mardi 10 décembre 2013

Saint GRÉGOIRE III, Pape


Saint Grégoire III

pape (90éme) de 731 à 741 ( 741)

Pape, syrien d'origine, il fut choisi comme évêque de Rome d'une manière unanime par le clergé et le peuple. Il tenta de ramener à la saine doctrine les iconoclastes de l'empereur Léon l'Isaurien. Il dut faire appel à Charles Martel pour se dégager du roi des Lombards Luitprand qui avait assiégé Rome et pillé la basilique de Saint Pierre au Vatican; c'est ainsi que se nouèrent les premiers liens entre la France et la papauté.


À Rome, près de saint Pierre, en 761, saint Grégoire III, pape, qui eut le souci de faire prêcher l’Évangile aux Germains et, pour s’opposer aux iconoclastes, orna les églises de Rome d’images saintes.




Grégoire III (Saint), 92e pape, installé le 18 mars 731, mort le 27 novembre 741. Il était Syrien de naissance. Suivant le Liber pontificalis, il aurait été élu sous l'impulsion d'un de ces mouvements soudains qu'on appelle, en pareille matière, inspirations du Saint-Esprit : saisi par le peuple et placé par lui sur le siège pontifical, pendant qu'il assistait aux funérailles de Grégoire II, son prédécesseur. Il est le dernier des papes pour l'élection desquels on ait demandé la confirmation de l'exarque de Ravenne, représentant des empereurs d'Orient.

Dès le commencement de son pontificat, il sollicita de l'empereur Léon l'Isaurien le retrait des édits contre les images; mais son message n'ayant eu pour résultat que de faire condamner à l'exil celui qu'il en avait chargé, il convoqua à Rome (731) un concile auquel quatre-vingt-treize évêques assistèrent. Le culte des images y fut déclaré agréable aux apôtres et conforme à leur pratique, et l'excommunication, prononcée contre les profanateurs et les contempteurs. En 734, Léon arma une flotte pour réduire les Romains à l'obéissance, mais elle fut détruite par une tempête dans l'Adriatique. Dès lors, ils ne furent plus inquiétés du côté de Constantinople, et comme l'exarque de Ravenne était impuissant à faire prévaloir en Italie l'autorité impériale, Rome se trouva constituée en une sorte de république, dont le pape était le chef de fait. Six années environ se passèrent sans qu'il fût sérieusement troublé ni par les Grecs, ni par les Lombards. Il provoqua ceux-ci en donnant asile aux ducs de Spolète et de Bénévent qui s'étaient révoltés contre leur roi. 

En 741, Rome fut assiégée. Grégoire implora le secours de Charles-Martel et finit par obtenir de lui une intervention amiable qui décida les Lombards à renoncer à leur attaque contre Rome; mais ils gardèrent quatre villes sur le territoire romain. On a conservé les lettres adressées par Léon à Charles-Martel ; elles font preuve d'une habileté qui fournirait des arguments aux docteurs de la morale indépendante, ayant été composées par le chef de l'Eglise, représentant la cause de saint Pierre. Des historiens sérieux ont écrit que, après deux ambassades qui n'avaient produit que des échanges de compliments et de présents, le pape n'avait obtenu la médiation du duc austrasien qu'en lui promettant de la part des Romains qu'ils répudieraient toute allégance envers Constantinople et qu'ils se placeraient sous le protectorat des Francs, et en lui conférant les titres de patrice et de consul de Rome. Ces assertions sont contestées, principalement sur le dernier point. 

 Du côté de l'Occident comme du côté de l'Orient, les faits les plus importants du pontificat de Grégoire Ill sont les conséquences des événements commencés sous son prédécesseur. Il continua l'ouvre de Grégoire Il, en donnant à Boniface les directions et le concours nécessaires pour placer sous l'autorité immédiate du siège romain les Eglises formées en Germanie sur les terres conquises par le christianisme.

On rapporte à ce pape l'institution définitive et la fixation au 1er novembre de la fête de la Toussaint.

Il reste de lui des lettres adressées à l'empereur Léon, à Charles-Martel, à saint Boniface et à divers personnages, pour confirmer l'autorité et seconder l'oeuvre de Boniface. On lui attribue aussi une espèce de manuel, à l'usage des confesseurs, sur les péchés et les pénitences : Excerptum ex patrum dictis et canonum sententiis. Le Livre de lettres mentionné dans le Liber pontifipalis n'a pas été retrouvé. (E.-H. Vollet).

SOURCE : http://www.cosmovisions.com/GregoireIII.htm

Pope St. Gregory III

(Reigned 731-741.)

Pope St. Gregory III was the son of a Syrian named John. The date of his birth is not known. His reputation for learning and virtue was so great that the Romans elected him pope by acclamation, when he was accompanying the funeral procession of his predecessor, 11 February, 731. As he was not consecrated for more than a month after his election, it is presumed that he waited for the confirmation of his election by the exarch at Ravenna. In the matter of Iconoclasm, he followed the policy of his predecessor. He sent legates and letters to remonstrate with the persecuting emperor, Leo III, and held two synods in Rome (731) in which the image-breaking heresy was condemned. By way of a practical protest against the emperor's action he made it a point of paying special honour to images and relics, giving particular attention to the subject of St. Peter's. Fragments of inscriptions, to be seen in the crypts of the Vatican basilica, bear witness to this day of an oratory he built therein, and of the special prayers he ordered to be there recited.

Leo, whose sole answer to the arguments and apologies for image worship which were addressed to him from both East and West, was force, seized the papal patrimonies in Calabria and Sicily, or wherever he had any power in Italy, and transferred to the patriarch of Constantinople the ecclesiastical jurisdiction which the popes had previously exercised both there, and throughout the ancient Prefecture of Illyricum. Gregory III confirmed the decision of his predecessors as to the respective rights of the Patriarchs of Aquileia and Grado, and sent the pallium to Antoninus of Grado. In granting it also to Egbert of York, he was only following out the arrangements of St. Gregory I who had laid it down that York was to have metropolitical rights in the North of England, as Canterbury had to have them in the South. Both Tatwine and Nothelm of Canterbury received the pallium in succession from Gregory III (731 and 736). At his request Gregory III extended to St. Boniface the same support and encouragement which had been afforded him by Gregory II. "Strengthened exceedingly by the help of the affection of the Apostolic See", the saint joyfully continued his glorious work for the conversion of Germany. About 737 Boniface came to Rome for the third time to give an account of his stewardship, and to enjoy the pope's "life-giving conversation", At Gregory's order the monk and great traveller, St. Willibald, went to assist his cousin St. Boniface in his labours.

The close of Gregory's reign was troubled by the Lombards. Realizing the ambition which animated Liutprand, Gregory completed the restoration of the walls of Rome which had been begun by his predecessors, and bought back Gallese, a stronghold on the Flaminian Way, from Transamund, Duke of Spoleto, which helped to keep open the communications between Rome and Ravenna. In 739, Liutprand was again in arms. His troops ravaged the exarchate, and he himself marched south to bring to subjection his vassals, the Dukes of Spoleto and Benevento, and the Duchy of Rome. Transamund fled to Rome, and Gregory implored the aid of the great Frankish chief, Charles Martel. At length ambassadors from the viceroy (subregulus) of the Franks appeared in Rome (739). Their arrival, or the summer heats, brought a momentary peace. But in the following year, Liutprand again took the field. This time the Romans left their walls, and helped Transamund to recover Spoleto. When, however, he had recovered his duchy, he would not or could not comply with Gregory's request, and endeavour to recover for the pope "the four cities of the Roman duchy which had been lost for his sake." In the midst of all these wars and rumours of war, Gregory died, and was buried in the oratory of our Lady which he had himself built in St. Peter's. He died in 741, but whether in November or December is not certain. It is however, on 28 November that he is commemorated in the Roman martyrology.

Sources

Codex Carolinus in JAFFE, Monumenta Carolina (Berlin, 1867), or in Mon. Germ. Hist.; Epp., III (Berlin, 1892). See also bibliography of article GREGORY II.

Mann, Horace. "Pope St. Gregory III." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 12 May 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06789a.htm>.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06789a.htm

Pope St. Gregory III

He was just standing there, not doing anything special. As a Syrian priest he must have felt a little out of place among the Roman people mourning that day for the dead Pope. As a good preacher, he must have wanted to speak to the funeral procession about Christ’s promise of resurrection. As a learned man, he must have wondered who would follow the holy Saint Gregory II as Pope and where he would take the Church. As a holy man, he must have been praying for Gregory II and for all the people around him to find their place after death in God’s arms. But he was just one of the crowd.

Not to God. And not to the people who recognized the well-known holy man in their midst. Right in the middle of the funeral procession they singled him out. They swept him away and clamored for him to be named the next bishop of Rome. Then suddenly, unexpectedly, without his even lifting a finger, his whole life changed and he could no longer just stand there and do nothing.

After he was proclaimed Pope Gregory III, Emperor Leo II attacked the veneration of holy images. Because Leo II thought the honor paid to Jesus, Mary, and the saints by keeping statues and icons was idolatry, he condemned them and wanted them destroyed. Gregory III didn’t just stand there but immediately sent a letter to Leo II. He couldn’t get the letter through because the priest-messenger was afraid to deliver it. So instead, Gregory called a synod that approved strong measures against anyone who would try to destroy images of Jesus, Mary, or the saints.

Gregory took his stand and Leo II apparently thought the only way to move him was through physical force. So Leo sent ships to kidnap Gregory and bring him to Constantinople. Many people in Rome must have tried to get Gregory to move — but he just stood there. And once again God intervened. A storm destroyed Leo’s ships. The only thing Leo could do was capture some of the papal lands.

So Leo got a few acres of land and we kept our wonderful reminders of the love of God, the protection of Jesus, the prayers of Mary, and the examples of the saints. All because Gregory knew when to take a stand — and when to stand there and let God work. St. Gregory III was Pope from 731-741.


Pope Gregory III (RM)


Died December 10, 741. The son of a Syrian named John, he became a priest in Rome, and his reputation for learning and holiness was so great that he was acclaimed pope on February 11, 731, while accompanying the funeral cortege of his predecessor, Saint Gregory II.


He continued Gregory II's opposition to iconoclasm and convoked two synods in Rome in 731, which condemned the heresy. In response, Emperor Leo the Iconoclast seized papal patrimonies in Calabria and Sicily and transferred ecclesiastical jurisdiction of those two provinces and Illyrium to the patriarch of Constantinople.

Gregory supported the missionary activities of Saint Boniface in Germany and sent Saint Willibald to assist him. Gregory completed rebuilding the walls around Rome begun by Gregory II and sought the assistance of Charles Martel against the attacks of Liutprand and his Lombards on the exarchate of Ravenna, the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento, and the duchy of Rome rather than from the Eastern Emperor, an appeal that was to have far-reaching historical implications for the meddling of the state in Church affairs, and by establishing a connection with the Franks. In the midst of this turmoil, Gregory died (Benedictines, Delaney). 




Pope Saint Gregory III

Profile

Priest at Saint Crisogono Church in Rome, Italy; except that his father‘s name was John, nothing else is known about his life prior to being elected 90th pope by popular acclamation in 731. Noted for his learning and virtue. The beginning of his pontificate was troubled by the excesses of the iconoclasts. He called a synod in November 731 to condemn iconoclasm; iconoclast leaders responded by seizing papal territories and assets, and insisting on the ecclestiastical allegiance to the Patriarch of Constantinople. The end of Gregory’s reign was troubled by the invasions of the Lombards, against these he sought the help of Charles Martel, establishing ties with the French crown that would echo for centuries. Gregory promoted the Church in northern Europe, supporting the missions of Saint Boniface in Germany and Saint Willibald in Bohemia, bestowed palliums on Egbert of York and Saint Tatwine of Canterbury, beautified Rome, and supported monasticism in general.

Born
Papal Ascension

ST. GREGORY III

Feast: December 10

As the funeral procession of St. Gregory II moved slowly along, there was a sudden outcry. The clergy and people shouted that Gregory, a Syrian who was walking with the Pope's bier, should be the next pope. And they hurried him off without further ado, and elected him. The man who could arouse such unusual and universal enthusiasm must have been a striking personality. And indeed the biographer of Gregory paints him in glowing colors. He was an educated man who knew both Latin and Greek, polished in style, learned in Holy Scripture, pious, zealous for the faith, and a lover of the poor.

Consecrated on March 18, 731, Gregory III at once turned his attention to the image-breaking controversy. To recall Leo the Isaurian to an orthodox state of mind, he sent him the priest George with letters of warning and instruction. When George returned from the East, the Pope was surprised to find that the timid legate had been afraid even to deliver the letters to the fierce Isaurian. Not unnaturally angry, Gregory was going to degrade George from the priesthood, but the clergy of a synod held to consider the situation, persuaded the Pope to let George off with a penance. However, Gregory sent him back to the Emperor. This time the imperial officials in Sicily seized George and exiled him.

Gregory held another synod, this time with ninety-three bishops and the clergy and people of Rome. The council decreed that anyone who should destroy or dishonor holy images should be excommunicated But the Emperor would not allow the envoys even to reach him. His answer was to send a fleet to carry out the imperial decrees. The fleet was shipwrecked, but Leo punished the Italians by raising their taxes and the Pope by confiscating the estates of the patrimony in Sicily and Calabria.

The Emperor also transferred the Church in Calabria, Sicily, and Illyricum from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome as patriarch to the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople. This arbitrary act was a remote cause of the unhappy Eastern Schism. It made the patriarchate of Constantinople practically coterminous with the Eastern Empire. And in spite of the fact that it had been thus arbitrarily given to them by a heretical emperor, the patriarchs of Constantinople clung to their increased jurisdiction.

St. Boniface visited Pope Gregory III in 737 to receive consolation from him. Gregory asked Boniface's cousin, the holy monk Willibald, to help in the conversion of the Germans. The Pope granted the request of Egbert of York that he should be made archbishop, thus restoring to England the two metropolitan sees planned by Gregory the Great.

Once more a pope was troubled by the Lombards. Liutprand, King of the Lombards, strove to break the Lombard Dukes of Spoleto and Benevento and to overrun all Italy. He ravaged the exarchate of Ravenna and marched south. The Dukes allied themselves with Pope Gregory, but nothing could stop Liutprand. Once more the Lombards ravaged Roman territory. The Pope, at a loss, appealed to Charles Martel, the Frankish "hammer." Charles sent an embassy to Rome, but no help. Actually he could do little, for his health was broken.

In the middle of all this trouble, late in 741, St. Gregory III died. His feast is kept on December 10.
Taken from "Popes Through the Ages" by Joseph Brusher, S.J.

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