LORENZO, ANTIPAPA. — After the death of Pope Anastasius I, he was acclaimed pontiff by part of the clergy and by the majority of the Senate, which sympathized with Byzantium, while his more numerous opponents elected the deacon Simmaco (22 Nov. 498).
Through the intervention of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who decided in favor of Pope Simmaco, L. submitted and shortly thereafter was appointed bishop of Nocera in Campania. Threats and promises had perhaps induced him to accept this honorable removal. It is certain that in 501 he returned to the schism, seeking to win adherents among his supporters and among the opponents of Pope Simmaco; he was therefore excommunicated by the so-called Synod of the Palms of 23 Oct. 501.
Nevertheless, he maintained his position until 505, when, subjected to an active and literary campaign and compelled by King Theodoric, he withdrew to an estate belonging to the patrician Festo, the instigator of the opposition, where he spent the rest of his life amid the austerities of penance. The clergy who had followed him into schism gradually returned to obedience to Pope Simmaco; but there were also those who refused to submit to the end; the attitude of the deacon Pascasio is well known. The consequences of the schism were fully overcome with the election of Ormisda.