September 1087 and was buried in the tomb he had prepared for himself in the abbey's chapter-house. Odo was duly elected his successor as Pope Urban II. Writings Pope Victor's only existing literary work Dialogues, is on the miracles wrought by Benedict and other saints at Monte Cassino. In his De Viris Illustribus Casinensibus, Peter the Deacon ascribes to him the composition of a "Cantus ad B. Maurum" and letters to King Philip I of France and to Hugh of Cluny, which no longer exist. Victor is the probable author of a letter to the empress-mother Anna Dalassene concerning the molestation of pilgrims to the Holy Land in the Byzantine Empire. There is also a letter to the bishops of Sardinia, where (since c. 1050 brought under Pisan and Genoan control) he sent monks while still abbot of Monte Cassino. Posthumous legacy The cult of Blessed Victor III seems to have begun not later than the pontificate of Pope Anastasius IV, about six decades after his death (Acta Sanctorum, Loc. cit.). In 1515, Victor III's body was relocated to the main abbey church in Monte Cassino with many pilgrims visiting his tomb. In 1727 the abbot of Monte Cassino obtained from Pope Benedict XIII permission to keep his feast (Tosti, I, 393). Pope Leo XIII beatified Victor III in 1887, at which point his body was once again moved to the Chapel of St. Victor. During World War II, his body was removed and placed in Rome for safekeeping. The main abbey at Monte Cassino was destroyed in February 1944 by US bombing. Victor's body was moved back to the rebuilt abbey in 1963. See also List of popes References Sources 1020s births 1087 deaths People from Benevento Popes Italian popes Abbots of Monte Cassino Italian beatified people Beatified popes Benedictine popes 11th-century Lombard people 11th-century popes Beatifications by Pope Leo XIII