Umberto of Silva Candida (UMBERTO DI SILVA CANDIDA) - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, p. 469

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

UMBERTO di SILVA CANDIDA. - Having entered the Benedictine monastery of Moyenmoutier in the Vosges around 1015, he distinguished himself there for his perfect knowledge

Article illustration — (Int. Fotoserter, Torino) UMBRIA - Exterior of the Cathedral and bronze statue of Paul III by V. Danti (1530-76) - Perugia.

of Latin and Greek. He was also a staunch supporter of the reforms to be introduced into the Church; therefore, in October 1049, Leo IX called him to Rome and kept him near him in the circle of his most intimate advisors; in the spring of 1050 he appointed him archbishop of all Sicily and the same year created him cardinal-bishop of Silva Candida. Died in Rome on May 5, 1061.

H. played a leading role in the schism between the Greek and Roman Churches. Fearing, in fact, their union, desired by the Emperor, Michael Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, made every effort to prevent it and in a letter, written under the name of Leo of Ohrid, violently attacked the Latin rites (1053). H. translated the letter, drafted the reply of Leo IX (PL 143, coll. 744-69) and wrote the treatise Adversus Graecorum calumnias (ibid., coll. 929-74).

Emperor Constantine Monomachus harbored sentiments quite different from those of Michael Cerularius, and these favorable dispositions prompted Leo IX to send H. and Card. Frederick of Lorraine as legates to Constantinople (1054). But the Pope's death (Apr. 19) was immediately exploited so as to cast doubt on the authority of their mission. H. himself had to respond to a libel by the monk Nicetas Stethatos (ibid., coll. 985-1000). A theological discussion in the presence of the Emperor (June 24) turned in his favor. On July 16, the legates, considering themselves mocked, launched the excommunication against Cerularius (the document was the work of H.: ibid., coll. 1001-1004) and departed (July 18). Upon being reached at Selymbria by the Emperor's messengers, they returned; but an uprising fomented by Cerularius forced them to disappear as quickly as possible, and the excommunication launched ultimately brought about the rupture between the Roman and Greek Churches (PG 120, coll. 735-48). Having returned to the West, H. wrote (1057-58) the treatise Adversus simoniacos (PL 143, coll. 1004-1212; better in MGH, Libelli de lite imperatorum et pontificum saeculis XI et XII conscripti, I, Hannover 1891, pp. 95-253) where he maintains the opinion that ordinations performed by simoniacal prelates are null and exalts the election of bishops by the clergy and the people to put an end to the abuses of lay investiture, the principal cause of the ills that prevailed.

Later H. was librarian of the Roman Church and was involved in the question of Berengar of Tours (cf. the letter he addressed to him, in Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere Geschichtsschunde, 7 [1882], pp. 614). H. is now attributed with the Vita S. Leonis IX papae, previously believed to be by Guibert (Wibertus), archdeacon of Toul (cf. H. Tritz, Die hagiographischen Quellen zur Geschichte Papst Leo IX., in G. B. Borino, Studi Gregoriani, IV, Rome 1952, pp. 191-364; V. the observations of B. de Gaiffier, in Anal. Boll., 70 [1952], pp. 423-24).

BIBL.: H. Halfmann, Card. Humbert, sein Leben und seine Werbe mit besonderes Berücksichtigung seines Traktates Libri tres adversus simoniacos, Göttingen 1883; L. Bréhier, Le schisme oriental du XIe siècle, Paris 1899; A. Fliche, Le card. Humbert de Moyenmoutier, Etude sur la Réforme grégor., in Rev. hist., 119 (1915), pp. 41-76; id., La Réforme grégor., I, Louvain 1924, pp. 265-308; A. Michel, Humbert und Kerullarios, in Quellen und Forschungen der Görresgesellschaft, 21 (1924) and 23 (1930); E. Amann, Michel Cérulaire, in DThC, IX (1929), coll. 1677-1703; M. Jugie, Le schisme de Michel Cérulaire, in Echos d'Orient, 36 (1937), pp. 440-73; R. Morghen, Medioevo cristiano, Bari 1951, pp. 100-19 (and cf. also the analytical index); W. Ullmann, Cardinal Humbert and the ecclesia Romana, in G. B. Borino, Studi Gregoriani, IV, Rome 1952, pp. 111-27.

Guglielmo Mollat