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From The Lives of the Popes from the Time of our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII. Written Originally in Latin by B. Platina, Native of Cremona, and translated into English (from an anonymous translation, first printed in 1685 by Sir Paul Rycaut), Edited by William Benham, Volume I, London: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh, [1888, undated in text]; pp. 164-166.

The Lives of the Popes,
BY
B. Platina

Volume I.


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[164]

BENEDICT  II.

A.D. 683-685.

BENEDICT the Second, a Roman, his father’s name John, being from his youth brought up to the clergy, was so intent upon the study of holy writ, that he became an extraordinary 165 proficient in divinity. He was likewise a person of great compassion, charity, and good will towards all, especially the poor; virtues by which he so won the hearts of men, that he was pitched upon as the only person who by general consent was fit to succeed in the place of Leo deceased. The Emperor Constantine, out of the veneration he had for this man’s sanctity, sent him a decree, in which it was established that for the time to come he whom the clergy and people of Rome should choose Pope, should be forthwith acknowledged Christ’s true vicar, without expecting the authority of the emperor or his exarchs, according to former usage, when the confirmation of the emperor or his vicegerent in Italy was necessary to the creation of a Pope. Pertheris, now king of the Lombards, in imitation of the religion and charity of Benedict, built a monastery in honour to St Agatha at Pavia; and his wife, Rhodelinda, prompted by the example of her husband, built the church of St Mary ad Perticas without the walls of Pavia. This they did out of a principle of emulation, understanding that Pope Benedict had with vast expense repaired, beautified, and enriched the churches of St Peter at Rome, that of St Laurence in Lucina, that of St Valentine in the Via Flaminia, and that of St Mary ad Martyres. Pertheris had designed greater things of this nature, but he was diverted by Alalchis, Duke of Trent, who being puffed up by a great victory which he had gained over the Bavarians, turned his arms against his king. But Pertheris, raising an army, at the first engagement routs him, besieges Trent, whither he had fled for refuge, and though Alalchis had first made his escape thence by night, takes the city. However, Pertheris was a prince of so great clemency as to receive him again into favour upon his submission, and to make him Duke of Brescia. Some tell us that in Benedict’s time an extraordinary star was seen near the Vergiliæ several nights together in a clear sky between Christmas and Epiphany. I deny not but that a comet then appeared, and portended something; but its neighbourhood to this constellation is incoherent, unless we make that prodigious too. For the Vergiliæ rise at the vernal equinox, when the sun enters the sign Aries, about the 24th of March, and begin to set at the autumnal equinox. But that out of Vesuvius, a mountain in Campania, so great a fire did at this time burst forth, that it burnt up all the places round about it, may seem less wonderful, 166 considering that Pliny, the natural historian, leaving the ships which he commanded under Trajan, and approaching too near it out of curiosity to find the causes of its burning, lost his life by that means. However, it is certain that not long after these things there followed slaughters, rapines, fires, the death of great men, and particularly of Pope Benedict, who, as he was universally beloved in his lifetime, so after his death he was famous for his piety and the good offices he had done to mankind. He was in the chair only ten months, twelve days, and was buried in St Peter’s, May the 15th. By his death the see was vacant two months, fifteen days.

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Previous Pope:  82. Leo II. 83. Benedict II. Next Pope: 84. John5

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