Pope Stephen IX

Born Frederick around 1020 into the Ardenne-Verdun family that ruled Lorraine, he began as a canon in Liège before Pope Leo IX brought him to Rome in 1051 and made him chancellor. In 1054 Leo sent him as one of three legates to negotiate with Patriarch Michael I Cerularius and Archbishop Leo of Ohrid in Constantinople; the talks failed and triggered the permanent East–West Schism. He stayed on as chancellor under Victor II and was elected abbot of Montecassino before the cardinals chose him pope on 2 August 1057. As Stephen IX he kept the Montecassino post, pushed the Gregorian Reform, and pre…