Pope John IX

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John IX
Bishop of Rome
ChurchCatholic Church
Papacy beganJanuary 898
Papacy endedJanuary 900
PredecessorTheodore II
SuccessorBenedict IV
Orders
Ordinationby Pope Formosus
Personal details
BornUnknown
DiedJanuary 900
Rome, Papal States
Other popes named John

Pope John IX (Latin: Ioannes IX; died January 900) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from January 898 to his death.[1]

Early life[edit]

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.[2]

Pontificate[edit]

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.[2]

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,[3] John sanctioned the consecration of a metropolitan bishop and three more bishops for the Moravians.[2]

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).

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ Platina, Bartolomeo (1479), The Lives of the Popes From The Time Of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII, vol. I, London: Griffith Farran & Co., pp. 240–241, retrieved 25 April 2013
  2. ^ a b c Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope John IX" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  3. ^ “Pope John IX”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 13 July 2013

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "John IX (pope)". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Literature[edit]

External links[edit]

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Pope
898–900
Succeeded by