Pope Adrian III

Pope Saint
Adrian III
Papacy began 17 May 884
Papacy ended 8 July 885
Predecessor Marinus I
Successor Stephen V
Personal details
Birth name Adrian or Agapitus
Born Rome, Papal States
Died 8 July 885
Modena, Carolingian Empire
Sainthood
Feast day 8 July
Venerated in Catholic Church
Canonized 2 June 1891
Rome, Kingdom of Italy
by Pope Leo XIII
Other popes named Adrian

Saint Adrian III or Hadrian III (Latin: Adrianus or Hadrianus; d. July 885) was Pope from 17 May 884 to his death.[1] According to Jean Mabillon, his birth name was Agapitus.[2] He served for little more than a year, during which he worked to help the people of Italy in a very troubled time of famine and war.

Biography

He was born at Rome. He laboured hard to alleviate the misery of the people of Italy, prey to famine and to continuous war.[3] He is also known to have written a letter condemning the Christians of both Muslim-ruled and Christian-ruled parts of Spain for being too friendly with the Jews in these lands.[4]

He died in July 885 at San Cesario sul Panaro (Modena) not long after embarking on a trip to Worms, in modern Germany. The purpose the journey was to attend an Imperial Diet after being summoned by the Frankish King Charles III, the Fat, to settle the succession to the Holy Roman Empire[5] and discuss the rising power of the Saracens.

His death and subsequent burial in the church of San Silvestro Nonantola Abbey near Modena[6] is commemorated in the sculpted reliefs (c. 1122) that frame the doorway of this church. His relics are found near the high altar, and his tomb at once became a popular place of pilgrimage. His cult was confirmed in 1891, and his feast day is 8 July.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope St. Adrian III". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  2. ↑ According to Reginald L. Poole (1917), "The Names and Numbers of Medieval Popes", The English Historical Review, 32 (128), 465–78, at 467, Mabillon has probably confused Adrian III, who succeeded Marinus I, with Agapetus II, who succeeded Marinus II a century later.
  3. ↑ Monks of Ramsgate. “Hadrian III”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 1 September 2013
  4. ↑ Bernard S. Bachrach (1977). Early Medieval Jewish Policy in Western Europe (reprint ed.). University of Minnesota Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780816608140.
  5. ↑ Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to John Paul II, (HarperCollins, 2000), 143.
  6. 1 2 François Bougard (2002), "Hadrian III", in Philippe Levillain, ed., The Papacy: An Encyclopedia, vol. 2 (New York and London: Routledge), 682.

Further reading

  • Dvornik, Francis (1948). The Photian Schism: History and Legend. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Marinus I		 Pope
884–885		 Succeeded by
Stephen V
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