SERGIUS II, POPE. — Belonging to a noble family from which Pope STEPHEN V had already emerged, he was ordained a priest by PASCHAL I (817–24). He died on 27 January 847.
He seems to have been already elderly and ill when, upon the death of GREGORY IV—who had made him archpriest of S. Martino on the Esquiline—he was elected pope by the aristocratic faction in competition with a deacon named JOHN, who was not otherwise qualified and was forcibly expelled from the Lateran, where he had already taken up residence (January 844). To avoid surprises, SERGIUS was immediately consecrated by his supporters without awaiting imperial confirmation of the election, as required by the *Constitutum Lotharii* of 824.
Emperor LOTHAR, far from inclined to tolerate such a violation, sent his son LUDOVICUS to Rome, who had already been delegated to govern Italy. Marching with an army, accompanied by DROGO of Metz as advisor, the archbishops of Milan and Ravenna, some twenty other bishops, and laying waste to the Roman countryside as proof of imperial wrath, he was nonetheless received in Rome with honors. LUDOVICUS then had the circumstances of SERGIUS’ election examined by his bishops, which was ratified only after the pope had sworn an oath of fidelity to the Emperor in accordance with the Constitution of 824. Once the legitimacy of the Pontiff was thus recognized, LUDOVICUS was solemnly crowned king on 15 June 844 and obtained for DROGO of Metz the apostolic vicariate in the Frankish lands.
SERGIUS granted the bishopric of Albano to his brother BENEDICT, a greedy and unscrupulous man, entrusting him with the governance of the State. He resorted to every means to procure money for the grand constructions he undertook, stripping churches, monasteries, and private individuals, and it was even said that he engaged in simoniacal concessions of ecclesiastical dignities. The Saracen raid that struck Rome and the basilicas of S. Peter and S. Paul in August 846—despite Roman attempts at resistance—was presented by contemporary historiography as a merited punishment for so many sins. He died without regret.
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13. — *ENCICLOPEDIA CATTOLICA*. — XI.
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