Probably not legitimately a pope, Giovanni di Sabina ascended to the papal throne as the third Sylvester in 1045, when the Crescenti drove Benedict IX from Rome. After a month and a half, Benedict returned to Rome and ousted Sylvester. When Benedict sold his title to John Gratian, Sylvester returned to Sabina. The council at Sutri charged him with obtaining the see of Rome by simony but suspended his sentence. Sylvester died c. 1063.
Pope Sylvester III (c. 1000 – October 1063), born John in Rome, was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 20 January to March 1045.
Background
Christened John, he was born into the powerful Roman patrician family Crescentii. Upon the death of Pope John XIX in October 1032, the papal throne became the subject of dispute between rival factions of nobles. Theophylactus, a youth of about twenty, the son of Alberic III, Count of Tusculum, was supported by the nobles of Tusculum. Giovanni de' Crescenzi–Ottaviani was supported by the Crescenzi family. Alberic secured the election of his son through bribery. The nephew and namesake of Pope Benedict VIII, he took the name Benedict IX. The young man was not only unqualified, but led a reportedly dissolute life, and factional strife continued. A revolt in Rome led to Benedict IX being driven from the city in 1044.
Papacy
John, bishop of Sabina, was elected after fierce and protracted infighting. He took the name Sylvester III in January 1045. Benedict IX excommunicated him, and in March returned to Rome and expelled Sylvester, who himself returned to Sabina to again take up his office of bishop in that diocese.
Nearly two years later (in December 1046), the Council of Sutri deprived him of his bishopric and priesthood and ordered him sent to a monastery. This sentence was obviously suspended because he continued to function and was recognized as bishop of Sabina until at least 1062. A successor bishop to the see of Sabina is recorded for October 1063, indicating that John must have died prior to that date.
Though some consider him to have been an antipope, Sylvester III continues to be listed as an official pope (1045) in Vatican lists. A similar situation applies to Pope Gregory VI (1045–1046). His pontifical name was used again by Antipope Theodoric because at that time he was not considered a legitimate pontiff.
Notes
- ^ Lynch, Joseph H. and Adamo, Phillip C., The Medieval Church, Routledge, 2014, p. 156, ISBN 9781317563334
- ^ Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes, (HarperCollins, 2000), 172.
- ^ Megan McLaughlin, Sex, Gender, and Episcopal Authority in an Age of Reform, 1000–1122, (Cambridge University Press, 2010), 63.
- ^ John-Peter Pham, Heirs of the Fisherman : Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession, (Oxford University Press, 2004), 57.
- ^ F. Donald Logan, A History of the Church in the Middle Ages, 2nd edition, (Routledge, 2013), 96.
- ^ J.N.D. Kelly, A Dictionary of Popes, (Oxford University Press, 2010), 144.
