Birthplace
Rome
Pope from
900
Pope until
July 903
Died
July 903
Who he was
Benedict was a Roman, the son of Mammalus, and had been ordained priest by Formosus. He became pope in the first half of 900, at the start of a troubled century in which few details of the popes' lives survive. The chronicler Flodoard praised his noble birth, his generosity and his care for the common good, and even called him 'the Great'.
What he is remembered for
His chief public act was to crown Louis the Blind emperor. He excommunicated the murderer of Archbishop Fulk of Reims, helped the Bishop of Amasea, driven from his see by the Saracens, and granted privileges to Fulda and other monasteries. He died in the summer of 903 and was buried in front of St Peter's.
Sources
All popes · Home · All saints