Ritratto di it:Papa Gregorio II nella it:Basilica di San Paolo fuori
la Mura, Roma
Portait of en:Pope Gregory II in the en:Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome
Saint Grégoire II
Pape (89 ème) de 715 à 731 (+ 731)
Comme diacre, il avait participé aux discussions du concile de Constantinople en 692 qui marqua déjà les dissensions entre l'Eglise de Rome et Byzance. L'empereur de Byzance voulut imposer ses taxes sur les territoires soumis à la juridiction du Pape et l'exarque de Ravenne se heurta à un conflit avec les détachements de l'armée locale qui soutenait le Pape. Le conflit s'étendit au domaine théologique quand l'empereur, prenant position dans le domaine dogmatique, attaqua le culte des saintes Images et déposa le patriarche de Constantinople. De militaire, le conflit devint en même temps doctrinal. L'exarque de Ravenne soutenant alors le Pape réussit à empêcher les Lombards encore païens de prendre part aux campagnes militaires. Malgré tant de soucis, saint Grégoire n'oubliait pas l'évangélisation des peuples germaniques et il accepta et mandata la mission de saint Boniface. On retient cela et son combat pour le culte des icônes.
Giovan Battista Fiorini, Liutprando Conferma a Gregorio II la donazione di Ariperto, 1565, Sala
Regia, Vatican
Giovan Battista Fiorini, Liutprando Conferma a Gregorio II la donazione di Ariperto, 1565, Sala
Regia, Vatican
Giovan Battista Fiorini, Liutprando Conferma a Gregorio II la donazione di Ariperto, 1565, Sala Regia, Vatican
SOURCE : http://eglise.de.dieu.free.fr/liste_des_papes_06.htm
San Michele all'Adige (Trentino) - Chiesa di San
Michele - Scultura raffigurante san Gregorio II
San Michele all'Adige (Trentino, Italy) - Saint Michael church - Sculpture portraying saint Gregorius II
Celui qui allait devenir le 89e Pape de l’histoire de l’Église sous le nom de Grégoire II naquit à Rome en 669.
Encore diacre, il avait participé aux discussions du concile de Constantinople en 692 qui marqua déjà les dissensions entre l'Eglise de Rome et Byzance.
Élu Pape le 19 mai 715, après quarante jours de vacance du Siège Apostolique, Grégoire II n’en finit pas pour autant ses démêlés avec l’empereur de Byzance.
En effet, celui-ci voulut imposer ses taxes sur les territoires soumis à la juridiction du Pape et l'exarque de Ravenne se heurta à un conflit avec les détachements de l'armée locale qui soutenait le Pape. Le conflit s'étendit au domaine théologique quand l'empereur, prenant position dans le domaine dogmatique, attaqua le culte des saintes Images et déposa le patriarche de Constantinople. De militaire, le conflit devint en même temps doctrinal. L'exarque de Ravenne soutenant alors le Pape réussit à empêcher les Lombards encore païens de prendre part aux campagnes militaires.
Malgré tous ces soucis — ou peut-être à cause d’eux, Grégoire II n'oublia pas l'évangélisation des peuples germaniques, et autres, car dès la première année de son pontificat, il envoya Corbinien en mission évangélique en Allemangne. Puis, un peu plus tard, le 15 mai 719, il confia à Wynfrid de Wessex (S. Boniface) la mission d’évangéliser la Hesse et la Thuringe.
Son action se dirigea aussi vers la reconstruction du patrimoine de l’Église détruit pas les guerres. Ce fut ainsi qu’il demanda à Petronax de rétablir l’abbaye du Mont-Cassin détruite par les Lombards 140 ans auparavant.
On retiendra cela, bien entendu, mais aussi son combat pour le culte des icônes.
En 727, invité à adhérer aux édits iconoclastes de Léon II l’Isaurien, sous la menace d’une déposition immédiate, il refusa et excommunia l’exarque de Ravenne chargé d’exécuter les édits. Plus encore : Il invita les fidèles à se garder de l’hérésie proclamée par l’empereur, à qui il reprocha de ne pas vouloir défendre l’Italie.
Démontrant alors un courage exceptionnel, il empêcha les Romains de payer l’impôt à Byzance, en quoi il fut écouté non seulement par les Romains eux-mêmes, mais aussi par les troupes impériales cantonnées en Italie qui se soulevèrent et se donnèrent des chefs. L’exarque Paul fut tué dans une émeute des habitants de Ravenne. Les Romains chassèrent leur duc, s’érigèrent en République, et le Pape acquit la surintendance ministérielle de la ville et de son duché.
Mais les choses ne vont en rester là, car en 728 le roi des Lombards Luitprand assiégea et prit Ravenne. Pour se concilier le Pape, il fit don au Saint-Siège de Sutri et de son territoire. Léon II envoya un nouvel exarque, Eutychius, qui ne put rien faire sans troupe, d’autant plus que les ducs Lombards de Spolète et de Bénévent, révoltés contre leur roi, soutinrent le pape. Il se rétablit cependant à Ravenne avec l’aide de la République de Venise et à la demande du pape.
Un an plus tard, les troupes de Luitprand et d’Eutychius se présentèrent devant Rome. Alors, Grégoire II écrivit à Charles Martel pour lui demander du secours, mais en vain. Manquant d’autres arguments, il marcha à la rencontre du roi Lombard et parvint à le convaincre d’abandonner le siège de la ville.
Fatigué par un pontificat aussi tumultueux, Grégoire II rejoignit la Maison du Père le 11 février 731, laissant à son successeur, Grégoire III, le soin du Siège Apostolique. Ce dernier, dès le début de son pontificat condamna à son tour les iconoclastes et les frappa d’excommunication.
Le 13 février 731, deux jours seulement après sa mort Grégoire II fut canonisé — certainement la canonisation la plus rapide de l’histoire religieuse.
Établi d’après plusieurs documents.
Darstellung von Papst Gregor II. am rechten Turm des
Hauptportals. St. Bonifatius in der Heidelberger Weststadt (Baden-Württemberg,
Deutschland);
Saint-Boniface à Heidelberg's Weststadt
(Bade-Wurtemberg, Allemagne); Représentation du pape Grégoire II sur la tour
droite du portail principal
En dehors des grands événements de son pontificat, on
ne connaît que très peu de choses de la vie intime de saint Grégoire II, 89e pape.
Attention, il ne faut pas confondre Grégoire II, notre saint d'aujourd'hui,
avec saint Grégoire 1er le Grand qui fut le 64e pape, de 590 à 604,
et dont la fête est le 3 septembre.
Le saint qui nous concerne aujourd'hui, le pape
Grégoire II, serait né à Rome en 669. Il fut, à la fois sacellaire,
c'est-à-dire haut responsable financier de l'administration byzantine qui
était chargée, à l'origine, de la gestion du sakkellion, la cassette,
c'est-à-dire les problèmes financiers. Outre cette fonction de sacellaire,
Grégoire était bibliothécaire de l'Église romaine. Encore diacre, il
aurait participé à des discussions entre l'Église romaine et l'empereur de
Byzance vers 692, discussions qui révélèrent les dissensions existant déjà
entre l'Église de Rome et Byzance.
L'empereur de Byzance, Justinien II, qui régna de 685
à 695, voulait imposer ses taxes sur les territoires soumis à la juridiction du
Pape. Il en résulta des conflits locaux qui s'étendirent rapidement au domaine
théologique lorsque l'empereur, prenant position dans le domaine dogmatique,
attaqua le culte des saintes Images et déposa le patriarche de Constantinople.
De militaire, le conflit devint ainsi également doctrinal. L'exarque de
Ravenne, qui soutenait alors le Pape, réussit à empêcher les Lombards, encore
païens, de prendre part aux campagnes militaires. Malgré tant de soucis, saint
Grégoire n'oubliait pas l'évangélisation des peuples germaniques, et il
accepta, et mandata, la mission de saint Boniface. Du pontificat de Grégoire
II, on retient surtout cela et son combat pour le culte des icônes.
Voyons d'abord le souci de Grégoire II pour
l'évangélisation des peuples. Ordonné pape le 19 mai 715, après
40 jours de vacance du Saint-Siège, Grégoire II, dès la première année de son
pontificat, envoya Corbinien en mission évangélique
en Allemagne. Qui, en France, connaît saint Corbinien? Né en France, dans
le département de l'Essonne, Corbinien avait créé, en 680, un monastère à
Saint Germain Lès Arpajon. En 716, venu à Rome pour rencontrer le pape, il y
fut sacré évêque, par Grégoire II qui l'envoya en Bavière dans le but
d'évangéliser ce pays encore païen et fonder le diocèse de
Munich-Freising.
Revenons à Grégoire II. En 718, il demanda
à Petronax de redonner vie à l’Abbaye du Mont-Cassin, qui avait été
détruite par les Lombards 140 ans auparavant, en 580. Saint Pétronax,
moine bénédictin, est considéré comme le second fondateur de l'abbaye du Mont
Cassin. Le 15 mai 719, Grégoire II confiait à Wynfrid de Wessex,
mieux connu sous le nom de saint Boniface de Mayence, la mission d’évangéliser
la Hesse et la Thuringe.
Mais les querelles byzantines se faisaient de plus en
plus précises et graves, notamment pour ce qui concernait le culte rendu aux
icônes. De 717 à 741, régna l'empereur Léon III dit l'Isaurien, c'est-à-dire le
Syrien. Or, en 727, Léon III "invitait" Grégoire II à adhérer à ses
édits iconoclastes sous peine de déposition immédiate. Grégoire II refusa et
excommunia l'exarque de Ravenne chargé d'exécuter ces édits. Grégoire, soucieux
de l'évangélisation des peuples, se tourna alors vers l'Occident, au détriment
des querelles byzantines. Il insista fortement pour que les fidèles se gardent
de l'hérésie proclamée par l'empereur et empêcha les Romains de payer l'impôt à
Byzance. S'ensuivit toute une série de conflits plus ou moins locaux.
En 728, Luitprand, roi des Lombards, prit Ravenne, et,
s'allia au pape à qui il fit don de Sutri et de son territoire, situés dans la
province de Viterbe, dans le Latium (Italie centrale). Mais, un an plus tard,
les troupes de Luitprand et d'Eutychius, nouvel exarque de Ravenne envoyé par
Léon III, se présentèrent devant et contre Rome. Alors, Grégoire II implora le
secours de Charles Martel, mais sans succès. Il décida donc d'aller lui-même à
la rencontre du roi Lombard, et parvint à le convaincre d’abandonner le siège
de Rome.
Mais le pape Grégoire II épuisé par un pontificat
aussi éprouvé, décéda bientôt, le 11 février 731. Son successeur Grégoire III,
pape de 731 à 741, poursuivit l'œuvre de son prédécesseur: il affronta
Luitprand et frappa les iconoclastes d'excommunication.
Grégoire II fut canonisé le 13 février 731, deux jours
seulement après sa mort.
Paulette Leblanc
SOURCE : http://nova.evangelisation.free.fr/leblanc_gregoire02_pape.htm
Saint Grégoire II, Pape (89e) de 715 à 731
Comme diacre, il avait participé aux discussions du
concile de Constantinople en 692 qui marqua déjà les dissensions entre l'Église
de Rome et Byzance. L'empereur de Byzance voulut imposer ses taxes sur les
territoires soumis à la juridiction du Pape et l'exarque de Ravenne se heurta à
un conflit avec les détachements de l'armée locale qui soutenait le Pape. Le
conflit s'étendit au domaine théologique quand l'empereur, prenant position
dans le domaine dogmatique, attaqua le culte des saintes Images et déposa le
patriarche de Constantinople. De militaire, le conflit devint en même temps
doctrinal. L'exarque de Ravenne soutenant alors le Pape réussit à empêcher les
Lombards encore païens de prendre part aux campagnes militaires. Malgré tant de
soucis, saint Grégoire n'oubliait pas l'évangélisation des peuples germaniques
et il accepta et mandata la mission de saint Boniface. On retient cela et son
combat pour le culte des icônes.
SOURCE : https://alingilalyawmi.org/FR/display-saint/c29d5ba0-23a1-4931-a99d-91b966617f3d
Grégoire II (saint), 91e pape, élu le 19 mai 715, mort
le 10 février 731. Il était Romain de naissance; élevé dans le palais de
Latran, sous le pape Sergius, il s'était fait moine bénédictin. Il défendit
avec énergie, avec habileté et, en définitive, avec succès, Rome et les
domaines du siège apostolique contre les agressions des Lombards. Mais les
faits les plus importants de son pontificat se rapportent à l'assistance qu'il
prêta aux travaux de saint Boniface pour
la conversion des Germains, et à la résistance qu'il opposa aux édits rendus
par Léon l'lsaurien, pour abolir le culte des images, ainsi qu'aux mesures
prises pour assurer par la force l'exécution de ces édits.
Un simple sommaire des actes qui constituèrent la
résistance de Grégoire et des incidents, nombreux et divers, au milieu desquels
elle se produisit, dépasserait de beaucoup les limites assignées à cette
notice, et néanmoins resterait à peu près inintelligible. Nous devons nous
borner à constater ici que, tout en se montrant, vis-à-vis de l'empereur,
toujours ferme, souvent hautain, parfois méprisant, quand il s'agissait de la
question religieuse, le pape sut ordinairement respecter les devoirs résultant
de la dépendance politique dans laquelle Rome se trouvait envers l'Empire. Sa
liberté et même, paraît-il, sa vie furent plusieurs fois menacées par Léon,
mais loin d'exciter le peuple à le détrôner ou à s'affranchir de
Constantinople, il s'efforça en diverses occasions de contenir la désobéissance
des Italiens dans les limites de la résistance nécessaire à la conservation des
images.
Autres actes appartenant à l'histoire de ce pontificat
: essai pour relever les murs de Rome; restauration d'églises dévastées par les
Lombards, notamment des basiliques de Saint-Paul et de Saint-Laurent hors les
Murs; rétablissement de monastères abandonnés,
tels que celui du Mont-Cassin
Il reste de Grégoire Il quinze lettres, parmi
lesquelles deux adressées à l'empereur Léon, sur le culte des images; trois à
Boniface; sept à divers personnages, pour recommander sa mission; en outre un
capitulaire relatif à la discipline, dix-sept anathèmes contre les mariages
illégitimes, prononcés dans un synode tenu à Rome (721). Ces documents se
trouvent dans la Collection des conciles de Labbe. (E.-H. Vollet).
Oleografia Panigati e Meneghini Milano. Cromolitografia
in L. Tripepi, Ritratti e biografie dei romani pontefici: da S. Pietro a Leone
13, Roma, Vaglimigli Davide, 1879. Municipal
Library of Trento
Pope St. Gregory II
(Reigned 715-731).
Perhaps the greatest of the great popes who occupied the chair of Peter during the eighth century, a Roman, son of Marcellus and Honesta. To his contemporaries in the West he was known as Gregory Junior or the Younger; to those in the East, who confounded him with Gregory I (author of "Dialogues") he was "Dialogus". The year of his birth is not known, but while very young he showed a desire for the Church and was placed by the pope in the "schola cantorum". He was made a subdeacon and sacellarius (paymaster and almoner) of the Roman Church by Sergius I. Then the care of the papal library was entrusted to him, and he has the honour of being the first papalalmoner or librarian known to us by name. By the time he had become a deacon, he had given such signs ofcharacter and superior intelligence that he was chosen by Pope Constantine to accompany him when he had to go to Constantinople to discuss the canons of the Quinisext Council with the truculent tyrant, Justinian II. Thepope's trust was not misplaced. The deacon Gregory "by his admirable answers", solved every difficulty raised by the emperor. One of the first things which Gregory took in hand when he became pope (19 May, 715) was to put in repair the walls of Rome. Not for the last time had the Lombards, those old enemies of the Romans, attacked their city and now a new foe had shown itself. The Mediterranean was fast becoming a Saracen lake, and there was fear that the Moslems might make a descent upon the Eternal City itself. Gregory had made good progress with his work of repair, when various causes combined with a devastating flood of the Tiber to prevent him from completing it. But throughout all his pontificate, Gregory failed not to scan with anxiety the movements of the Saracens, and he is credited with having sent tokens of encouragement to the Frankish leaders who were stemming their advance in Gaul.
In the first year of his pontificate, he received a letter from John, Patriarch of Constantinople. Addressed "to thesacred head of the Church", it was really an apology for his having shown himself subservient to Philippieus Bardanes in the matter of Monothelism. Gregory also received several distinguished pilgrims during his pontificate. Among the many Anglo-Saxon pilgrims who came to Rome during his reign, the most famous wereAbbot Ceolfrid and King Ina, of whom the one took to the pope the famous Codex Amiatinus, and the other founded the "Schola Anglorum". Duke Theodo I of Bavaria also came to Rome to pray, and no doubt to obtain from the pope more preachers of the Hospel for his country. Among those whom Gregory dispatched for theconversion of Bavaria was St. Corbibian, who became one of its apostles. But the great apostle of Bavaria, as of Germany generally, was St. Winfrid, or Boniface, as he was afterwards called. Anxious to preach to the heathens, he went to Rome, and God "moved the pontiff of the glorious See" to grant his wishes. He sent Boniface "to the wild nations of Germany", bidding him, by the irrefragable authority of Blessed Peter, "go forth and preach the truths of both Testaments". Gregory watched and encouraged the work of Boniface unremittingly. In 722 he consecrated him bishop and interested the famous Charles Mantel in his labours. Gregory was a great supporter of the monastic order. On the death of his mother, he converted his parental mansion into a monastery, and founded or restored many others. Among those he helped to restore was the famous Abbey of Monte Cassino. During the early portion of his pontificate, Gregory was on good terms with the Lombards. Their king drew up hislaws under his influence; but their dukes, with or without the consent of their king, embroiled the peninsula by seizing portions of the possessions of the Greek empire. The Greek exarch at Ravenna was quite unable to stem the advance of the Lombards, so that Gregory appealed for help to Charles Martel and the Franks. Charles could not or would not come, but greater commotion in Italy than could have been caused by his advent was aroused by the publication there of the decrees of the Greek emperor, Leo III, known as the Isaurian or the Iconoclast(727). The Italians had been previously enraged by his attempt to levy an extraordinary tax on them. Despite the attempts of Greek officials to take his life, Gregory opposed both the emperor's illegal taxes and his unwarrantable interference in the domain of ecclesiastical authority. Now was the opportunity of the Lombards. When the exarch attempted to compel the pope to obey the imperial decrees, they became his defenders. Nearly all the Byzantine districts of Italy also turned against the emperor, and but for the pope would have electedanother emperor to oppose him. When all seemed lost to the Byzantine cause in Italy, Eutychius, the last of theexarchs, contrived to wean the Lombards from the pope and to make them turn against him. The exarch was to help Liutprand, the Lombard king, to bring the almost independent Lombard Dukes of Benevento and Spoletointo complete subjection of his authority, and Liutprand was to assist him in bringing the pope to his knees. But the personal influence of Gregory over Liutprand was able to dissolve this unnatural alliance, and he repaid the exarch's treatment of him by furnishing him with troops to put down a rebellion against the imperial authority.
In connection with Gregory's struggle against the Iconoclast emperor and his Italian representatives, certain doubtful points have been hitherto passed over. For instance, it is certain that about the year 730 Ravenna fell for a brief space into the hands of the Lombards, and that by the exertions of the pope and the Venetians, it was recovered and continued to remain for a year or two longer a portion of the Byzantine empire. It is not, however,certain whether it was Gregory II or Gregory III who rendered this important service to Leo III. Probably, however, it was done by Gregory II about the year 727; though perhaps it is not quite equally probable that the two famous condemnatory letters which Gregory II is said to have sent to Leo III are genuine. If they areauthentic, then it is certain not only that Ravenna was captured by the Lombards about 727, but that the independent temporal authority of the popes which in fact began with Gregory II was consciously felt by him. But when later Greek historians asserted that Gregory "separated Rome and Italy and the whole West from political and ecclesiastical subjection" to the Byzantine Empire, they are simply exaggerating his opposition to the emperor's illegal taxes, and Iconoclastic edicts. Despite all provocation, Gregory never for a moment swerved in his loyalty to the Iconoclast emperor; but, as in duty bound, he opposed his efforts to destroy an article of Catholic Faith. By his letters sent in all directions he warned the people against the teachings of the emperor, and in a council at Rome (727) proclaimed the true doctrine on the question of the worship of images. To the best of his power, also, he supported St. Germainus, the Patriarch of Constantinople, in the resistance he was making to the "gospel of Leo", and threatened to depose Anastasius, who had replaced the saint in the See of Constantinople, if he did not renounce his heresy. Gregory recognized both the Patriarch of Forum Julii (Cividale) and the Patriarch of Grado as joint heirs of the original metropolitan See of Aquileia, and for a time caused these rival prelates to live in peace.
Gregory died in February, and was buried in St. Peter's (11 Feb., 731). He is honoured as a saint in the Romanand other martyrologies.
Sources
Liber Pontificalis (Paris, 1886), I, 396 sqq., ed. DUCHESNE; PAUL THE DEACON, in Mon. Germ. Hist.; Scripores Longob.; BEDE; THEOPHANES; JOHN THE DEACON OF VENICE. etc.; Letters of ST. BONIFACE in Mon. Germ. Hist.; Epp., III; HEFELE, History of the Councils (Edinburgh, 1896), V, tr,; HODGKIN, Italy and her Invaders (Oxford, 1896), VI; BURY, History of the Later Roman Empire; HIRSCH, Il ducato di Benevento, Italian tr.; MALFATTI, Imperatori e Papi; BRUNENGO, I primi Papi Ree Pultimo dei Re Longobardi; DUCHESNE, The Beginnings of the Temporal Sovereignty of the Popes, tr.; PARGOIRE, L'Église Byzantine, 527-847; MARIN, Les Moines de Constantinople; MANN, Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1902), I, Pt. II.
Mann, Horace. "Pope St. Gregory II." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 12 May 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06787a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Janet van Heyst.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. September
1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop
of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06787a.htm
Ikona Papieża Grzegorza II.
Pope Saint Gregory II
Also
known as
- Gregory
the Younger
- Gregory
Junior
Profile
Involved in Church affairs from an early age. Pope Saint Sergius I ordained Gregory a sub-deacon. He served the next four popes as treasurer of the Church, then librarian. Assigned important missions.
Accompanied Pope Constantine to Constantinople for discussions with Emperor
Justinian II.
Elected 89th pope in 715. He held synods to correct abuses, stopped heresy and promoted discipline and morality
in religious and clerical life. Rebuilt a
great portion of the walls of Rome, Italy to protect the city against the Lombards. Restored churches, cared for
the sick and aged, re-established monasteries and abbeys. Consecrated Saint Boniface and Saint Corbinian as missionary bishops to the tribes in Germany. English pilgrims increased to the point that
they required a church, cemetery, and school of their own.
In his dealings with
Emperor Leo III, Gregory’s showed strength and patience. Leo demanded
destruction of holy images. When bishops failed to convince him of his
error, they disobeyed and appealed to the Pope. Gregory tried to change the emperor’s thinking,
counseled the people to maintain allegiance to the prince, and encouraged the bishops to oppose the heresy. It appears he
won out.
Born
Papal Ascension
- 11 February 731 at Rome, Italy of natural causes
Additional Information
- Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
- Catholic
Encyclopedia
- Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
- New
Catholic Dictionary
- Saints of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
- Saints of the Order of Saint Benedict, by Father Aegedius Ranbeck, O.S.B.
-
- by Pope Saint Gregory
II
- Pope Gregory II Commends Bishop Boniface to the
Christians of Germany
- Pope Gregory II Gregory Invests Boniface with
Episcopal Authority
- Pope Gregory II Commends Boniface to the
Leaders of Thuringia
- Pope Gregory II Commends Boniface to Charles
Martel
- Pope Gregory II Commends Boniface to the People
of Thuringia
- Pope Gregory II Replies to Questions Put by
Boniface
- Pope Gregory II Invests Boniface with the
Pallium
- books
- other
sites in english
- images
- sitios
en español
- Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
- Wikipedia
- fonti
in italiano
- nettsteder
i norsk
- spletne
strani v slovenšcini
MLA Citation
- “Pope Saint Gregory
II“. CatholicSaints.Info. 14 November 2020. Web. 11 February
2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-gregory-ii/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-gregory-ii/
Wzornik ikony Grzegorza II
_Liber_Chronicarum_(serietitel)%2C_RP-P-2016-49-62-9.jpg)
Paus Gregorius II / Gregorius secundus, Liber Chronicarum, Neurenberg,1493,
St. Gregory II. Pope and Confessor
HE was born in Rome, to an affluent fortune, and being educated in the palace of the popes, acquired great skill in the holy scriptures and in ecclesiastical affairs, and attained to an eminent degree of sanctity. Pope Sergius I. to whom he was very dear, ordained him subdeacon. Under the succeeding popes, John the sixth and seventh, Sisinnius, and Constantine, he was treasurer of the church, and afterwards library keeper, and was charged with several important commissions. The fifth general council had been held upon the affair of the three chapters, in 553, in the reign of Justinian, and the sixth against the Monothelites, in those of Constantine Pogonatus and Pope Agatho, in 660. With a view of adding a supplement of new canons to those of the aforesaid two councils, the bishops of the Greek church, to the number of two hundred and eleven, held the council called Quini-sext, in a hall of the imperial palace at Constantinople, named Trullus, in 692, which laid a foundation of certain differences in discipline between the Eastern and Western churches; for in the thirteenth canon it was enacted, that a man who was before married should be allowed to receive the holy orders of subdeacon, deacon, or priest, without being obliged to leave his wife, though this was forbidden to bishops. (can. 12.) It was also forbidden (can. 55.) to fast on Saturdays, even in Lent. Pope Sergius I. refused to confirm this council; and, in 695, the emperor Justinian II. surnamed Rhinotmetus, who had succeeded his father, Constantine Pogonatus, in 685, was dethroned for his cruelty, and his nose being slit, (from which circumstances he received his surname,) banished into Chersonesus. First Leontius, then Apsimarus Tiberius ascended the throne; but Justinian recovered it in 705, and invited Pope Constantine into the East, hoping to prevail upon him to confirm the council in Trullo. The pope was received with great honour, and had with him our saint, who, in his name, answered the questions put by the Greeks concerning the said council. After their return to Rome, upon the death of Constantine, Gregory was chosen pope, and ordained on the 19th of May, 715. The emperor Justinian being detested both by the army and people, Bardanes, who took the name of Philippicus, an Armenian, one of his generals, revolted, took Constantinople, put him and his son Tiberius, only seven years old, to death, and usurped the sovereignty in December, 711. In Justinian II. was extinguished the family of Heraclius. Philippicus abetted warmly the heresy of the Monothelites, and caused the sixth council to be prescribed in a pretended synod at Constantinople. His reign was very short; for Artemius, his secretary, who took the name of Anastasius II., deposed him, and stepped into the throne on the 4th of June, 713. By him the Monothelites were expelled; but, after a reign of two years and seven months, seeing one Theodosius chosen emperor by the army which had revolted in January, 716, he withdrew and took the monastic habit at Thessalonica. The Eastern army having proclaimed Leo III., surnamed the Isaurian, emperor on the 25th of March, 717, Theodosius and his son embraced an ecclesiastical state, and lived in peace among the clergy.
Pope Gregory signalized the beginning of his popedom by deposing John VI. the Monothelite, false patriarch of Constantinople, who had been nominated by Philippicus, and he promoted the election of St. Germanus, who was translated to that dignity from Cyzicus, in 715. With unwearied watchfulness and zeal he laid himself out in extirpating heresies on all sides, and in settling a reformation of manners. Besides an hospital for old men, he rebuilt the great monastery near the church of St. Paul at Rome, and, after the death of his mother, in 718, changed her house into the monastery of St. Agatha. The same year he re-established the abbey of Mount Cassino, sending thither, from Rome, the holy abbot St. Petronax to take upon him the government, one hundred and forty years after it had been laid in ruins by the Lombards. This holy abbot lived to see monastic discipline settled here in so flourishing a manner, that in the same century Carloman, duke or prince of the French, Rachis, king of the Lombards, St. Willebald, St. Sturmius, first abbot of Fulda, and other eminent persons, fled to this sanctuary. 1 Our holy pope commissioned zealous missionaries to preach the faith in Germany, and consecrated St. Corbinian bishop of Frisingen, and St. Boniface bishop of Mentz. Leo the Isaurian protected the catholic church during the first ten years of his reign, and St. Gregory II. laid up among the archives of his church several letters which he had received from him, from the year 717 to 726, which proved afterwards authentic monuments of his perfidy. For being infatuated by certain Jews, who had gained an ascendant over him by certain pretended astrological predictions, in 726 he commanded holy images to be abolished, and enforced the execution of his edicts of a cruel persecution. St. Germanus, and other orthodox prelates in the East, endeavoured to reclaim him, refused to obey his edicts, and addressed themselves to Pope Gregory. Our saint employed long the arms of tears and entreaties; yet strenuously maintained the people of Italy in their allegiance to their prince, as Anastasius assures us. A rebellion was raised in Sicily, but soon quelled by the death of Artemius, who had assumed the purple. The pope vigorously opposed the mutineers, both here and in other parts of the West. When he was informed that the army at Ravenna and Venice, making zeal a pretence for rebellion, had created a new emperor, he effectually opposed their attempt, and prevented the effect. Several disturbances which were raised in Rome were pacified by his care. Nevertheless he by letters encouraged the pastors of the church to resist the heresy which the emperor endeavoured to establish by bloodshed and violence. The tyrant sent orders to several of his officers, six or seven times, to murder the pope: but he was so faithfully guarded by the Romans and Lombards, that he escaped all their snares. St. Gregory II. held the pontificate fifteen years, eight months, and twenty-three days, and died in 731, on the 10th of February; but the Roman Martyrology consecrates to his memory the 13th, which was probably the day on which his corpse was deposited in the Vatican church.
Note 1. Bulteau, Hist. Mon. d’Occid. t. 2. l. 4. c. 2. p. 8. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume II: February. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/2/134.html
Saints
of the Order of Saint Benedict – Saint Gregory II, Pope
Most authorities agree in stating that Saint Gregory
II, a worthy namesake and successor of Saint Gregory the Great, was born at
Rome, and that his father’s name was Marcellus. At an early age he entered a
Benedictine Monastery, and became so famous for his learning, that Pope Sergius
removed him from his cell to take charge of the Papal Library. This office he
continued to hold under the three succeeding Popes, till Pope Constantine, recognising
his solid piety and profound accomplishments, made him a member of the Sacred
College. At this time a heresy was raging in Greece, and generally throughout
the East. To stamp it out on the spot, Pope Constantine proceeded to
Constantinople, taking with him his Court, and among the rest of the Cardinals,
Saint Gregory; for he wished Gregory to be the champion of the Church against
the Sectaries. Our Saint’s powerful arguments and moving eloquence were
completely successful in causing the heretics to admit their error.
This brilliant triumph led to Saint Gregory’s being
named Pope on the death of Constantine. Our Pontiff’s first care was to restore
the city, whose churches, public buildings, and walls were everywhere falling
to ruin. Amongst the other Benedictine houses that claimed his attention was
Monte Cassino, which had lain in ruins for 130 years after its destruction by
the Lombards. It was now thoroughly restored. It was by Saint Gregory’s command
and under his guidance that Saint Boniface undertook his mission to Germany and
succeeded in winning over to the true Faith whole provinces of that country.
As formerly the frenzy of Mauritius had been directed
against Saint Gregory the Great, so now the Emperor Leo Isauricus assailed
Saint Gregory II. This monarch’s violence was aimed especially at the pictures
and statues of the Saints. An edict was published even in Rome, for Rome, as
well as the greater part of the West, was then subject to the Eastern Emperor,
ordering, under pain of exile and death, the destruction of all sacred images
and pictures, whether in private houses or in churches. At first Saint Gregory
tried to soften Leo’s violence by writing him a mild yet firm remonstrance; but
when this remonstrance only inflamed the Emperor with greater fury, the Pope
bade the Bishops from their Cathedrals everywhere to plead the cause of the
Saints and to denounce the impiety of the Emperor. He also convened at Rome a
Synod of seventy-nine Bishops, by which Leo was excommunicated, and Rome and the
rest of Italy absolved from their allegiance to him. The Romans hastened to
acknowledge Pope Gregory II, not only as the Head of the Church, but also as
their Temporal Sovereign.
When what had been done in Rome and throughout Italy
was known in Constantinople, the rage of the Emperor knew no bounds. Marinus,
with a band of assassins, was despatched to slay the Pontiff; but he was
overtaken by a Divine judgment, he fell dead of apoplexy, before he could
execute his wicked purpose. A similar fate awaited Paulus, a patrician, who was
secretly sent to Rome with the same object. He and his fellow-assassins were
seized by the Romans, and paid the penalty of their crime with their lives.
Leo, twice baffled in his attempts to get Saint Gregory assassinated, set out against
Italy with a large armament, intending to glut his vengeance with wide-spread
slaughter. By the Divine help this expedition perished in the waters of the
Adriatic. Rome and Italy were saved, and their security for the future was
ensured by an alliance with the King of Gaul.
The close of our Saint’s Pontificate, peace being now
restored, was marked by the same good works by which its beginning had been
distinguished. Besides three Monasteries which he built, nearly all the
churches and religious houses owed to Saint Gregory II, if not their
foundation, at least their restoration, or some addition to their splendour and
wealth. This most watchful and energetic Pontiff died A.D. 731, after having
ruled the See of Peter for fifteen years.
– text and illustration taken from Saints
of the Order of Saint Benedict by Father Aegedius
Ranbeck, O.S.B.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-order-of-saint-benedict-saint-gregory-ii-pope/
Saint Grégoire II, Chevalier Artaud de Montor, The Lives and Times of the Popes, New York: The Catholic Publication Society of America, 1911. It was originally published in 1842.
Romano, promosse l'evangelizzazione della Germania, dove mandò san Bonifacio. Fece restaurare molte chiese di Roma e il monastero di Montecassino.
Quindi, ancora una volta fu eletto pontefice: un povero e comune cristiano. Correva il giorno 19 maggio del 715, quando imperatore d'oriente era Anastasio II, mentre la penisola italica era quasi tutta sottomessa al re longobardo Liutprando.
Inizialmente il pontificato di Gregorio II sembrò vacillare sotto una serie di contrapposizioni politiche e di dominio.
Le contrapposizioni rientrarono comunque grazie alla "diplomazia" che, sulla scorta delle esperienze maturate nei secoli stava facendo diventare il papato un regno temporale.
Nel frattempo a Benevento si insediò il duca longobardo Romoaldo II, il quale aveva preso possesso anche di Cuma ( importante ed antica città campana di origine etrusco-romana situata sulla via Domiziana, la cui datazione viene fatta risalire al 730 a.c. - nda: probabilmente l'odierrna Pozzuoli -),
Ancora, nel 717, quando i longobardi stavano sottomettendo le popolazioni in nome e per conto del cristianesimo, imperversando da settentrione verso il meridione della penisola italica, il pontefice disconobbe tale mandato e con un repentino cambio di intenti si rivolse al " napoletano dux Giovanni" (prima console dell'imperatore d' oriente Anastasio II e dopo la sua defenestrazione console del suo successore Teodoro), nell'intento di arginare l'avanzata longobarda, probabilmente memore, attraverso la storia, delle loro scorribande accadute tra il 581 ed il 589.
Oltre ai citati fatti questo pontefice fu meritorio per la tutela del cosiddetto "ceto medio" , nel quale si annoverava la maggior parte della cittadinanza laboriosa, ovvero i mercanti che investivano i propri patrimoni in spedizioni navali e terrestri pur di soddisfare la domanda economica interna. Così come riuscì in qualche modo a tutelare gli interessi delle comunità attraverso la tutela dell'artigianato e la protezione delle arti.
Oltre a questo si distinse sicuramente nell'opera di evangelizzazione dei popoli nordici a partire da quelli germanici con la conversione di Teodo e l'incisività patriarcale presso i "frisoni", tanto è vero che il teologo e filosofo Winfrith fu insignito delle più alte cariche ecclesiastiche al fine di ricondurre le popolazioni germaniche sotto le insegne di Roma anzichè ricondurle alla soggezione dell'impero d'oriente.
L'attività evangelica però, non fu sempre limpida e spesso si tradusse in aspetti qualche volta devastanti per le popolazioni coinvolte nelle azioni da diverse interpretazioni, sopratutto quando salì al trono imperiale Leone III.
L'intransigenza bizantina, spesso in conflitto con Roma si era definitivamente eretta a sentinella della "porta d'oriente" presso il patriarcato di Ravenna, l'unica insormontabile difficoltà negli interessi ideologici rimase quella del "culto alle immagini", permessa da Roma e negata in oriente. (nda: in nome di quell'immagine raffigurante l' Acheropita).
L'epistolario tra il papa e l'imperatore si presenta ancor oggi molto ricco, nonostante il trascorrere dei secoli, difficile fu come è stabilire le ragioni rappresentate da ambo le parti, proprio per le diverse prerogative sia temporali che teologiche.
Certo è che ancora una volta le contrapposizioni temporal-teologiche riuscirono ad innescare un'ulteriore guerra ideologica.
Ancora una volta però davanti alla minaccia degli "unni" comandati da re Liutprando, il papa si rimise in cammino per fermare le orde barbariche e come il suo antesignano Leone Magno riuscì nel suo intento, riuscendo a ricondurre a più miti considerazioni sia il re che tutto il resto del popolo attraverso una messa celebrata in campo aperto.
Le truppe bizantine già scese in campo si ritirarono, così come fecero gli Unni, lasciando libere le popolazioni sotto l'influenza papale.
La realtà storica vuole invece che al di là delle prese di posizione iconografiche o iconoclastiche, ci fossero solamente dei giochi di potere per i quali chi ci rimise letteralmente la testa, perchè decapitato fu il duca "Tiberio Petasio", il quale autoproclamatosi imperatore "tuscio" (nda: quindi dell' odierna Italia) si dovette scontrare sia con il potere imperiale di Ravenna, governato dall'imperatore d' oriente, sia con quello itinerante dei longobardi, degli Unni e dei Visigoti i quali ogni tanto riuscivano ad eleggere un'unico presunto re, rivendicando ora il presidio di Ravenna, ora quello di Rimini oppure quello di Eraclea.
Dimenticando spesso che Roma ed il suo pontefice si stava mano a mano organizzando anche con un proprio esercito ma, contando soprattutto sulle forze alleate di esercitici intrinsechi alle piccole o grandi signorie feudali, ormai completamente o parzialmente sganciate da una o l'altra potenza militare.
Gregorio II morì il giorno 11 febbraio del 731 e fu sepolto in San Pietro.
M. Louis Guérard. « Les lettres de
Grégoire II à Léon l'Isaurien », Mélanges de l'école française de
Rome Année 1890 10 pp.
44-60 : https://www.persee.fr/doc/mefr_0223-4874_1890_num_10_1_6627
Voir aussi : http://www.radio-silence.org/Sons/2014/LSM/pdf/lsm20140211.pdf
