1515, Victor III's body was relocated to the main abbey church in Monte Cassino with many pilgrims visiting his tomb. In 1727 the abbot of Monte Cassino obtained from [[Pope Benedict XIII]] permission to keep his feast (Tosti, I, 393). [[Pope Leo XIII]] beatified Victor III in 1887, at which point his body was once again [[translation (relics)|moved]] to the Chapel of St. Victor.

During World War II, his body was removed and placed in Rome for safekeeping. The main abbey at Monte Cassino was destroyed in February 1944 by US bombing. Victor's body was moved back to the rebuilt abbey in 1963.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
* [[List of popes]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group="note"}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite journal |title=Pisan Perspectives: "The Carmen in victoriam" and Holy War, c.1000–1150 |first=Alasdair C. |last=Grant |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=131, No. 552 (OCTOBER)|year=2016 |issue=552 |pages=983–1009 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cew343 }}
* {{cite book |title= Lives of the Popes |first=Richard P. |last=McBrien |publisher=HarperCollins   |year=2000 }}
* {{cite book |title=Henry IV of Germany 1056-1106 |first=I. S. |last=Robinson |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 }}

== External links ==
* {{commonscat-inline}}
* {{wikisource author-inline}}
* [https://archive.org/details/dialogues-translation-victor-iii-1 Dialogues] A complete (albeit AI-assisted) English translation of Pope Victor III's Dialogues.

{{S-start}}
{{S-rel|ca}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Pope Gregory VII|Gregory VII]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=1086–87}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Pope Urban II|Urban II]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victor 03}}
[[Category:1020s births]]
[[Category:1087 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Benevento]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic writers]]
[[Category:Abbots of Monte Cassino]]
[[Category:Italian beatified people]]
[[Category:Beatified popes]]
[[Category:Benedictine popes]]
[[Category:11th-century Lombard people]]
[[Category:11th-century popes]]
[[Category:Beatifications by Pope Leo XIII]]
[[Category:11th-century Christian abbots]]