Apologies to the B-52s. Unfortunately, it's not a wig but a bishop's mitre, and it's not on your head but on Bruno's, the future Pope Leo IX. Bruno was bishop of Toul before he became pope.
As bishop he deposed a couple of abbots, 'who, neglecting the care of the souls committed to [them], supposed that they had been appointed solely to exercise power over external affairs.'[1] This action indicates that Bruno did not approve of monasteries meddling in the secular realm. Meddling was apparently okay for a bishop, though, since Bruno's biographer devotes a paragraph to recounting the various diplomatic missions the bishop undertook on behalf of the German emperor.[2]
An example of his apostolic poverty: 'He was so full of charity that he indiscriminately gave away almost all his possessions and it often happened that he lived in poverty in the midst of the wealth of others.'[3]
The biographer is very careful when he recounts Bruno's election to the papacy. He was appointed by the emperor Henry III, but the story is told thus:
Suddenly, without his suspecting anything, he was unanimously chosen [by the attendees of a council at Worms] to undertake the burden of the papal office.... Seeing... that there was no way in which he could escape the emperor's command and the unanimous desire of all, he was compelled in the presence of the envoys of the Romans to accept the office that was laid on him, on condition that he received the general consent of all the Roman clergy and people without any disagreement.[4]
At his first synod, in Rome, Leo confirmed the decrees of his predecessors and went on to condemn simony. He 'deposed certain bishops whom that heresy had marked with its stain of iniquity', including the bishop of Sutri, who tried to defend himself with lies and was struck down.[5] During that same year, 1049, Leo held another synod at Rheims in which he again decried the sin of simony. The bishop of Langres was accused of it, along with other things, and he asked the archbishop of Besancon to speak on his behalf: 'The latter was compelled by the lord pope to present his case, but when he began to speak, he was suddenly struck dumb in the presence of the whole assembly.'[6]
Leo speaks about the abortive mission to fight the Normans:
I considered it necessary to raise a defensive force from wherever men could be recruited to bear witness to [the Normans'] iniquity and, if it was expedient, to curb their arrogance.... Those who do not dread the judgements of heaven might at least come to their senses through the fear of men. [7]
Unfortunately for Leo, not only were the Normans not afraid of 'the judgements of heaven', they were also not afraid of Leo's army. The pope's knights were slaughtered, but, luckily for them, their souls were 'united in heavenly glory with the holy martyrs.'[8] No hanging around in purgatory for these guys.
So what do we have here? As a bishop, Bruno took great pains with his various diplomatic duties for the empire, an example of secular involvement and cooperation with the emperor. His election is recorded carefully to show that he was not just an imperial appointee, but rather was confirmed by the clergy and people of Rome, as was traditional. Leo condemned simony to great effect; simony was a favorite peeve of the reforming popes that would be revisited again and again. Finally, his foray into armed conflict with the Normans served as a prototypical crusade complete with indulgences for the slain knights. To me, the last is the most significant, because it melds spiritual with material. Clerics were not supposed to shed blood, yet Leo led an army.
Aside: Honestly, i never thought the vita of a pope could be this funny.
- Leo is described as exorcising a demon from a man because he was annoyed by the racket the possessed man was making.
- Another miracle discusses a wooden cup that was broken by a servant. Leo fitted the pieces back together and made a joke about the Almighty repairing stuff. Of course, the cup was miraculously made whole again, with only fine lines where the breaks had been. The biographer has this story from a reliable witness, the archbishop who stole the cup from Leo in order to revere it as a relic.
- His captivity in the hands of the Normans is described almost like a vacation during which Leo taught himself Greek.
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[1] Anonymous, 'The Life of Pope Leo IX', in The Papal Reform of the Eleventh Century: Lives of Pope Leo IX and Pope Gregory VII, trans. by Robinson, ed. by Robinson (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), p. 117.
[2] Anonymous, 'The Life of Pope Leo IX', p. 124.
[3] Anonymous, 'The Life of Pope Leo IX', p. 121.
[4] Anonymous, 'The Life of Pope Leo IX', pp. 130-1.
[5] Anonymous, 'The Life of Pope Leo IX', pp. 136-7.[6] Anonymous, 'The Life of Pope Leo IX', p. 138.
[7] Anonymous, 'The Life of Pope Leo IX', pp. 149-50.
[8] Anonymous, 'The Life of Pope Leo IX', p. 151.
