Blessed Victor III

Pope Victor III (c. 1026 – 16 September 1087), born Dauferio Epifani Del Zotto, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 May 1086 to his death. He was the successor of Pope Gregory VII. Prior to becoming pope he had held the important post of abbot of the great monastery of Montecassino, under his monastic name of Desiderius and during those years played a historically important role. He is the most recent lawfully elected pope to have taken the pontifical name "Victor". In contrast with his early public life, as Pope Victor, as he had become, he made a less significant contribution. His failing health was the chief factor that made him so reluctant to accept election as pope and that his health was in fact seriously impaired was clear when he fell ill during the ceremony of his coronation as pope. Daufer was born in c. 1026. The Catholic Encyclopedia states his father died in 1047 in battle. He obtained permission to enter the monastery of St. Sophia at Benevento. The life at St. Sophia was not strict enough for the young monk, who betook himself first to the island monastery of Tremite San Nicolo in the Adriatic and in 1053 to the hermits at Majella in the Abruzzi. About this time he was brought to the notice of Pope Leo IX, and it is probable that the pope employed him at Benevento to negotiate peace with the Normans after the fatal battle of Civitate. Somewhat later Desiderius attached himself to the court of Pope Victor II at Florence. There he met two monks of the renowned Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, with whom he returned in 1055. He joined the community and was shortly afterwards appointed superior of the dependent house at Capua. In 1057 Pope Stephen IX, who had retained the abbacy of Monte Cassino, came to visit and at Christmas, believing himself to be dying, ordered the monks to elect a new abbot. Their choice fell on Desiderius.