25 January 1138 A.D. Anacletus Dies—Anti-Pope to Rome’s 164th, Innocent II; Chaotic Papal Politics & Electioneering; Roman Nobleman; Critics Say He Was Grossly Immoral, Greedy and Bought Favors with Lavish Gifts; Claims He Bought Papal Chair
Loughlin, James. "Anacletus II." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1907.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01447a.htm. Accessed 4 Sept 2014.
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Anacletus II
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The title which was taken by
Cardinal Pietro Pierleone at the contested papal
election of the
year 1130. The date of his birth is uncertain; d. 25 January, 1138. Though the Pierleoni were
conceded to be one of the wealthiest and
most powerful senatorial families of Rome,
and though they had staunchly supported the Popes throughout
the fifty years' war for
reform and freedom, yet it was never forgotten that they were of Jewish extraction,
and hadrisen to wealth and
power by usury.
The Cardinal's grandfather,
named Leo after Pope
Leo IX, who baptized him,
was a faithful adherent of Gregory
VII; Leo's son, Peter,
from whom the family acquired
the appellation ofPierleoni,
became leader of the faction of the Roman nobility
which was at enmity with the Frangipani. His marble coffin may still be seen in
the cloisters of St.
Paul's, with its pompous inscription extolling
his wealth and
numerous offspring. His attempt to install his son as Prefect of Rome in
1116, though favoured by the Pope,
had been resisted by the opposite party with riot and bloodshed.
His second son, the future antipope,
was destinedfor
the Church.
After finishing his education at Paris,
he became a monk in the monastery of Cluny,
but before long he was summoned to Rome by Pope
Paschal II and created Cardinal-Deacon of SS. Cosmas and Damian.
He accompanied Pope
Gelasius on his
flight to France,
and was employed by successive pontiffs in
important affairs, including legations to France and England.
If we can believe his
enemies, he disgraced his high office by gross immorality and by
his greed in the
accumulation of lucre. Whatever exaggeration there may be as to other charges,
there can be no doubt that
he was determined to buy or force his way into the Papal Chair.
WhenHonorius lay on his
deathbed Pierleone could count upon the votes of thirty cardinals,
backed by the support of the mercenary populace and of every noble family in Rome,
except the Corsi and
the Frangipani. The pars
saniorof the Sacred
College numbered
only sixteen, headed by the energetic Chancellor, Haymaric, and the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia.
These squadronisti, as
they would have been called in later days, resolved to rescue the papacyfrom
unworthy hands by a coup
d'état. Though in a hopeless minority,
they had the advantage that four of their number were cardinal
bishops, to whom the legislation of Nicholas
II had
entrusted the leading part in theelection. Moreover, of the commission of eight cardinals,
to which, in apprehension of a schism,
it was decided to leave the election,
one of them being Pierleone, five were opposed to the ambitious aspirant.
To secure liberty ofaction, they removed the sick Pontiff from
the Lateran to St.
Gregory's, near the towers of the Frangipani.Honorius dying
on the night of 13 February, they buried him
hurriedly the next morning, and compelled the reluctant Cardinal of San
Giorgio, Gregory Papareschi, under threat of excommunication,
to accept the pontificalmantle.
He took the name of Innocent
II. Later in the day the party of Pierleone assembled in the Church of St.
Mark and proclaimed him Pope,
with the name of Anacletus II.
Both claimants were consecrated on the
same day, 23 February, Anacletus in St.
Peter's and Innocent in
Sta. Maria Nuova.
How this schism would
have been healed, had the decision been left to the canonists,
is hard to say. Anacletus had a
strong title in law and
fact. The majority of the cardinals with
the Bishop of Porto,
the Dean of the Sacred
College, at their head, stood at his side. Almost the whole populace
of Rome rallied
around him. His victory seemed complete, when, shortly after, the Frangipani,
abandoning what appeared to be a lost cause,
went over to him. Innocent sought
safety in flight. No sooner had he arrived in France than
his affairs took a favourable turn. "Expelled from the City,
he was welcomed by the world", says St.
Bernard, whose influence and exertions secured for him the adhesion
of practically the entire Christian
world. The Saint states
his reasons for deciding in favour of Innocent in a
letter to the Bishops of
Aquitaine (Op. cxxvi). They may not be canonically cogent;
but they satisfied his contemporaries. "The life and character of our Pope
Innocent are
above any attack, even of his rival; while the other's are not safe even from
his friends= In the second place, if you compare the elections,
that of our candidate at once has the advantage over the other as being purer
in motive, more regular in form,
and earlier in time.
The last point is out of all doubt;
the other two are proved by the merit and
the dignity of the electors.
You will find, if I mistake not, that this election was
made by the more discreet part of those to whom the election of the Supreme
Pontiffbelongs. There were cardinals, bishops, priests,
and deacons,
in sufficient number, according to the decrees of the Fathers,
to make a valid election.
The consecration was
performed by the Bishop of Ostia,
to whom that function specially belongs." Meanwhile Anacletus maintained
his popularity in Rome by the
lavish expenditure of his accumulated wealth and
the plundered treasures of the churches.
His letters and those of the Romans to
Lothair of Germany remaining
unanswered, he secured a valuable confederate in Duke Roger
of Apulia, whoseambition he
satisfied by the gift of
royalty; on Christmas
Day, 1130, a cardinal-legate of Anacletus anointed atPalermo.
the first King of the Two Sicilies, a momentous event in the history of Italy.
In the spring of 1133, theGerman King
conducted Innocent,
whom two great synods, Reims and Piacenza,
had proclaimed the legitimatePope,
to Rome;
but as he came accompanied by only 2,000 horse, the antipope,
safe within the walls of CastleSt. Angelo, looked on undismayed. Unable to open
the way to St.
Peter's, Lothair and his queen Rlchenza,
on 4 June; received the imperial crown in the Lateran.
Upon the Emperor's departure Innocent was
compelled to retire to Pisa,
and for four years his rival remained in undisturbed possession of the Eternal
City. In 1137 Lothair, having finally vanquished the insurgent
Hohenstaufens, returned to Italy at the
head of a formidable army; but since the main purpose of the expedition was to
punish Roger, the conquest of Rome was
entrusted to the missionary labours of St.
Bernard. The Saint's eloquence
was more effective than the imperial weapons. WhenAnacletus died,
the preference of the Romans for Innocent was so
pronounced that the antipope, Victor
IV, whom the party chose as his successor,
soon came as a penitent to St.
Bernard and by
him was led to the feet of thePope.
Thus ended, after eight years of duration, a schism which
threatened serious disaster to the Church.
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