Benedict

Benedict I, Pope, surnamed Bonosus, a Roman, elected to the papal see after John III, June 3, 574. He occupied the see about four years, dying in 578. During his pontificate Rome suffered greatly from the inroads of the Lombards and from famine. Like his predecessors, he confirmed the fifth ecumenical council. An epistle to the Spanish bishop David, which has been ascribed to him, is not genuine.

II, Pope, also a Roman, succeeded Leo II, 26th June, 684, and died 7th May, 685. His incumbency was marked by nothing of note.

III, Pope, elected July 17, 855. His title was disputed by Anastasius, who was supported by the emperors Lothaire and Louis, whose deputies entered Rome, forcibly ejected Benedict, and imprisoned him. Rome was thrown into consternation at these acts; and the bishops, assembling in spite of the threats of the emperor's deputies, refused to recognize Anastasius. Benedict, removed from the church where he had been imprisoned, was carried in triumph by the people to the palace of Lateran. In unison with Ethelwolf, king of the Anglo-Saxons, he established an English school at Rome. He confirmed the deposition of Bishop Gregory of Syracuse, pronounced in 854 by a synod of Constantinople, which occasioned soon after the Greek schism. There are still extant four of his epistles (Mansi, 15:110-120). He held the see only two years and a half, and died April 8, 858.