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{{short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 929 to 931}}
{{NPOV}}
{{unreferenced}}
{{Pope Stephen ToP Dab|VI}}
{{Infobox Pope|
English name=Stephen VII|
image=]|
birth_name=Stephanus|
term_start=December, 928|
term_end=February, 931|
predecessor=]|
successor=]|
birth_date=???|
birthplace=], ]|
dead=dead|death_date=February, 931|
deathplace=???|
other=Stephen}}


{{Redirect|Stephen VII|the Moldavian ruler|Ștefan Tomșa}}
'''Pope Stephen VII''' (December, ] – February, ]).
{{Pope Stephen ToP Dab|VII}}
Stephen was a Roman by birth. He was elected – probably handpicked – by ] from the ] family, the unquestioned mistress of Rome during this period, as a stop-gap measure until her own son John was ready to assume the throne of Peter. This was what some Catholic sources considered the darkest period of papal history, a period in which clans of the nobility in Rome turned the papacy into a "temporal" fiefdom. Little is known of Stephen's reign, except that he confirmed the privileges of a few religious houses in France and Italy. He may, like several popes in this period, have been assassinated.
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = ]
| name = Stephen VII
| title = ]
| birth_name = Stephanus de Gabrielli
| term_start = February 929
| term_end = 15 March 931
| church = ]
| predecessor = ]
| successor = ]
| birth_date =
| birth_place = ], ]
| death_date = c. 15 March 931
| death_place = Rome, Papal States
| previous_post = ] (928-929)
| other = Stephen
}}
'''Pope Stephen VII''' ({{langx|la|Stephanus VII}}; died 15 March 931)<ref>Archibald Bower, ''The History of the Popes: from the foundation of the See of Rome to A.D. 1758'' (1845), pg. 311</ref> was the ] and nominal ruler of the ] from February 929 to his death in 931. A candidate of the infamous ], his pontificate occurred during the period known as the '']''.


==Election==
He had been consecrated Bishop of Anagni, possibly against his will, by Formosus, and became pope about May, 896. Whether induced by evil passion or perhaps, more probably, compelled by the Emperor Lambert and his mother Ageltruda, he caused the body of Formosus to be exhumed, and in January, 897, to be placed before an unwilling synod of the Roman clergy. A deacon was appointed to answer for the deceased pontiff, who was condemned for performing the functions of a bishop when he had been deposed and for passing from the See of Porto to that of Rome. The corpse was then stripped of its sacred vestments, deprived of two fingers of its right hand, clad in the garb of a layman, and ultimately thrown into the Tiber. Fortunately it was not granted to Stephen to have time to do much else besides this atrocious deed. Before he was put to death by strangulation, he forced several of those who had been ordained by Formosus to resign their offices and he granted a few privileges to churches.
Stephen was a Roman<ref>{{Citation
| last = Platina
| first = Bartolomeo
| author-link = Bartolomeo Platina
| title = The Lives of the Popes From The Time Of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII
| publisher = Griffith Farran & Co.
| location = London
| pages = 247–248
| volume = I
| year= 1479
| url = https://archive.org/details/thelivesofthepop01platuoft
| access-date= 2013-04-25
}}</ref> by birth, the son of ] (]) Theodemundus/Theudemund.<ref name="m189">Mann, pg. 189</ref> He was the ] of ] in ]. He was probably handpicked by ], the true ruler of Rome during the '']'', to become ] as a stop-gap measure until her own son ] was ready to assume the role.<ref name="m189"/>


==Pontificate==
The validity of his papacy is disputed. Like his predecessor, ], he was elected while ] was still alive and in prison. Thus, if John's removal from office was invalid, then neither the election of Leo nor of Stephen was valid and they weren't genuine popes. In any event, they had brief reigns, are not well remembered, and are not likely to have impacted Catholic policy very much. Stephen's reign was brief and few records remain.
Very little is known about Stephen's pontificate. During his two years as pope, Stephen confirmed the privileges of a few religious houses in France and Italy.<ref name="m189"/> As a reward for helping free Stephen from the oppression of ], Stephen granted Cante di Gabrielli the position of papal governor of ], and control over a number of key fortresses.<ref>Collegio araldico, ''Rivista, Volume 5'' (1907), pg. 49</ref> Stephen was also noted for the severity with which he treated clergy who strayed in their morals.<ref>DeCormenin, Louis Marie; Gihon, James L., ''A Complete History of the Popes of Rome, from Saint Peter, the First Bishop to Pius the Ninth'' (1857), pg. 287</ref> He was also, apparently, according to a hostile Greek source from the twelfth century, the first pope who went around clean shaved whilst pope.<ref>Mann, pg. 190</ref>


Stephen died around 15 March 931, and was succeeded by Marozia's son ].
{{Pope|
Predecessor=]|
Successor=]|Dates=928&ndash;931}}
{{Popes}}


==References==
]
{{Reflist}}
]
* Mann, Horace K., ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. IV: The Popes in the Days of Feudal Anarchy, 891-999'' (1910)
]
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Pope Stephen (VII) VIII}}
]

]
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=]}}
{{s-ttl|title=]|years=929–931}}
{{s-aft|after=]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Pope-stub}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen 07}}
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Latest revision as of 07:53, 25 October 2024

Head of the Catholic Church from 929 to 931 "Stephen VII" redirects here. For the Moldavian ruler, see Ștefan Tomșa. In sources prior to the 1960s, this pope is called Stephen VIII and Pope Stephen VI is called Stephen VII; see Pope-elect Stephen for a detailed explanation.
Pope
Stephen VII
Bishop of Rome
ChurchCatholic Church
Papacy beganFebruary 929
Papacy ended15 March 931
PredecessorLeo VI
SuccessorJohn XI
Previous post(s)Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Anastasia (928-929)
Personal details
BornStephanus de Gabrielli
Rome, Papal States
Diedc. 15 March 931
Rome, Papal States
Other popes named Stephen

Pope Stephen VII (Latin: Stephanus VII; died 15 March 931) was the bishop of Rome and nominal ruler of the Papal States from February 929 to his death in 931. A candidate of the infamous Marozia, his pontificate occurred during the period known as the Saeculum obscurum.

Election

Stephen was a Roman by birth, the son of Germanic (Goth) Theodemundus/Theudemund. He was the cardinal-priest of St Anastasia in Rome. He was probably handpicked by Marozia, the true ruler of Rome during the Saeculum obscurum, to become pope as a stop-gap measure until her own son John was ready to assume the role.

Pontificate

Very little is known about Stephen's pontificate. During his two years as pope, Stephen confirmed the privileges of a few religious houses in France and Italy. As a reward for helping free Stephen from the oppression of Hugh of Arles, Stephen granted Cante di Gabrielli the position of papal governor of Gubbio, and control over a number of key fortresses. Stephen was also noted for the severity with which he treated clergy who strayed in their morals. He was also, apparently, according to a hostile Greek source from the twelfth century, the first pope who went around clean shaved whilst pope.

Stephen died around 15 March 931, and was succeeded by Marozia's son John XI.

References

  1. Archibald Bower, The History of the Popes: from the foundation of the See of Rome to A.D. 1758 (1845), pg. 311
  2. Platina, Bartolomeo (1479), The Lives of the Popes From The Time Of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII, vol. I, London: Griffith Farran & Co., pp. 247–248, retrieved 2013-04-25
  3. ^ Mann, pg. 189
  4. Collegio araldico, Rivista, Volume 5 (1907), pg. 49
  5. DeCormenin, Louis Marie; Gihon, James L., A Complete History of the Popes of Rome, from Saint Peter, the First Bishop to Pius the Ninth (1857), pg. 287
  6. Mann, pg. 190
  • Mann, Horace K., The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. IV: The Popes in the Days of Feudal Anarchy, 891-999 (1910)
  • Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Stephen (VII) VIII" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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