Benedict I, Pope

BENEDETTO I, POPE. - He is believed to have been elected shortly after the death of Giovanni III (d. 13 July 574), but was not consecrated until 3 June 575. He was a Roman, the son of a certain Bonifacio. He reigned for four years, embittered by the first incursions of the Longobardi and by famine. Giustino II did not heed the appeal made to him by the patrician Panfronio on behalf of Rome and the Pope to send military aid to defend the Urbs, threatened by the Longobardi (579); it seems, however, that on this occasion the emperor sent the precious reliquary cross, now preserved in the treasury of S. Pietro. B. approved the Fifth Ecumenical Council, Constantinople II, of 553. He ordained 15 priests, 3 deacons, and 21 bishops (Liber Pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne, I, Roma 1886, p. 308). The two o

three letters attributed to him (PL 72, 683 sqq.) are not authentic. He died in Rome, “immersed in sorrow and tribulation,” as is read in the Liber Pontificalis, on 30 July 579, and was laid to rest in the sacristy of the ancient S. Pietro.