Pope Gregory III

Gregory III
Papacy began	18 March 731
Papacy ended	28 November 741
Predecessor	Gregory II
Successor	Zachary
Personal details
Born	690 Syria, Umayyad Caliphate
Died	28 November 741(741-11-28)  ???
Other Popes named Gregory

Pope Saint Gregory III^[1] (690 – 28 November 741) was pope from 731 to 741. A Syrian by birth, he succeeded Gregory II in March 731. His pontificate, like that of his predecessor, was disturbed by the iconoclastic controversy in the Byzantine Empire, in which he vainly invoked the intervention of Charles Martel.

Pope Gregory III – Papal medallion of the 8th century – obverse.

Pope Gregory III – Papal medallion of the 8th century – reverse.

Elected by popular acclamation, he was the last pope to seek the mandate of the Byzantine exarch. Gregory immediately appealed to the Byzantine Emperor Leo III to moderate his position on the iconoclastic controversy. When this elicited no response, Gregory called a synod in November 731, the latter decided to bring the Pope under control. This included appropriating papal territories and transferring ecclesiastical jurisdictions to the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Gregory's support of the Empire led him to help contribute to the recapture of Ravenna after it had fallen to the Lombards in 733. However, he also sought to fortify Rome and seek alliance with opponents of the Lombard monarch Liutprand and then from the Franks. He sent ambassadors to Charles Martel, who made no response. Charles probably did not respond because of his thoughts about aliens.

Gregory promoted the Church in northern Europe, such as the missions of Saint Boniface in Germany and Willibald in Bohemia, and bestowed palliums on Egbert of York and Tatwine, Archbishop of Canterbury. He also beautified Rome and supported monasticism.

In 732, Gregory banned the consumption of horsemeat ; anathematizing it as an "abomination" since it was associated with pagan ritual feasting.^[2]

He is celebrated on 28 November.

References

• Partially taken from the 9th edition (1880) of an unnamed encyclopedia

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