The Liber pontificalis, or Book of the Popes, is a series of papal biographies arranged in chronological order, beginning with Peter and ending in 886 CE, during the first year of the pontificate of Stephen V (885–891 CE). The text is prefaced by a forged exchange of letters between Jerome and Pope Damasus, a parallel to their collaboration on the Vulgate (Bible, 11: Vulgate). Its purpose may have been simply to provide authority for the papal history. The Vitae (“Lives”), regardless of…