Antipope Philip

Antipope Philip (c. 701 - c. 800)^[1] held office for just one day, on July 31, 768.

Biography

In 768, Philip was a priest serving in the monastery of St. Vitus on the Esquiline.^[2] Rome was in turmoil following the death of Pope Paul I, as rival factions sought to elect a pope to succeed him. The Primicerius, Christophorus, and his son Sergius, the papal Treasurer, had sought Lombard help to depose Pope Constantine II, who was the candidate of the military faction in Rome.^[3]

The Lombard king, Desiderius, agreed to provide troops, and sent a Lombard priest, Waldipert, to act as his representative, with authority to deal with Christophorus and Sergius. Waldipert accompanied Sergius in an attack on Rome that ended Constantine's papacy. When Constantine had been taken captive, Waldipert, without alerting Sergius, and most likely following instructions from Desiderius,^[4] collected a number of Romans and entered the Monastery of St. Vitus on the Esquiline on Sunday, July 31. There they approached Philip, declared that Saint Peter had chosen him as pope, and escorted him to the Lateran Basilica.

Here, after having the customary prayers read over him by a bishop found for the occasion, Philip held the traditional feast in the Lateran palace, attended by a number of dignitaries from both Church and State. Christophorus had by now returned to Rome and was approaching the city gates. Learning of Philip’s uncanonical election, he stated to the Romans who had gone out to greet him, that he would not enter Rome until Philip was removed.^[5] Philip’s election was declared invalid, he was declared guilty of simony, the pontifical garments were removed from him, and he was forced to return to his monastery.^[6] Christophorus entered Rome and oversaw the election of Stephen III.

Notes

↑ "Philip: Antipope" -- Encyclopædia Britannica
↑ Mann, pg. 367
↑ Mann, pg. 366
↑ Mann, pgs. 366-367
↑ Mann, pg. 368
↑ DeCormenin, Louis Marie; Gihon, James L., A Complete History of the Popes of Rome, from Saint Peter, the First Bishop to Pius the Ninth (1857), pg. 197

References

Mann, Horace K., The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. I: The Popes Under the Lombard Rule, Part 2, 657-795 (1903)

Antipopes of the Catholic Church

Natalius Hippolytus Novatian Felix II Ursicinus Eulalius Laurentius Dioscorus Theodore Paschal Constantine II Philip John VIII Anastasius Christopher Boniface VII John XVI Gregory VI Benedict X Honorius II Clement III Theodoric Adalbert Sylvester IV Gregory VIII Celestine II Anacletus II Victor IV (1138) Victor IV (1159–1164) Paschal III Callixtus III Innocent III Nicholas V Clement VII Benedict XIII Alexander V John XXIII Clement VIII Benedict XIV Felix V Modern claimants to papacy

Western Schism Sedevacantism Conclavism

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 32352643 GND: 100958443

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