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What’s in a Name?
Do you know why your parents chose your name? Maybe you were named after your mother, grandmother or another relative. Maybe you were named for a special saint. Do you have a family name that requires a number such as Tom Smith II? From this we know you are the second person in your family named Tom Smith. What about the names of our popes? We hear the names of Peter, Linus, Cletus and Clement in Eucharistic Prayer I. When the early popes were elected they used the names given them by their families. They had lots of different names such as Telesphorus, Eutychian, Hi-
larius and Simplicus.
Along came a man named Mercurius, named after the pagan god, Mercury. Rather than keep this name, he chose the name John. Be- cause he was not the first pope named John, he became Pope John II.
From this time on, many popes changed their names, often choosing a name in honor of a former pope. So like Tom Smith II, they needed a number so we would be able to tell them apart.
Ancient Rome used symbols for numbers known as Roman Numerals. Since they were also used in the early church, it became traditional to use them to designate names of popes. We still use these symbols for things like chapter headings in books and numbers on some clocks or
sundials. Have you ever noticed these symbols at the end of a
movie or TV show? They tell us when the movie was made.
I=1 V=5 X=10 L=50 C=100 M=1000
To understand these numbers you will need to learn the symbols to the right and what they represent.
Luckily you will not use the symbols for 50, 100 or 1000 to learn the names of the popes!
What number is missing from Roman Numerals?
When the symbol for a small number like I comes AFTER the symbol for a larger number (V or X), ADD the two numerals together to learn the value of the Roman Numeral. (Hint: After=Add!)
When the symbol for a small number like I comes BEFORE the symbol for a larger number (V or X), SUBTRACT the small number from the large one to learn the value of the Roman Numeral.
VII is V+II=7 (5+2=7) XI is X+I=11 (10+1=11) XV is X+V=15 (10+5=15)
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IV is V-I=4 (5-1=4) IX is X-1=9 (10-1=9)