Numerical summary of the names of the cardinals who appear in the documents of the pontificates of the 20 popes of this century.

This summary is taken from the essay of a general list of cardinals published in Annuaire Pontifical Catholique which for centuries VI to X relies almost completely on the works of Alfonso Chacón (or Alphonsus Ciaconio) Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificum Romanorum: et S.R.E. Cardinalium ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ usque ad Clementem IX P. O. M. and Francesco Cristofori Cronotassi dei cardinali de Santa Romana Chiesa: nelle loro sedi suburbicarie titoli presbiterali e diaconie dal secolo V all'anno del signore MDCCCLXXXVIII; compilata sui manoscritti originali ed autentici esistenti nella biblioteca e negli archivi vaticani e su molteplici altre fonti storiche edite ed inedite antiche e moderne. The popes of these centuries have been listed according to the Annuario Pontificio per l'anno 2001.

Stephen IV (V) (816-817) - No names of new cardinals are found in his pontificate
St. Paschal I (817-824) - 4 cardinals
Eugene II (824-827) - 8 cardinals
Valentine (827) - No names of new cardinals are found in his pontificate
Gregory IV (827-844) - 3 cardinals
[Antipope] John (844) - No names of new pseudocardinals are found in his pontificate
Sergius II (844-847) - 4 cardinals
St. Leo IV (847 - 855) - 32 cardinals
Benedict III (855-858) - No names of new cardinals are found in his pontificate
[Antipope] Anastasius Bibliotecarius (855) - No names of new pseudocardinals are found in his pontificate
St. Nicholas I, The Great (858-867) - 9 cardinals
Adrian II (867-872) - 11 cardinals
John VIII (872-882) - 8 cardinals
Marinus I (882-884) - 5 cardinals
St. Hadrian III (884-885) - No names of new cardinals are found in his pontificate
Stephen V (VI) (885-891) - 3 cardinals
Formosus (891-896) - 11 cardinals
Boniface VI (896) - No names of new cardinals are found in his pontificate
Stephen VI (VII) (896-897) - 3 cardinals
Romanus (897) - No names of new cardinals are found in his pontificate
Theodore II (897) - No names of new cardinals are found in his pontificate
John IX (898-900) - 2 cardinals
Total - 103 cardinals

Source: Annuaire Pontifical Catholique. XXIX (1926), p. 161.

Pactum Ludovicianum, St. Paschal I (817-824) and Louis the Pious, 817.

Not long after his coronation (January 25, 817), Pope St. Paschal I requested the renewal of Rome's long-standing relationship with the Frankish crown and Louis I the Pious (814-840) issued a statute, the pactum Ludovicianum, the terms of which he had worked out with Paschal's predecessor, Stephen IV in 816. Under this he confirmed the pope in the possession of the papal states and of the patrimonies outside them, bound himself (in contrast with Charlemagne) not to interfere in the papal domains unless invited, or obliged by the claims of the oppressed, to do so, and guaranteed the freedom of papal elections, requiring only that after being consecrated the new pope should notifiy the emperor and renew the treaty of friendship.

Source: Kelly, J.N.D. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1986, pp. 99-100; Noble, Thomas F. X. The republic of St. Peter. The birth of the papal state, 680-825. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984 (The Middle Ages), pp. 299-308.

Text: Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Capitularia regnum Francorum (MGH Cap), 1,352-5; Codex carolinus. Privileg. Ludovici imperatoris, P.L. t. xcviii, col. 759-588.

Constitutio Romana of 824, Eugene II (824-827) and Lothair.

More far reaching was the 'Roman constitution' which Lothair published, again with the pope's agreement, on 11 November. 824, which marked the high point of Frankish control of the papacy. Among its provisions, the constitution restored the ancient tradition, suspended since Stephen III's synod of 769, by which the people of Rome as well as the clergy took part in papal elections, stipulating that before being consecrated the pope-elect should take an oath of loyalty to the emperor before the imperial legate.

Sources: Bertolini, Ottorino. "Osservazioni sulla Constitutio Romana e sull Sacramentum Cleri et Populi Romani dell'anno 824." Studi medievali in onore di Antonino de Stefano. Palermo: Società Siciliana per la Storia Patria, 1956, pp. 43-78; Noble, Thomas F. X. The republic of St. Peter. The birth of the papal state, 680-825. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984, pp. 308-322. (The Middle Ages).

Text: Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Capitularia regnum Francorum (MGH Cap), 1.323. No. 161, cc. 2, 6.

Roman synod of November 14-15, 826, Eugene II (824-827).

This synod was celebrated in St. Peter's and attended by 62 bishops, 17 priests and 6 deacons. Its 38 reforming canons were wide-ranging and were applied to the Frankish kingdom as well as Rome. The council also ratified the rules dealing with papal elections contained in the Constitutio Romana of 824.

Source: Kelly, J.N.D. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 101; The lives of the ninth-century popes (Liber Pontificalis). The ancient biographies of ten popes from A.D. 817-891. Translated with an introduction and commentary by Raymond Davis. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1995. (Translated texts for historians, 20), pp. 37-38.

Text: Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio. Edited by Giovanni Domenico Mansi. 53 vols. Paris: H. Welter, 1901-1927, 14, 999-1009; Jaffé, Philippus. Regesta Pontificum Romanorum. 2 vols. Graz: Akademische Druck-U. Verlagsanstalt, 1956. Reprint of Regesta Pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVII. Edidit Philippus Jaffé. Editionem secundam correctam et auctam auspiciis Gulielmi Wattenbach professoris Berolinensis. Curaverunt S. Loewenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner, P. Ewald. Tomus primus (A S. Petro ed a. MCXLIII). Tomus secundus (Ab a. MCXLIII ad a. MCXCVIII). Lipsiae: Veit et Comp. 1888-1895, I, p. 321.

Roman synod of December 8, 853, Leo IV (847-855).

Leo IV convoked a council attended by 67 bishops during which a decree was promulgated mandating the cardinals to meet weekly in the pontifical palace to deliberate with the pope. This is the origin of the "consistory" or pontifical counsel in which the major decisions of the Apostolic See will be made.

Source: Lector, Lucius. Le conclave. Paris: P. Lethielleux, 1894, p. 77; The lives of the ninth-century popes (Liber Pontificalis). The ancient biographies of ten popes from A.D. 817-891. Translated with an introduction and commentary by Raymond Davis. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1995. (Translated texts for historians, 20), pp. 150-151.

Text: Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio. Edited by Giovanni Domenico Mansi. 53 vols. Paris: H. Welter, 1901-1927, 14, 1009-1016; Jaffé, Philippus. Regesta Pontificum Romanorum. 2 vols. Graz: Akademische Druck-U. Verlagsanstalt, 1956. Reprint of Regesta Pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVII. Edidit Philippus Jaffé. Editionem secundam correctam et auctam auspiciis Gulielmi Wattenbach professoris Berolinensis. Curaverunt S. Loewenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner, P. Ewald. Tomus primus (A S. Petro ed a. MCXLIII). Tomus secundus (Ab a. MCXLIII ad a. MCXCVIII). Lipsiae: Veit et Comp. 1888-1895, I, p. 336.

Roman synod of November 18, 861, St. Nicholas I the Great (858-867).

This is known as the Roman "Council of the Seven Canons". Its canon 6 "anathematizes anyone who denies that the election of the pope is a matter for the sacerdotes, primates, nobles and all the clergy of the Roman church as laid down in the council of Stephen (IV)".

Source: The lives of the ninth-century popes (Liber Pontificalis). The ancient biographies of ten popes from A.D. 817-891. Translated with an introduction and commentary by Raymond Davis. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1995. (Translated texts for historians, 20), p. 215, nn. 49 and 50.

Text: Jaffé, Philippus. Regesta Pontificum Romanorum. 2 vols. Graz: Akademische Druck-U. Verlagsanstalt, 1956. Reprint of Regesta Pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVII. Edidit Philippus Jaffé. Editionem secundam correctam et auctam auspiciis Gulielmi Wattenbach professoris Berolinensis. Curaverunt S. Loewenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner, P. Ewald. Tomus primus (A S. Petro ed a. MCXLIII). Tomus secundus (Ab a. MCXLIII ad a. MCXCVIII). Lipsiae: Veit et Comp. 1888-1895, I, p. 344-346.

De iure cardinalium, constitution, 873 to 882, John VIII (872-882).

Decreed that the priest cardinals were the supervisors of ecclesiastical discipline at Rome and also ecclesiastical judges. The pope commanded them to meet at least twice a month, in their own or other churches, to investigate their own lives and those of the clergy, the relations of superiors and inferiors, and in general to check all violations of the laws; also to settle, as far as was possible in the papal court, all conflicts between laymen and ecclesiastics. The pope, says the document, is like Moses in gentleness ofsgovernment, while the administration of the cardinals recalls the paternal character of the seventy elders who sat as judges under the patriarch's control. The pope also entrusted them the administration of vacant abbeys and the filling of the vacant abbatial offices, but not without his foreknowledge. This document is the precursor of the "Roman congregations" as we see them function three centuries later. It is also the first time that in a document the cardinals are compared to the seventy elders of Israel.

Source: Sägmüller, Johannes Baptist. "Cardinal", The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1913, pp. 333-334; Lector, Lucius. Le conclave. Paris: P. Lethielleux, 1894, p. 77.

Zelante poi della disciplina ecclesiastica, ordinò che almeno due volte al mese si raccogliessero i cardinali della Chiesa romana per vegliare sui costumi e sui doveri degli ecclesiatiici; ordinò che in quelle unioni si facessero ricerche sulla vita, sui costumi, sulle qualità, sulle vesti, e si studiasse come ciascun prelato conducevasi verso dei sudditi, e come i sudditi ubbidivano ai loro prelati, e volle che i cardinali ascoltassero le querele dei laici e degli ecclasiastici e definissero le cause che a loro si appartenevano. Ordinò ancora che i cardinali andassero due volte per settimana al palazzo lateranense per giudicare delle cause delle chiese, della disciplina dei chierici, delle querele dei laici (1).

(1) Ioannes: Constitutio; in Mansi, XVII, 247-248.

Source: Balan, Pietro. Il papato di Giovanni VIII dal 872 al 882 ed Il processo di Bonifazio VIII nel 1304.s.l: s.n, s.d. Il pontificato di Giovanni VIII. Libri tre di Mons. Pietro Balan, p. 114.

And in order that, while he was engaged in attending to affairs at a distance, those at home might not be neglected, he published a series of regulations (7) which the cardinals were to follow in looking after ecclesiastical discipline in Rome. They were to meet at least twice a month in some church or deaconry, and were to examine into their own way of living--their dress, comportment, and the like--and into that of the lower ranks of the clergy. They were to look into the manner in which the prelates treated their inferiors and the inferiors obeyed their superiors. They had to put down abuses, and settle the cases of both laymen and clerics that belonged (1) to the papal court. They had also to look after the monasteries during the time that they were without abbots. For the settlement of other matters concerning the clergy or the laity they had to meet twice a week in the Lateran, according to the decree of Leo IV. This decree is doubtless the one made by Leo, when he was leaving Rome for Ravenna (853), in which he laid it down that in his absence both ecclesiastical and civil affairs were to be transacted as usual. On the appointed days, as though he were there in person, all the nobles had to betake themselves to the Lateran and administer justice to those who sought it (2). From these two decrees, it is clear that the Lateran palace was the centre of papal administration in the ninth century; and in the Lateran palace itself we find the Hall of the She-wolf--the hall where stood the bronze she-wolf now in the museum of the Capitol--especially noted (3) a as a hall of justice. For a satisfactory exposition of the last clause of the constitution, which relates seemingly to the seven hebdomadary cardinal bishops spoken of above, we must refer to some antiquary. (4) The clause runs: "Concerning our dioceses (de parochiis), we decree that you possess them in perpetuity; that you celebrate the divine office in the chief' churches in turn according to the priority of your consecration; and that (saving the ancient rights of the cardinal deacons) you share equally their offerings as well for your own use as for the lights of your churches.

Source: Mann, Horace Kinder. The lives of the popes in the early middle ages. 2nd ed. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, & co., ltd., 1925-32. 18 v. in 19. Vol. III, pp. 346-348.

Text: Sacrorum conciliorum nova, et amplissima collectio: in qua praeter ea quae Phil. Labbeus, et Gabr. Cossartius S.J. et novissime Nicolaus Coleti in lucem edidere ea omnia insuper suis in locis optime disposita exhibentur, quae Joannes Dominicus Mansi lucensis, congregationis matris dei evulgavit. Editio novissima ab eodem Patre Mansi .... Paris : H. Welter, 1901-1927. 54 v. in 57, XVII, cols. 247-248.

Decree on papal elections, Marinus I (882-884).

This pope issued a decree stating that in the future Western emperors would not intervene in any form, neither by themselves nor by their ambassadors, in the election of the pontiffs, and that neither the arrival of the imperial delegates nor the ratification of the emperor will be necessary for the consecration but only the free votes of the clergy and the Roman people would suffice. The Constitutio Romana approved by Eugene II sixty years earlier in 824 was thus revoked. This revocation was renewed and confirmed Adrian III.

Source: Ortolan, T. "Election des papes". Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, contenant l'exposé des doctrines de la théologie catholique, leurs preuves et leur histoire. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1903-1950 [i.e. 1899-1950], column 2301. Cfr. Alphonsus Ciaconius. Vitæ et res gestæ summorum pontificum romanorum et S.R.E. cardinalium. 2 vols. in fol., Rome, 1601-1602, t. I, col. 669.

Decree on papal elections, Adrian III (884-885).

According to the medieval chronicler Martinus Polonus, the Italian nobility, seeing that the Carolingians could do little but fight among themselves, asked Pope Adrian to do something for Italy. Adrian then issued two decrees. The first proclaimed that the pope-elect should be consecrated without waiting for any imperial confirmation. The second stated that if Emperor Charles the Fat died without heirs male the nobles of Italy should select one of their number to be Emperor and King of Italy. Since the only source for these decrees is an uncritical thirteenth-century chronicler, it is doubtful whether Adrian actually did issue these decrees.

Source: Excerpted from Popes Through the Ages by Joseph Brusher, S.J. Electronic version copyright 1996 New Advent, Inc. [New Advent Catholic Supersite]

Adrian is said to have made two decretals concerning the election and consecration of the Pope, and likewise the election of the King of Italy, both derogatory to the Emperor. But the silence of the most ancient writers, and the differences among those who mention them, with respect to the true contents of the first decretal, and the subsequent history, justify the suspicion of those who look upon the whole as a fable. See Eccard de reb. Franc. Oriental. and Muratori s History of Italy.

Source: Walsh, C.W.F. A compendious history of the pope, from the foundation of the see of Rome to the present time. Translated and improved from the German original of C.W.F. Walch, D.D. Professor of divinity and philosophy at Gottingen. London: Printed for J. Rivington and J. Fletcher, G. Keith, P. Davey and B. Law, S. Crowder, T. Field, E. Dilly, J. Pridden, and T. Hope, 1759, p. 120, note (+).

Roman synod of 898, John IX (898-900).

Established that the election of the pope was to be made by the bishops (cardinals) and by the Roman clergy in the presence of the Senate and the people of Rome. Confirmed the custom that the consecration of the new pope had to take place in the presence of the emperor's deputies who will insure the freedom of the church.

Source: Lector, Lucius. Le conclave. Paris: P. Lethielleux, 1894, p. 37.

To prevent disorders at papal elections it was decreed (reviving the constitution of Emperor Lothair I of 824) that in the future, while the pope should be elected only by bishops and clergy on the request of the Senate and people, his consecration could only take place in the presence of imperial emissaries.

Source: Kelly, J.N.D. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1986, pp. 116-117.

Text: Jaffé, Philippus. Regesta Pontificum Romanorum. 2 vols. Graz: Akademische Druck-U. Verlagsanstalt, 1956. Reprint of Regesta Pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum MCXCVII. Edidit Philippus Jaffé. Editionem secundam correctam et auctam auspiciis Gulielmi Wattenbach professoris Berolinensis. Curaverunt S. Loewenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner, P. Ewald. Tomus primus (A S. Petro ed a. MCXLIII). Tomus secundus (Ab a. MCXLIII ad a. MCXCVIII). Lipsiae: Veit et Comp. 1888-1895, I, p. 442.

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