Pope Honorius II |
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Papacy began | 21 December 1124 |
Papacy ended | 13 February 1130 |
Predecessor | Callixtus II |
Successor | Innocent II |
Orders | |
Consecration | 1117 |
Created Cardinal | 1099 by Pope Urban II |
Personal details | |
Birth name | Lamberto Scannabecchi |
Born |
Fiagnano, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire |
9 February 1060
Died | 13 February 1130 Rome, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire |
Previous post |
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Papal styles of Pope Honorius II |
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Reference style | His Holiness |
Spoken style | Your Holiness |
Religious style | Holy Father |
Posthumous style | none |
Pope Honorius II (9 February 1060 – 13 February 1130), born Lamberto Scannabecchi, was Pope from 21 December 1124 to his death in 1130.
Although from a humble background, his obvious intellect and outstanding abilities saw him promoted up through the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Attached to the Frangipani family of Rome, his election as pope was contested by a rival candidate, Celestine II, and force was used to guarantee his election.
Honorius' pontificate was concerned with ensuring that the privileges the Roman Catholic Church had obtained through the Concordat of Worms were preserved and, if possible, extended. He was the first pope to confirm the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. Distrustful of the traditional Benedictine order, he favoured new monastic orders, such as the Augustinians and the Cistercians, and sought to exercise more control over the larger monastic centres of Monte Cassino and Cluny Abbey. He also approved the new military order of the Knights Templar in 1128.
Honorius II failed to prevent Roger II of Sicily from extending his power in southern Italy and was unable to stop Louis VI of France from interfering in the affairs of the French church. Like his predecessors, he managed the wide-ranging affairs of the church through Papal Legates. With his death in 1130, the Church was again thrown into confusion with the election of two rival popes, Innocent II and the antipope Anacletus II.
Lamberto was of simple rural origins, hailing from Fiagnano in the Casalfiumanese commune, near Imola in present-day Italy. Entering into an ecclesiastical career, he soon became archdeacon of Bologna, where his abilities eventually saw him attract the attention of Pope Urban II, who presumably appointed him cardinal priest of the Titulus St. Praxedis in 1099. His successor, Pope Paschal II, made Lamberto a Canon of the Lateran before elevating him to the position of cardinal bishop of Ostia in 1117. Lamberto was one of the cardinals who accompanied Pope Gelasius II into exile in 1118–19 and was at his bedside when Gelasius died.