Who he was
The son of a cobbler at Troyes, Jacques Pantaléon rose through the Church as a canon of Laon, Archdeacon of Liège, papal envoy in Germany, Bishop of Verdun and, from 1255, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. He was in Viterbo when Alexander IV died and was elected after a three-month conclave of only eight cardinals. A capable and energetic man, he put the papal finances in order, restored order in the Papal States, and invited Charles of Anjou to take the Kingdom of Sicily from Manfred. He never risked a visit to Rome and died at Perugia in October 1264.
What he is remembered for
He instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi for the whole Church in 1264. He also filled the College of Cardinals with Frenchmen, shaping papal elections for decades to come, and three of the men he made cardinals later became popes.
Sources
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