GREGORIO VI, PAPA

GREGORY VI, POPE. — Giovanni Graziano; reigned from 5 May 1045 to 20 Dec. 1046. Archpriest of S. Giovanni ante Portam Latinam, one of the tutors of Ildebrando-Gregory (see GREGORY VII); he purchased the tiara from Pope Benedict IX for a certain sum, in order to free the Church from that Pope. A worthy man, he was unanimously elected by the clergy and the Roman people, greeted with enthusiasm by St. Peter Damian and recognized by the King of France and at first also by Henry III, King of Germany. The latter, however, sincerely devoted to the reform of the Church and utterly opposed to simony, at the Synod of Sutri (Dec. 1046), deposed Gregory VI along with Benedict IX and Sylvester III, whom he had already deposed, even though Gregory VI was personally worthy, on account of the simoniacal act in the purchase of the papacy, and sent him into exile. Ildebrando followed him as his chaplain as far as Cologne, where Gregory VI soon died.