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
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