Council of Sutri: Encyclopedia - Council of Sutri

Council of Sutri

The Council of Sutri (or Synod of Sutri) was called by Pope Gregory VI at the behest of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor and opened on December 20, 1046, in the hilltown of Sutri.

The council was called to resolve the confusion over the papacy. Gregory had, "in all good faith and simplicity", purchased the papacy from Pope Benedict IX in 1044. After the departure of Benedict, the Bishop of Sabina had also declared himself pope, Silvester III. In 1045 Benedict, having not received his pay-off, returned to Rome and renewed his claim to the papacy. Each claimant had a number of supporters in the Roman church and held a portion of the city. Another faction in the church encouraged Henry III to intervene, both to resolve the conflict and to receive his crown from the pope in an official ceremony. Henry entered Italy in the autumn of 1046 and was met by Gregory at Sutri, some 40 km north of Rome.

The council summoned the three pontiffs and both Silvester and Gregory attended. The claims of all three popes were quickly dismissed. Silvester was exiled, Gregory resigned (apparently his words were:"I, Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, do hereby adjudge myself to be removed from the pontificate of the Holy Roman Church, because of the enormous error which by simoniacal impurity has crept into and vitiated my election."), and the council ended on December 23. A form of the council was repeated in Rome the following day to oversee the dismissal of Benedict. On December 24-25 Suidger, Bishop of Bamberg, became the new pope, Clement II.

Benedict would again renew his claim to the papacy in 1047.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Council of Sutri", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki