Gregory di Roma (669 - 731)

Born 0669 in Rome, Papal States

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Biography

Pope Gregory II di Roma is Notable.

Gregory was born in 669 in Rome. He was the son of Honesta and Marcellus.^[1]

He became a subdeacon and sacellarius (entrusted with administrative and financial duties) to the Roman See. On becoming a deacon he was placed in charge of the Vatican Library.^[1] The role of a deacon is to act as an ambassador for the bishop,^[2] and as such accompanied the pope to Constantinople in 711 to deal with the issues raised by Rome's rejection of the canons of the Quinisext Council. It was Gregory who actually undertook the negotiations on behalf of the Pope.^[1]

Gregory was elected pope on 9 April 715 and consecrated bishop of Rome on 18 May 715.^[1] The Vatican lists the consecration and thus the beginning of his papacy as 19 May 715.^[3]

His papacy ended on 11 February 731 with his death.^[3] He is buried in St Peter's Basilica.^[1]

Flocknote Popes in a Year ^[4] tells us:

Gregory, the son of Marcellus and Honesta of the Roman nobility, worked within the Church for most of his life, primarily in the treasury, a prestigious choir, and the papal library. Just before his election, then-Deacon Gregory helped Pope Constantine reach a compromise with Emperor Justinian II in Constantinople.

Gregory II was elected pope on May 19, 715 and endured what ended up being a major turning point in the life of the papacy and the Church as a whole. The Byzantines in the East held smaller and smaller sway over Italy and the West, as both the Lombards and the Saracens were positioning themselves to fill the vacuum, so the pope’s attention naturally turned more toward regions closer to Rome. For his part, Gregory II was responsible for saving the great city of Ravenna from the Lombards in 727, keeping it in Byzantine hands for a few more years.

Revered as a great man of superior holiness and intelligence, after his death in 731, Gregory was honored as a saint almost immediately.

St. Gregory II’s most famous dealings as pope were with a new heresy that sprung up in the East: that of iconoclasm, the destruction of images of Christ and the saints, whether in painting or in sculpture. The new emperor, Leo the Isaurian, developed a strong reputation after driving the Muslim army from Constantinople, but apparently also found an appreciation for Islam’s ban on representations of the human form, particularly that of its founder, Muhammad. Leo, who was rather puritanical in nature, thought it best to start campaigning to ban all holy images from Christendom.

Leo’s first big move in that direction was to destroy a famous image of Christ that hung over the doorway to the imperial palace. The act sparked a riot, so Leo thought quickly and tried to ask for Gregory II’s support of his effort. Gregory replied (probably) with, “Oh, now you want my help?”

A great rift between East and West was a byproduct of this heresy, though the pope worked tirelessly to educate the people and firmly rule that the West would continue its rich tradition of icons and statues. Gregory II died before iconoclasm could be fully quashed, leaving his successor, St. Gregory III, to carry the torch.

St. Gregory II was the pope who commissioned the English monk St. Boniface and his companions to evangelize what is now Germany. Finding great successes in bringing the faith to the pagan people there before his eventual martyrdom, Boniface is perhaps best known for creating the tradition of the Christmas Tree. (See What is the origin of the Christmas tree? for more information.)

The Visigothic Kingdom, which had existed for nearly 300 years, came to an end around the year 720, with the Muslim Army’s conquest of their territory in southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, & Andorra).

Research Notes

This profile is being updated by the Popes Project.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Wikipedia Pope Gregory II
2. ↑ Collins, John N (1990) Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources, OUP, 1990.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Vatican
4. ↑ Flocknote Popes in a Year
   SOURCES (and further reading)
   John, E. (1964). The Popes: A concise biographical history. New York: Hawthorn Books.
   Pope St. Gregory II - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06787a.htm
   Pope Gregory II - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_II
   Visigothic Kingdom - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visigothic_Kingdom