Formerly these offices as well as those of the other chancery officers from the Regent down were occasions of venality, until popes, especially Benedict XIV and Pius VII, gradually abolish that.

When Otto II sent an imperial representative, Count Sicco, to secure his release, Crescentius I and Cardinal-Deacon Franco Ferrucci, who would subsequently become Boniface VII, an antipope, had Benedict murdered while still in prison.

Pope Benedict VII ( died 10 July 983 ) was born in Rome, the son of David or Deodatus ( brother of Alberic II of Spoleto ).

Benedict VII promoted monasticism and ecclesiastical reform along with Emperor Otto II.

" Benedict VII visited the city of Orvieto with his nephew Filippo Alberici, who later settled there and became Consul of the city state in 1016.

The predecessor of Boniface VII was Benedict VI, ordained on January 19, 973.

After Pope Benedict VI was murdered, Franco elevated to the papacy throne and took the name Boniface VII.

Boniface VII is described as a monster by contemporaries, who stated that he was stained by the blood of Benedict VI.

Benedict VII immediately held a synod where he excommunicated Boniface.

In either September or October 983, current Pope Benedict VII died, which required the presence of Otto II in Rome.

During this time the Antipopes Clement VII and Benedict XIII continued to hold court as pope in Avignon under the protection of the French monarchy.

The antipope Clement VII died at Avignon on 16 September 1394, but the French cardinals quickly elected a successor on 28 September: Cardinal Pedro de Luna, who took the name Benedict XIII.

Pope Innocent VII ( probably1339 – 6 November 1406 ), born Cosimo de ' Migliorati, was briefly Pope at Rome between 1404 and 1406 during the period of the Western Schism ( 1378 – 1417 ) while there was a rival Pope, Antipope Benedict XIII, at Avignon.

Under the current circumstances, Innocent VII could not guarantee safe passage to his rival Benedict XIII in the event he came to the council in Rome.

Nonetheless, Benedict made it appear that the only obstacle to the termination of the Western Schism was the unwillingness of Innocent VII.

* September 28 – Pope Benedict XIII succeeds Pope Clement VII.

* December – Pope John XIV succeeds Pope Benedict VII as the 136th pope.

* Pope Benedict VII

During the Great Schism ( 1378 – 1415 ) the antipopes Clement VII and Benedict XIII returned to reside at Avignon.

Clement VII lived in Avignon during his entire anti-pontificate, while Benedict XIII only lived there until 1403 when he was forced to flee to Aragon.

When Otto II sent an imperial representative, Count Sicco, to secure his release, Crescentius I and Cardinal-Deacon Franco Ferrucci, who would subsequently become Boniface VII, an antipope, had Benedict murdered while still in prison.

Cardinal Franco Ferrucci then crowned himself as Benedict VI's successor, becoming Antipope Boniface VII.

In October 974, under the direction of Count Sicco, the bishop of Sutri was elected Pope as Pope Benedict VII.

This was most obvious in the ' Culture and Personality ' studies carried out by younger Boasians such as Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict.

Boas had planned for Ruth Benedict to succeed him as chair of Columbia's anthropology department, but she was sidelined by Ralph Linton, and Mead was limited to her offices at the AMNH.

By the Rule of St Benedict, which, until the Cluniac reforms, was the norm in the West, the abbot has jurisdiction over only one community.

When abbots dined in their own private hall, the Rule of St Benedict charged them to invite their monks to their table, provided there was room, on which occasions the guests were to abstain from quarrels, slanderous talk and idle gossiping.

He was one of the seven cardinals who, in May 1408, deserted Pope Gregory XII, and, with those following Antipope Benedict XIII from Avignon, convened the Council of Pisa, of which Cossa became the leader.

The aim of the council was to end the schism ; to this end they deposed Gregory XII and Benedict XIII and elected the new pope Alexander V in 1409.

John XXIII was acknowledged as pope by France, England, Bohemia, Prussia, Portugal, parts of the Holy Roman Empire, and numerous Northern Italian city states, including Florence and Venice ; however, the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII was regarded as pope by the Kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, and Scotland and Gregory XII was still favored by Ladislaus of Naples, Carlo I Malatesta, the princes of Bavaria, Louis III, Elector Palatine, and parts of Germany and Poland.

The last remaining claimant in Avignon, Benedict XIII, refused to resign and was excommunicated.

This is corroborated by Benedict of Peterborough's graphic account of Greece, as it was in 1191, where he states that many of the islands were uninhabited from fear of pirates and that Aegina, along with Salamis and Makronesos, were their strongholds.

These followers, he says, are Constantinus, who succeeded Benedict as Abbot of Monte Cassino ; Valentinianus ; Simplicius ; and Honoratus, who was abbot of Subiaco when St Gregory wrote his Dialogues.

Benedict was the son of a Roman noble of Nursia, the modern Norcia, in Umbria.

On his way from Enfide, Benedict met a monk, Romanus of Subiaco, whose monastery was on the mountain above the cliff overhanging the cave.

Bede's first abbot was Benedict Biscop, and the names " Biscop " and " Beda " both appear in a king list of the kings of Lindsey from around 800, further suggesting that Bede came from a noble family.

At the age of seven, he was sent to the monastery of Monkwearmouth by his family to be educated by Benedict Biscop and later by Ceolfrith.

Both Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith had acquired books from the Continent, and in Bede's day the monastery was a renowned centre of learning.

The monastery at Subiaco established in Italy by Saint Benedict of Nursia circa 529 was the first of a dozen monasteries founded by him.

The Rule of St. Benedict was promoted by various rulers of France, especially the House of Capet.

Meanwhile, under the direction of Benedict XIV ( pope 1740 – 1758 ), a special congregation collected much material for an official revision, but nothing was published.

This view was reinforced by Pope Benedict XIV, who ordered a ban on Chinese rituals.

The pope, as Bishop of Rome, may open a process and has the authority to waive the five year waiting period, as was done for Mother Teresa by Pope John Paul II, and for Lúcia Santos and for John Paul II himself by Pope Benedict XVI.

However, he was made a cardinal at the 24 March 2006 consistory anyway, as was announced by Pope Benedict XVI on 22 February 2006.