A Brief History
On March 10, 483, the Bishop of Rome, Pope Simplicius, died after a 15 year reign on “the Throne of St. Peter.” While we do not know a lot about Simplicius, we do know he succeeded Pope Hilarius as the Bishop of Rome.
Digging Deeper
With the seeming adjective birth names of these 2 Popes, we find future Popes, starting in the 6th Century, beginning to take a new name to serve under when elected. By the 10th Century, virtually all new Popes chose a new name. Since 1555, every new Pope has chosen a new name.
Some of the names that may strike us as unusual today include: Hyginus (r. 136-140), Hippolytus (r. 217-235), Dionysius (r. 259-268), Marinus I (r. 882-884), and Servant of God Pius VII (r. 1800-1823).
Then, there was the first Pope ever to have 2 names, John Paul I, who reigned only 33 days and was followed by the second 2-named Pope, John Paul II (r. 1978-2005).
Question for students (and subscribers): Who is your favorite Pope? What is your favorite Pope name? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Chamberlain, ER. The Bad Popes (The Mad, Bad and Ugly of Italian History). Sapere Books, 2020.
Phillips, Charles. The Illustrated History of the Popes: An Authoritative Guide to the Lives and Works of the Popes of the Catholic Church. Lorenz Books, 2018.
The featured image in this article, a round portrait of Pope Simplicius, is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1928.
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