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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture An additional query: which "Saint John"? I haven't done a count, but I suspect that "John" is the most common saint's name as it is, I believe, the most common first name in all "Christian" countries - or all countries with a predominance of Christian names. MG >From: Theresa Gross-Diaz <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious > culture <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: [M-R] popes choosing new names >Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 11:54:56 -0500 > >medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > >Doctissimi, >One of my more alert students just sent me a note pointing out a Times >article that mentions not John XII but John II as the first pope to change >his name. >I looked into it and this is what I have (including questions!): > >Mercurius (John II) was indeed the very first pope to change his name (as >far as we know). I have not yet verified the source of his alleged reason >(=that it was the name of a pagan god). In fact there was a pope Dionysius >already, and that seemed to bother no one. Also there was already a Saint >Mercury, so that would seem to have "baptised" the name. So I'd like to >know what the source is for that statement. Does anyone on this list know? > >There is another early pope who changed his name: Catelinus changed his >name to John III (561-574); is it a coincidence that he too chose "John"? >His own name was in no way inappropriate. > >But then there is a huge gap. The naughty Octavian, son of Alberic, took >John XII (John again!) in 955, and though there four popes after him who >kept their own names, with the accession of Pietro Campanora in 983, every >pope changed his name. Did Pietro (Peter) change his name to John XIV >(again!) because of modesty?Is there actually evidence of this reason? >(maybe he figured Peter II would be too much to live up to!) > It is curious that all those first popes to change their names took the >name "John"! Why was that?? > >TGD > >********************************************************************** >To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME >to: [log in to unmask] >To send a message to the list, address it to: >[log in to unmask] >To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion >to: [log in to unmask] >In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: >[log in to unmask] >For further information, visit our web site: >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html