Benedict

Benedict was the name of fourteen popes. Benedict I., 574-8, occupied the papal chair during the Lombard incursions. Benedict II. 683-5. Benedict III. 855-8, during which the Emperor Lothair appointed Anastasius, an anti-pope, in opposition to the choice of the people and the clergy. Benedict IV. 900-3. Benedict V., 964-5, was carried off by the Emperor Otho to Hamburg, where he died. Benedict VI., 972-4, was strangled at the instigation of Crescentius. Benedict VII. 975-84. Benedict VIII., 1012-24, was driven from Rome by Gregory, an anti-pope. He was restored by the Emperor Henry II. in 1014. Benedict IX., 1033-56, became pope at the age of 18 by means of simony, but was deposed in 1044. Benedict X., 1058-9, reigned for only nine months. Benedict XI. 1303-4. Benedict XII. 1334-42. Benedict XIII. the title of two popes: (1) Peter de Luna, 1394-1424, chosen by the French cardinals. He abdicated in 1417, being recognised only by Spain and Scotland up to his death. (2) Vincenzo Marco Orsini, 1724-30, called himself at first Benedict XIV. Benedict XIV., 1740-58, was distinguished for his learning and the encouragement he gave to literature and science. He promulgated two famous bulls, Ex quo singulari and Omnium solicitudinum, denouncing a custom that had grown up among the Jesuits in their Indian and Chinese missions, viz. the accommodating of Christian terms and ritual to heathen beliefs and practices.

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