Who he was
Benedict, son of Peter, was a Roman known for his learning and self-denial. After his election the emperor's envoys tried to force the excommunicated cardinal Anastasius into his place and had Benedict insulted and imprisoned. The clergy and people stood by him, the envoys gave way, and he was consecrated at the end of September 855; he later admitted his rival to lay communion.
What he is remembered for
He urged the Frankish bishops to speak up against the disorder in their lands, and judged fairly in a dispute sent to him from Constantinople. He received the English King Æthelwulf and his son Alfred, finished rebuilding the English quarter in Rome, the Schola Anglorum, after a fire, and carried on repairing churches damaged by the Saracen raid of 846.
Sources
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