Who he was
Odo, from a knightly family of Champagne, studied under St Bruno at Reims and became a monk of Cluny under St Hugh. Gregory VII made him Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and his chief helper, and he was elected pope at Terracina in 1088, promising to follow Gregory's path.
What he is remembered for
For years he could hardly enter Rome, which was held by the antipope Guibert, but he steadily rebuilt the reform cause. At the Council of Clermont in November 1095 he called on the knights of Europe to free Jerusalem, launching the First Crusade; the city fell on 15 July 1099, two weeks before his death, though he never heard the news. Honoured from the time of his death, he was beatified by Leo XIII in 1881.
He is honoured by the Church as Blessed. Read his page in the dictionary of saints.
Sources
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