Pope John XVII ( la, Ioannes XVII; died 6 November 1003), born John Sicco, was the

bishop of Rome A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

and nominal ruler of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

for about seven months in 1003. He was one of the popes chosen and eclipsed by the patrician John Crescentius.

Family

John Sicco was the son of another John Sicco, and was born in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

then referred to as Biveretica. Before entering the

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

hood, Sicco had been married and had three sons who also entered holy orders: John, bishop of Praeneste; Peter, a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

; and Andrew, a secundicerius.

Pontificate

John XVII succeeded Silvester II as

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

on 16 May 1003. He was nominated to the papacy by John Crescentius, a Roman noble who held power in the city in opposition to Emperor Otto III. John XVII approved of a mission led by Bruno of Querfurt to Eastern Europe. Bruno also requested John XVII to authorize his companion Benedict to evangelize among the

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

. John died on 6 November 1003 and was buried in the

Lateran Basilica The Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran ( it, Arcibasilica del Santissimo Salvatore e dei Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano), also known as the Papa ...

between the two doors of the principal façade. According to John the Deacon, his epitaph began by stating that "here is the tomb of the supreme John, who is said to be pope, for so he was called." John XVII's successor, John XVIII, was also selected by Crescentius.

Footnotes

References

* * Attribution: *

Literature

* * John N. D. Kelly: ''Reclams Lexikon der Päpste.'' 2nd edition, Reclam, Stuttgart, 2005 , sub voce. * .

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:John 17 Popes Italian popes 11th-century archbishops 1003 deaths Year of birth unknown 11th-century popes Married Roman Catholic bishops