Chapter Twenty

 

His Holiness… the new Pope

 

 

Cardinal Desiderius and his Benedictine escorts were barely three blocks from the Saint Lucy deaconry when behind them they heard the clatter of hooves approaching their position. Turning, they saw an armed contingent of Normans galloping their direction. Thinking that it was merely Duke Borsa’s men hurrying back to their quarters for the evening, Desiderius and his monks stepped aside to let them pass. Reaching them, the Normans quickly dismounted and assaulted all in the party except the Cardinal, beating them with their fists and the flats of their swords.

“What goes on here!” shouted Desiderius, dismayed. “Stop, I say! I’ll report you to Duke Borsa!”

This caused the Norman captain to laugh. “Ha!” he cried, “Tis the Duke who sent us, Cardinal!” Then the man signaled two of his men and they quickly grabbed Desiderius and threw him belly down onto a horse, binding his neck and shoulders, running the rope beneath the horse’s belly, then binding his feet so he was hog-tied astride the saddle.

“What are you doing?” Desiderius protested. “Where are you taking me?”

“To church!” the captain exclaimed, again breaking into laughter. “The Church of Saint Lucy around the corner to be exact!” Then he issued another signal and the Normans mounted their horses and began a moderate canter down the street, leaving the monks they had assaulted in a heap upon the pavement.

From his position of captivity, Desiderius could hear voices gathering in the street behind them, but could not see that this sudden accumulation was following, nor that it was made up of many clerics and nobles who had been within the deaconry of Saint Lucy. Shortly the horse came to a halt in front of Saint Lucy Cathedral, and Desiderius was untied and pulled from the horse. Next the Normans dragged him into the cathedral where before the altar stood Duke Borsa with crossed arms, Cardinal Belmonte, and forty or fifty clerics and noblemen from the convocation. Desiderius was then thrown into a chair that had been placed upon the altar and held down by a Norman knight on each side of him, and one who stood behind, holding him firmly by the neck and shoulders.

Cardinal Odo and Tristan were passing the Saint Lucy Cathedral at the same time as Desiderius was being dragged within. “What is this mob?” Tristan asked, alarmed.

“It’s Desiderius!” cried Odo, sensing what was occur-ring. “He’s under assault! Quick, to his aid!”

The crowd was so thick that Tristan and Odo could barely push their way through the entrance to the church, and once inside, there was no hope of breaking through the agitated crowd.

“What is this?” Desiderius cried from the altar chair. “What goes on here, Borsa? And Belmonte, surely you are not part of this?”

But he was. The old bishop signaled to a huddle of cardinals standing in the sacristy doorway, and one of them came forward with an armload of garments. Bishop Belmonte then stood before the struggling Desiderius, issued a blessing, and instructed the knights to force the red cope upon him. Next, as they pushed the pope’s tiara onto Desiderius’ head, Bishop Belmonte proclaimed, “In nomine Patris, et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, in God’s name and with God’s blessing, we crown you Pope Victor III!”

“Impossible!” shrieked Desiderius, nearly fainting with rage. “You cannot do this! The College of Cardinals cannot force the tiara upon an unwilling servant! This is ungodly, I tell you! It will not hold!”

Still struggling to break through the mob, Tristan and Odo could see and hear what was happening. “My God!” cried Tristan. “This cannot be!”

But it was done. And though it had been this very group of clerics who had stood proclaiming ecclesiastical law to prevent Odo de Lagery from ascending to the papal throne, they had just one hour later committed an even more grievous violation and thrown ecclesiastical law to the winds.

As he was released, the red-faced Desiderius stood glaring at all around him, so mortified and shocked that he was struck dumb. He was then inclined to pull the red cope and tiara from his body and throw them to the floor, but knowing these were sacred emblems of the papacy, he did not dare. So he stumbled about for several moments, as one lost. As he did this, each time he drew near to another, that individual quickly knelt and bowed, saying, “Your Holiness!”

This cannot be happening! thought Desiderius, dizzy with confusion. They have shoved the tiara upon my head. In God’s eyes this is not legitimate. Therefore, I still am not the Pope!

Within the eyes and minds of all those present within the Cathedral of Saint Lucy at that moment, Desiderius was indeed the Pope. And these witnesses immediately ran forward to spread the word throughout Rome, and except for the supporters of the anti-pope, others who heard the announcement also determined that the Cardinal from Monte Cassino was indeed the new and legitimate Pope, though they knew nothing of the details.

“Hail, Desiderius of Monte Cassino! Hail Pope Victor III!” the Gregorian Catholics chanted, marching joyously and celebrating all afternoon by the tens of thousands in the streets, and then by torchlight all through the night. “God has blessed us with a living saint! Glory to God!”

And so it was that on May 24^th of the Year of Our Lord 1086, in the midst of schism and bloody spiritual war, and after enduring a full year without leadership in the Vatican, the followers of the true Catholic Church finally had a Pope. And though the means by which this occurred may now seem utterly preposterous, it was little questioned at the time. After all, it was done and approved of by the College of Cardinals, the bishops and archbishops, the consuls of Rome, and the great nobles of Italy. Surely, thought the masses, a collection of men so great as this could not possibly be in error.