August 9

Pope Damasus II died on the 9th in 1048. He had been elected to the seat of St. Peter on July 17, 1048. Only six other popes have had a briefer reign and no pope has had a shorter time at the helm of the Roman Catholic Church since the 16th century.

The Catholic Encyclopedia gives a less than glowing commentary on Damascus and his papacy, his entry reading ‘After the death of Pope Clement II (1046–47) in July 1047, the Tusculan faction reasserted its power in Rome, and, with the secret aid of Boniface, Margrave of Tuscany, restored its wretched creature Pope Benedict IX (1032–44, 1045, 1047–48), who continued in his wonted manner to disgrace the papacy for a further period of eight months before disappearing entirely from history.” But really, what could you expect from someone whose name at birth was Poppo?