JOHN XIX, POPE

Pontificate: April 19, 1024 to 1032. Romanus, as he was named, came from the family of the tusculani, successors to the crescentii in providing the Church with popes. He adopted, during the pontificate of his brother benedict viii, the title Consul, dux et senator omnium Romanorum, with no special claim to this title except Emperor henry ii's approval. After the death of his brother, Romanus, although still a layman, took possession of the papacy as a family inheritance and, despite canonical regulations, received all the orders on one day, taking the name John XIX. At Easter 1027 he crowned conrad ii emperor. In ecclesiastical affairs he was dominated by Conrad, especially in the interminable controversies between the patriarchs of aquileia and grado and between the bishop of Constance and the abbot of Reichenau. On the other hand, he prevented Conrad's interference in Rome and made Tusculum supreme in the States of the Church. John could hardly contribute much to the reform of the Church and showed himself an inconsistent administrator, interested chiefly in financial gain;e.g., he made demands of money for hierarchial posts. According to rodulphus glaber, John even planned to recognize the patriarch of Constantinople as ecumenical in exchange for money but is supposed to have been dissuaded by william of saint–bÉnigne of Dijon. The name of the pope was omitted from the diptychs of the Byzantine Church since John's time, a fact that may indicate that Glaber's statement and other exaggerated charges made against the pope are false. Among his positive achievements were the support he gave to guido of arezzo, the cluniac reform, and—at least indirectly— the Truce of God. He was buried in St. Peter's.

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[g. rill]