Stephen X
Stephen X
(IX), a creature of Hildebrand, SEE GREGORY VII, was the son of duke Gotelon of Nether-Lorraine. His name was Frederick. Pope Leo IX appointed him cardinal-deacon and chancellor to the apostolical chair. In that capacity he accompanied cardinal Humbert as legate to Constantinople, and aided in preventing any reconciliation between the two churches (comp. Brevis Commenor. eorum quoe Gesserunt Apocris. Sanctoe Rom. Sedis in Regia Urbe, etc., in Annal. Ecclesiastes auct. Caes. Baronio, [Col. Agripp. 1609], 9, 19, 222; also Annal. Ecclesiastes ex 12 Tomis C. Baron. Redacti, opera Henr. Spondani [Mogunt. 1618], p. 824). On his return he became a monk in the Convent of Monte-Casino, and was promoted to be abbot; and when Victor II died he ascended the papal chair, A.D. 1057, under the name of Stephen. Guided by Hildebrand, he opposed the immorality of the clergy, especially with respect to simony and concubinage. He appointed the famous Peter Damiani (q.v.) to be bishop of Ostia, and entered into negotiations with Agnes, mother of the emperor Henry IV, with a view to secure the expulsion of the Normans from Italy; and also to insure the election of bishop Gerard of Florence as his successor (who actually did follow the pontificate as Nicholas II); and, finally, he ordered that the election of a pope should be postponed until the return of Hildebrand from Germany, whither he had gone as a legate. He died in 1058.
