JOHN XIII, Pope. - A Roman, elected on 1 Oct. 965, d. 6 Sept. 972. Born of a certain John "bishop," perhaps of the Crescenzi family, and perhaps a descendant on his mother's side of the other powerful family of Theophylact, he was first bishop of Narni and librarian of the Apostolic See. A supporter of John XII, he was sent by him as ambassador to Otto I; but he then took part both in the Synod which, by Otto's will, deposed him, and in the one that restored him to the pontificate.

His election as successor to the pope of the imperial party, Leo VIII, which came about perhaps by designation and certainly with the Emperor's consent, may have resulted from a compromise between the Roman factions. But G. soon clashed with part of the nobility and with the people, perhaps because of the favor shown to a nephew; he was shut up in Castel S. Angelo and then exiled to Campania (late 965-early 966). He returned to Rome through the support of the Crescenzi faction and of Otto, who, having come to the city, fiercely punished the Pope's adversaries (autumn 966). G., by then bound to the imperial party, crowned (25 Dec. 967) the thirteen-year-old Otto II, worked for the latter's marriage to Theophano, and blessed the nuptials

(14 Apr. 972). He favored his own family; but he also displayed no negligible religious activity, in some respects anticipating the reforming pontiffs. He held, together with Otto I, a Synod in Rome in Jan. 967, and another at Ravenna in Apr. 967; in this one he obtained, at least theoretically, from the Emperor the restitution of Ravenna, and provisions "de mulierositate relinquenda" were reconfirmed; he reorganized the bishoprics of northern Germany, erecting Magdeburg as a metropolis, in order to favor the spread of the Catholic faith among the Slavs, albeit with German influence; he provided for the interests of the Churches of Spain and England.

JOHN XIII, pope - Metrical sepulchral inscription (972). Rome, abbey of S. Paolo fuori le mura.(from A. Silvagni, Monumenta epigraphica, Città del Vaticano 1917, pl. 3 I)

Bibliography12 works

BIBL.: Epistolae, PL. 135, 951; Jaffé-Wattenbach, I, pp. 470-477; Lib. Pont., II, pp. 253-54; J. M. Watterich (v. above John VIII), I, pp. 44, 64-65, 685-86; Benedetto del Soratto (v. above John VII), pp. 184-85; Hefele-Leclercq, IV, II, pp. 825-32; L. Duchesne (v. above John VII), pp. 353-56; G. Buzzi (v. above John VIII), pp. 163-71; F. Gregorovius (v. above John VIII), II, 1, pp. 58-72; A. Brachmann, Die Ostpolitik Ottos des Grassen, in Historische Zeitschrift, 134 (1926), pp. 242 ff.; C. Cecchelli, Note sulle famiglie romane fra il IX e il XVI sec., in Arch. d. R. Dep. romana di storia patria, 68 (1935), pp. 72-97; E. Amann, Jean XIII, in DThC, VIII, 1, coll. 626-28.

G. Battista Picotti

@incollection{ec6_giovanni_xiii_papa, author = {Picotti, Giovanni Battista}, title = {Giovanni XIII, papa}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {587--588}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/giovanni-xiii-papa} }

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John XIII, Pope

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