Home
Between the two "turnings of the millennia", from the year 1000 to the year 2000, there were 126 popes of the Church. This number includes the two popes whose papacies straddled the millennia: Pope Sylvester II (serving from 999 to 1003) and Pope John Paul II (whose papacy covered the years 1978 to 2005). There were again a number of "anti-popes” from 1000 to 2000 who are not included in this count. There is also one interesting anomaly in the count of the number of popes. Pope Benedict IX served three discontinuous terms and it thus counted three times: from 1032 to 1044, again in April and May of 1045, and finally from 1047 to 1048. He was deposed in 1048 and excommunicated in 1049 on charges of simony (the selling of church offices). Over the next few days, we will look at the stamps issued by Vatican City picturing pontiffs from the second thousand years of the Church. This review will be broken into several excerpts, with today's looking at popes from the first 300 years of the millennium.  Pope Leo IX 1000th Anniversary of Birth Scott 1225 (2002) Leo IX: serving as the Bishop of Rome from 1049 to 1054, his papacy is remembered for the start of the “Great Schism”, which led to the formal separation of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. The stamp shown (Scott 1225) was issued on the 1000th anniversary of his birth in the year 1002. 
 Pope Gregory VII 900th Anniversary of Death Scott 758-760 (1985) Gregory VII: known as Hildebrand of Sovana prior to his election as pope in 1073, he is known as a great pope for his work towards Church reform in the Middle Ages and his defense of Papal Primacy. His dispute with Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV is legendary. He died in 1085. The stamps shown for Pope Gregory VII were issued in 1985 on the 900th anniversary of his death (Scott 758-760).  Pope Innocent III 800th Anniversary of Birth Scott 1629 (2016) Innocent III: as pope from 1198 to 1216, he is remembered as one of the most powerful of the of the medieval popes. He extended the scope of the Crusades to the Holy Land during his papacy and sought to reunite the Eastern and Western Churches. The stamp shown (Scott 1629) was issued on the 800th anniversary of his death. 
 Pope Gregory IX Promulgating the Decretals International Juridical Congress Issue Scott 44-46 (1935) Gregory IX: elected pope in 1227, the major event of his papacy was the issuance of the Decretals of Gregory IX, a collection of medieval Catholic canon law. Pope Gregory IX served as pope until his death in 1241. Vatican City issued three stamps (Scott 44-46), identical in design, in 1935 showing the pope promulgating the Decretals.  Pope Celestine V 700th Anniversary of Death Scott 1020 (1996) Celestine V: the term of this pope lasted only five months (July to December, 1294), following another long election process of two years. One of his few acts as pope was establishing the right of the pope to resign, which he did to end his papacy. Following his resignation, he returned to the ascetic life of a hermit, and was then imprisoned by his successor, Boniface VIII. He was later canonized. Scott 1020, issued in 1996, marks the 700th anniversary of his death. |
