Vitalis of Albano (died 1127) was a
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
and
bishop of Albano
The Diocese of Albano ( la, Albanensis) is a suburbicarian see of the Roman Catholic Church in a diocese in Italy, comprising seven towns in the Province of Rome. Albano Laziale is situated some 15 kilometers from Rome, on the Appian Way.
Under c ...
.
Vitalis was already cardinal-priest of
Santa Balbina
Santa Balbina is a Roman Catholic basilica church in located in the Aventine rione, adjacent to the Baths of Caracalla in Rome.
History
A church at the site initially was built in the 4th century over the house of consul Lucius Fabius Cilo. P ...
at the beginning of 1111.
In February 1111,
King Henry V
Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the ...
came to Rome to demand his imperial coronation. On 12 February the ceremony took place at St. Peter's Basilica, and during the welcome at the door, the pope read out a decree, in which he repudiated lay investiture, and ordered all bishops to surrender their imperial fiefs to the emperor immediately and permanently. The king and the indignant bishops retired to discuss the shocking demand, and, as evening approached, the pope refused the coronation. After Mass, he and the cardinals were taken into custody by Henry's armed troops, and on 16 February, after a battle with the Romans in the Borgo, Henry and his captive prelates departed the city. The pope and sixteen cardinals, including Cardinal Vitalis of
S. Balbina
S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet.
S may also refer to:
History
* an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics
* Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...
, were held captive for sixty-one days, while Henry pressed the pope to agree to his solution to the investiture controversy. On 18 April, at Ponte Mammolo on the Anio River, Vitalis was one of the cardinals who were compelled to sign the papal promise to observe the agreement which Henry had drawn up.
Angry at concessions made to the emperor, several cardinals and bishops prevailed upon Pope Paschal to have a synod to rectify the situation. Vitalis was one of more than one hundred cardinals and bishops who participated in the Lateran council in the following year, on 18–23 March 1112. The "privilege", which granted the emperor the right to invest a newly elected bishop with the ring and the staff of office before he was consecrated by the appropriate church officials, was soundly condemned.
At the Quatuor Temporum of June, September, or December 1116, he was promoted cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian see of Albano. He first subscribes on 21 December 1116.
Pope Paschal II died on 21 January 1118 in the
Castel S. Angelo. Because of the danger of factional street fighting, the cardinals took refuge at the Benedictine monastery compound of the Palladium (S. Maria in Pallara) on the
Palatine Hill
The Palatine Hill (; la, Collis Palatium or Mons Palatinus; it, Palatino ), which relative to the seven hills of Rome is the centremost, is one of the most ancient parts of the city and has been called "the first nucleus of the Roman Empire." ...
. On 24 January,
the cardinals elected Cardinal Giovanni Gaetani, who took the name
Gelasius II
Pope Gelasius II (c. 1060/1064 – 29 January 1119), born Giovanni Caetani or Giovanni da Gaeta (also called ''Coniulo''), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 January 1118 to his death in 1119. A monk of Monte C ...
. Vitalis of Albano was one of his electors. His enthronement was interrupted by the
Frangipani faction, who seized the pope and imprisoned him; he was quickly rescued by the Roman people, under the leadership of the
Pierleoni faction. On 2 March 1118, as
King Henry V
Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the ...
entered Rome with his army, demanding his imperial coronation, the papal court fled the city for Gaeta, the pope's home town. Gelasius was consecrated a bishop on 10 March by Cardinals
Lambertus of Ostia,
Petrus of Porto, and Vitalis of Albano. Vitalis was one of the cardinals who did not follow Pope Gelasius into exile on 2 September, first to Pisa, then to Genoa, and finally to France. Instead, from March until July, he had to contend with the presence of the Emperor Henry V and his
antipope Gregory VIII
Gregory VIII (died 1137), born Mauritius Burdinus (''Maurice Bourdin''), was antipope from 10 March 1118 until 22 April 1121.
Biography
He was born in the Limousin, part of Occitania, France. He was educated at Cluny, at Limoges, and in Castile ...
(Maurice Burdinus of Braga) in Rome. When news of the death of Gelasius II at Cluny on 29 January 1119, and the election of Archbishop Guy de Bourgogne of Vienne on 2 February, reached Rome, Vitalis was one of the cardinals at the assembly of cardinals, clergy, and laity that met and confirmed the election of Calixtus II.
Pope Calixtus finally reached Rome on 3 June 1120. Cardinal Bishop Vitalis attended the Roman synod of Pope Calixtus at the Lateran Basilica on 3 January 1121, in which the dissension between Pisa and Genoa over control of the church in Sardinia was debated. He subscribed thereafter until 17 April. In mid-July, Calixtus began his tour of southern Italy. He visited the
abbey of Montecassino
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The conce ...
on his way to Benevento, which he reached on 8 August; he then visited Capua, and was back in Rome by mid-December. Vitalis is nowhere mentioned in connection with the trip, nor does he subscribe any of the documents issued during the second half of 1121. He was probably not with the papal court.
On 8 July 1123, Cardinal Vitalis participated in the consecration of a chapel in the
church of S. Crisogono in
Trastevere
Trastevere () is the 13th ''rione'' of Rome: it is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin ''trans Tiberim'', literally 'beyond the Tiber'.
Its coat of arms depicts a golden head of a lio ...
.
In 1124, the Cardinal subscribed documents at the Lateran on 1 April and 4 June.
Pope Calixtus II died on 13 December 1124, the feast of S. Lucia. The
papal election
A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the Apostolic succession, apostolic successor of Saint ...
probably took place on 16 December 1124; the cardinals, probably including Vitalis of Albano, chose Cardinal
Teobaldo Boccapecci
Teobaldo Boccapecci or Boccapeconai, la, Thebaldus Buccapecuc) was elected pope after the death of Pope Callixtus II on 13 December 1124 and took the name Celestine II, but factional violence broke out during the investment ceremony and he resig ...
, Cardinal-priest of S. Anastasia, who chose the name Celestine II. Under threat from the
Frangipani faction, he resigned almost immediately on the same day, and Cardinal Lamberto Scannabecchi was uncanonically proclaimed
Honorius II
Pope Honorius II (9 February 1060 – 13 February 1130), born Lamberto Scannabecchi,Levillain, pg. 731 was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 December 1124 to his death in 1130.
Although from a humble background, ...
.
In 1125, from March to May, Vitalis subscribed documents for Pope Honorius II at the Lateran. He was still subscribing papal documents at the Lateran Palace on 28 March 1126. He died within the next twelve months. His successor was already appointed by 9 March 1127.
[Hüls, p. 96. The document on which the subscription appears is known by an accident of survival. The actual date of appointment could have been in 1126.]
Notes and references
Bibliography
* Gregorovius, Ferdinand (1896)
''History of Rome in the Middle Ages'' Volume IV. part 2, second edition (London: George Bell, 1896).
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitalis of Albano
1126 deaths
12th-century Italian cardinals
Cardinal-bishops of Albano
Year of birth unknown