Pope Victor III ( 1026 – 16 September 1087), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 May 1086 to his death. He was the successor of Pope Gregory VII, yet his pontificate is far less notable than his time as Desiderius, the great abbot of Montecassino. His failing health was the factor that made him so reluctant to accept his pontifical election and his health was so poor that he fell to illness during his coronation. The only literary work of his that remains is his "Dialogues" on the miracles performed by Benedict of Nursia and other saints at Montecassino. Pope Leo XIII beatified him on 23 July 1887. Family Daufer was born in 1026. He obtained permission to enter the monastery of S. Sophia at Benevento. Abbacy The life at S. Sophia was not strict enough for the young monk, who betook himself first to the island monastery of Tremite San Nicolo in the Adriatic and in 1053 to the hermits at Majella in the Abruzzi. About this time he was brought to the notice of Pope Leo IX, and it is probable that the pope employed him at Benevento to negotiate peace with the Normans after the fatal battle of Civitate. Somewhat later Desiderius attached himself to the court of Pope Victor II at Florence. There he met two monks of the renowned Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, with whom he returned in 1055. He joined the community and was shortly afterwards appointed superior of the dependent house at Capua. In 1057 Pope Stephen IX, who had retained the abbacy of Monte Cassino, came to visit and at Christmas, believing himself to be dying, ordered the monks to elect a new abbot. Their choice fell on Desiderius. The pope recovered, and, desiring to retain the abbacy during his lifetime, appointed the abbot-designate his legate for Constantinople. It was at Bari, when about to sail for the East, that the news of the pope's death reached Desiderius. Having obtained a safe-conduct from Robert Guiscard, the Norman Count (later Duke) of Apulia, he returned to his monastery and was duly installed by Cardinal Humbert on Easter Day 1058. Pope Nicholas II elevated him into the cardinalate the Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Sergio e Bacco on 6 March 1058. He opted to be the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia in 1059. Desiderius rebuilt the church