(E. SCHAFER.)
BrsiiocrRapHy: Sources for a life are the Presbyter Helmold’s Chronica Slavorum, ed. J. M. Lappenberg in MGH, Script., xxi (1869), 1-99; the material brought together by J. Langebek in Script. rer. Danicarum, iv. 433-445; C. Schirren, in Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft . . . fiir schleswig — .. . lauenburgische Geschichte, viii (1878), 302- 318; and N. Beeck, in Quellensammlung fiir schleswig — . . . lauenburgische Geschichte, iv (1875), 127-204. Consult further: W. von Bippen, Kritische Untersuchung aber die Versus de vita Vicelini, Liibeck, 1868; C. Schirren, Beitrage zur Kritik dlterer holsteinischer Geschichisquellen, pp. 1-9, 241 sqq., Leipsic, 1876; H. Héhlbaum, in Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, xvii (1877), 211-229; R. Haupt, Die Vizelinskirchen, pp. 114-122, Kiel, 1884; A Boéhmer, Vicelin. Hin Beitrag zur Kritik Helmolds, Wismar, 1887; G. F. Maclear, Apostles of Medizval Europe, pp. 240-250, London, 1888; L. Nottrott, Aus der Wendenmission, Halle, 1897.
VICTOR: The name of three popes and two antipopes.
Victor I.: Pope 189-199. According to Jerome, he was a Latin by birth. The outward condition of the church in Rome, when Victor became its head, was most prosperous; internal affairs, however, were less peaceful. The presbyter Florinus was rousing excitement with writings that smacked of Valentinianism, and Victor was obliged to expel him from the Church. At about the same time the presbyter Blastus declared that Easter (q.v., L., 3, II., § 3) was to be celebrated on the fourteenth of Nisan, and since he could cite the precedent of several churches in Asia Minor, he caused a schism in Rome. The Italian bishops, convened at Rome by Victor for the first Roman synod of which anything is known, decided in favor of the Roman usage; but Victor could not check the schism until he had won over the churches in Asia Minor, which, accordingly he threatened with excommunication, and also addressed a circular letter to all Catholic churches asking their opinions in the matter. These supported Victor’s position, but the churches of Asia
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RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Vicar-General Victor II
Minor refused to submit and were excommunicated. Many of the bishops, however, disapproved this course, and Ireneus of Lyons sought, probably unsuccessfully, to induce the bishops of Gaul to take joint action against the pope, and thus to compel him to revoke his anathema. But the hegemony of the pope was now, for the first time, publicly demonstrated, and by this victory the movement headed by Blastus was also crushed.
Additional problems soon arose. Theodotus of Byzantium sought to gain adherents to his Christology, and although Victor excommunicated him for denying the divinity of Christ, his followers formed a sort of community and even attempted to make a bishop of their own. It is debated whether Victor was the pope who, according to Tertullian (Adv. Praxeam, i.), was ready to accept Montanistic doctrines and was dissuaded only by Praxeas of Asia Minor, who persuaded him to adopt his own Christological ideas. It is equally problematical whether Victor is to be identified with the Victorinus who, according to the pseudo-Tertullian (Her., vill.), sought to propagate the heresy of Praxeas at Rome. The only fact certain is that modalism was not officially taught at Rome during Victor’s pontificate.
According to Jerome, Victor wrote several works, including one on the date of Easter, but he may not be credited with the pseudo-Cyprian Adv. aleatores. It is possible that he was the author of the Muratorian fragment. (H. BOuMeER.) BrisiioGRAPHY: Eusebius, Hist. eccl., V., xxii.-xxviii.; Cat-
adlogus Liberianus, in Harnack, Litteratur, i. 146; Liber
pontificalis, ed. Mommsen in MGH, Gest. pont. Rom., i
(1898), 18, and ed. L. Duchesne, vol. i., Paris, 1886; ASB,
July, vi. 534-542; J. Langen, Geschichte der rémischen
Kirche, i. 179, 182 sqq., Bonn, 1881; A. Harnack, in TU,
v. 1 (1889), 110 sqq.; idem, Litteratur, i. 595-596, ii. 2,
pp. 370-381; idem, Dogma, vols. ii.—iii. passim; K. J.
Neumann, Der rémische Staat und die allgemeine Kirche,
i, 295, Leipsic, 1890; F. Gregorovius, Hist. of the City of
Rome, i. 398, 424, 487, London, 1894; A. Schone, Die
Weltchronik des Eusebius in ihrer Bearbeitung durch Hier-
onymus, pp. 181-201, Berlin, 1900; Schaff, Christian
Church, ii. 216-218; Neander, Christian Church, vol. i.
passim; Ceillier, Auteurs sacrés, i. 531-544, vi. 83-84;
Bower, Popes, i. 17-19; Platina, Popes, i. 35-36; Mil-
man, Latin Christianity, i. 64, 70.
Victor II. (Gebhard): Pope 1055-57. He was according to tradition a scion of the ancient line of the counts of Dollenstein and Hirschberg. In 1042 he was consecrated bishop of Eichstadt, and for ten years his influence was dominant at the German court. In 1053 he administered the duchy of Bavaria for the minor Henry IV., and defended the rights of the Empire against the deposed Duke Conrad, Bishop Gebhard of Regensburg, and the rebellious counts of Scheyern. In Sept., 1054, Henry III. designated him pope at the diet of Mainz, but Gebhard accepted, at the diet of Regensburg, in Mar., 1055, only on condition that he retain his German bishopric and his position as a prince of the Empire, and that the emperor restore to the Curia certain dioceses and castles to replete the papal finances, which the Norman expeditions of Leo IX. had seriously impaired.
On Apr. 13, 1055, Gebhard was enthroned. His pontificate was marked by withdrawal from the policy of secular expansion; and by a strengthening
Victor III Victor of Capua