SERGIO IV, PAPA - Epitaph of S. IV; vv. 1-3 are partially reworked, as are several letters - Rome, basilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano.
buried in S. Pietro; the tomb has not been preserved, but its laudatory epitaph is known, from which Flodosardo (De Christi triumphis, apud Italiam, XIII, 7: PL 135, 831) drew inspiration in sketching the profile of S., which does not seem to correspond to what is known of the Pontiff’s life.
BIBL.: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 236-38; Jaffe-Wattenbach, nn. 3534-49; P. Fedele, Ricerche per la storia di Roma e del Papato nel sec. X, 1. Sergio III, in Arch. della Soc. rom. di st. patria, 33 (1910), pp. 177-247; L. Duchesne, Les premiers temps de l'état pontifical, 3e ed., Parigi 1911, pp. 310-16; id., Serge III et Jean XI, in Mélanges d'arch. et d'hist., 33 (1913), pp. 25-55; the studies of T. Venni (1936), G. Fasoli (1949), cited under GIOVANNI X; Fliche-Martin-Fruta, VII, nn. 18-28, 129; P. Brezzi, Roma e l'Impero medioevale, Bologna 1947, pp. 103-105 and passim. A. Pietro Fruta
SERGIO IV, POPE. - Pietro Boccaporco, bishop of Albano, died on 12 May 1012. He was elected Pope on 31 July 1009, at a time when the Crescenzi still held predominance in Rome. His epitaph in S. Giovanni in Laterano praises him as a helper of the people and defender of the rights of the Church, though it is not known to what specific events it intends to allude.
BIBL.: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 266-67; bulls and diplomas in PL 139, 1499-1528; Fliche-Martin-Fruta, VII, nn. 83-84. Gina Fasoli