Antipope Christopher
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Christopher was an antipope from October 903 to January 904, probably dying that year. Some say he was a legitimate pope, and although he did not become pope in the usual way, he was recognized as pope some time later. He was included in most modern lists of popes until the first half of the 20th century. He is now considered an antipope by the Catholic Church.
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[edit] Reign
He was a Roman, his father was named Leo. He was cardinal-priest of the title of St. Damasus when he became pope by forcibly dethroning his predecessor, Leo V, and putting him into prison, seemingly about October 903. As Leo appears to have soon died in his prison, Christopher may be regarded as pope after his death. The account of Auxilius of Naples says that Sergius III murdered both Leo V and Christopher. A Greek eleventh-century document[1] says that Christopher was the first pope who, in his profession of faith which he sent according to custom to Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople, stated that the Holy Ghost proceeded "from the Father and from the Son". The difficulty in the way of accepting this statement is that there was no Patriarch Sergius at this time.
[edit] Dethroning
Christopher was driven from the papacy by Pope Sergius III (904 — 911), and compelled to end his days as a monk[2], though Vulgarius says he was strangled in prison[3].
[edit] Legitimacy
Some hold that Christopher, although his manner of taking possession of the papacy was wholly uncanonical, was a legitimate pope. Hence we find his name included in all the more or less contemporary catalogues of the popes[4]. His portrait figures among the other likenesses of the popes in the church of St. Paul Outside the Walls, at Rome, and among the frescoes of tenth-century popes painted in the thirteenth century on the walls of the ancient church of San Pier-in-Grado, outside Pisa. He was, moreover, acknowledged as pope by his successors; for, in confirming the privileges of the Abbey of Corbie in France, Leo IX mentioned the preceding grants of Benedict and Christopher[5]. This privilege is the only one of Christopher's acts which is extant[6]. However, he has not been considered a legitimate pope since the first half of the 20th century and has been erased from the Annuario pontificio's list of popes.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Mon. Græca ad Photium pertinent., p. 160, ed. Hergenröther, Ratisbon, 1869.
- ^ Chronicle of Hermannus Contractus, ad an. 904.
- ^ Ernst Dümmler, Auxilius und Vulgarius (Leipzig, 1866), 160, 135.
- ^ Liber Pontificalis, II, ed. Duchesne; Watterich, Pontificum Romanorum Vitae, I; and Origines de l'Église romaine, I, par les membres de la communauté de Solesmes, Paris, 1836.
- ^ Philipp Jaffé, Regesta RR. Pont., I, n. 4212.
- ^ ibid., 3532, 2d ed.
[edit] External links
Antipopes of the Roman Catholic Church | |
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| Hippolytus · Novatian · Felix II · Ursicinus · Eulalius · Laurentius · Dioscorus · Theodore · Paschal · Constantine II · Philip · John VIII · Anastasius · Christopher · Boniface VII · John XVI · Gregory VI · Sylvester III · Benedict X · Honorius II · Clement III · Theodoric · Adalbert · Sylvester IV · Gregory VIII · Celestine II · Anacletus II · Victor IV (1138) · Victor IV (1159–1164) · Paschal III · Callixtus III · Innocent III · Nicholas V · Clement VII · Benedict XIII · Alexander V · John XXIII · Clement VIII · Benedict XIV · Felix V | Image:Emblem of the Papacy.svg |
This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. ca:Cristòfor I antipapa de:Christophorus (Gegenpapst) es:Cristóbal (antipapa) fr:Christophore gl:Cristovo, antipapa id:Anti-Paus Kristoforus it:Papa Cristoforo la:Christophorus (antipapa) hu:Kristóf pápa nl:Tegenpaus Christoforus pl:Antypapież Krzysztof pt:Antipapa Cristóvão sv:Christoforus uk:Христофор (антипапа)
