Humbert of Mourmoutiers

Humbert of Silva Candida, O.S.B., also known as Humbert of Moyenmoutier (between 1000 and 1015 – 5 May 1061), was a French Benedictine abbot and later a cardinal. It was his act of excommunicating the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1054 which is generally regarded as the precipitating event of the Great Schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

When Humbert was 15 years old, he was given by his parents to the in Lorraine, as an oblate, intended for monastic life, in a practice in keeping with the Rule of St. Benedict. He entered the Order when he came of age, and was later elected as abbot of the monastery. He became friends with Bruno, the Bishop of Toul, who was later to be elected as Pope Leo IX in 1048 and who brought the monk to Rome to assist him after his election.

Pope Leo appointed Humbert the Archbishop of Sicily in 1050. The Norman rulers of the island, however, prevented his landing there. In place of that post, he was named Cardinal-bishop of Silva Candida the following year. It has been suggested that he was the first Frenchman to be named cardinal.

Under Leo, Humbert became the principal papal secretary and on a trip through Apulia in 1053, he received from John, Bishop of Trani, a letter written by Leo, Archbishop of Ochrid, criticising Western rites and practice. He translated the Greek letter into Latin and gave it to the pope, who ordered a response drawn up. This exchange led to Humbert being sent at the head of a legatine mission, along with Frederick of Lorraine (later Pope Stephen IX) and Peter, Archbishop of Amalfi, to Constantinople to confront Patriarch Michael Cerularius.

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