Birthplace
Saxony
Pope from
25 December 1046
Pope until
9 October 1047
Died
9 October 1047
Who he was
Suidger, of a noble Saxon family, had been a canon of Halberstadt, chaplain to King Henry III and then Bishop of Bamberg. After the Council of Sutri set aside the rival claimants, Henry put him forward, and he was enthroned on Christmas Day 1046, keeping his see of Bamberg. His first act as pope was to crown Henry emperor.
What he is remembered for
He began the eleventh-century reform at once, with a Roman synod in January 1047 that punished the buying and selling of Church offices with excommunication. He canonised St Wiborada of St Gall. He died near Pesaro after less than a year and lies in Bamberg cathedral, the only pope buried in Germany.
Sources
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