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Anselmo Baggio was born of
noble parentage near Milan, Italy, and studied at the famous
Monastery of Bec under the scholar, Lanfranc, who was a leader
of the Patari which was a group which targeted priest
misconduct.
Cardinal Anselmo, Bishop of Lucca in Italy,
was enthroned as Pope Alexander II
on October 1, 1061. Because the cardinal-electors failed to seek
ascent from the German imperial court, the German imperial court
elected Cardinal Cadalus of Parma, Italy, as Pope Honorius II on
October 28, 1061, without any canon right and without the
presence of a single cardinal.
In 1064 after much infighting, Pope Alexander II was formally
recognized as the legitimate pope, and Honorius II was
excommunicated, but he never conceded, insisting until his death
in 1072 that he was the pope.
Pope Alexander II
adopted his predecessor Pope
Nicholas II's fervor for
reform. Pope Alexander II’s papacy set the groundwork
for Pope Gregory VII his
successor and reform’s greatest champion. |
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In 1063, Pope
Alexander II passed a series of reform decrees, one
of which specifically reflected the vigilance of the Patari in
forbidding the laity to hear Mass celebrated by a priest who did
not live a chaste life.
Political wars persisted.
Pope Alexander II
blessed a banner of Saint Peter
for William, Duke of Normandy, to take with him as protection to
the famous Battle of Hastings in England in 1066.
Pope Alexander II
elevated his teacher, Lanfranc of Bec, to the See of Canterbury
by appointing him Primate of England.
Pope Alexander II
died of natural causes and was laid to rest in the Roman
Basilica of Saint John Lateran on April 21, 1073.
Catholic Pontiffs Main
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