Adrian II
| Adrian II | |
|---|---|
| |
| Birth name | ??? |
| Papacy began | December 14, 867 |
| Papacy ended | December 14, 872 |
| Predecessor | Nicholas I |
| Successor | John VIII |
| Born | 792 Rome, Italy |
| Died | December 14 872 ??? |
| Other popes named Adrian | |
Adrian II (also known as Hadrian II), (792–872), pope from December 14, 867 to December 14, 872, was a member of a noble Roman family, and became pope in 867, at an advanced age.
Career
Adrian was born in Rome into an aristocratic family, of which Popes Stephen III and Sergius II had been members. Comparitively little information is available on the personal and early lives of the Popes at this period. It is likely, however, that he entered the papal household at an early age and rose up through the ranks of the Roman Church until he became a Cardinal. Before his election as Pope in 1867, he had twice been offered but refused the see of Rome. When he did accept he was already seventy-five years old. He had married before ordination, which was not unusual at the time. Indeed, clergy marriage itself was still practiced, although increasingly discouraged. Clergy who were already married promised to abstain from sexual relations. At this period, it was also not uncommon for bishoprics to be inherited or purchased and some who held the title never took holy orders. Adrian, however, already had a reputation for piety and for his generosity towards the poor when he was acclaimed Pope.
Papacy
This was a period when the Papal establishment more or less ruled Rome and the papal states but was vulnerable to external threat and indebted to the Frankish monarcy, raised to the rank of Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800C.E., for protection and security. While in theory, according to the Donation of Constantine, a document that emrged during the Papacy of Adrian I, the Pope was the successor to the temporal authority of the Roman Emperors, the Holy Roman Emperor claime the right to approve or veto a Papal appointment. The main political challenge that Adrian II faced was trying to keep the peace between Charlemagne's grandonssons, who competed for power. After the death of Charlemagne's on, Louis the Pious in 814C.E., although Lothair (or Lothar) became Emperor, the territory was split between all three brothers according to Frankish custom. Subsequently, a struggle broke out between the Emperor and his brothers Louis and Charles. However, when Lothair died in He maintained, but with less energy, the attitude of his predecessor Nicholas I. Lothar, king of Lorraine, died in 869, leaving Adrian to mediate between the Frankish kings with a view to assuring to the emperor, Louis II, the heritage of the king of Lorraine.
Photius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, shortly after the council in which he had vainly pronounced sentence of deposition against Pope Nicholas I, was driven from the patriarchate by a new emperor, Basil the Macedonian, who favoured his rival Ignatius. An ecumenical council (called by the Latins the 8th Ecumenical Council) was convoked as the Fourth Council of Constantinople to decide this matter. At this council Adrian was represented by legates, who presided at the condemnation of Photius as a heretic, but did not succeed in coming to an understanding with Ignatius on the subject of the jurisdiction over the Bulgarian church.
Like his predecessor Nicholas I, Adrian was forced to submit, in temporal affairs, to the interference of the emperor, Louis II, who placed him under the surveillance of Arsenius, bishop of Orta, his confidential adviser, and Arsenius's son Anastasius, the librarian.
Adrian had married in his youth, and his wife and daughter were still living at his election. They were carried off and assassinated by Anastasius's brother, Eleutherius.
Adrian died in 872 after 5 years as pope.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Cheetham, Sir Nicolas Keepers of the Keys: a history of the popes from St Peter to John Paul II, NY: Scribner, 1983 ISBN 9780684178639
- Duffy, Eamon Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997 ISBN 9780300073324
- Walsh, Michael J An Illustrated History of the Popes: St Peter to John Paul II, NY: St Martin's Press, 1980 ISBN 9780312408176
External Links
Pope Adrian II at The Catholic Encyclopedia] Retrieved September 21, 2007. Adrian II at Encyclopedia Britannica] Retrieved September 21, 2007.
| Roman Catholic Popes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Nicholas I |
Bishop of Rome 867–872 |
Succeeded by: John VIII |
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