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Artist's
conception of Stephen III
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hen Stephen II died of apoplexy after the
shortest pontificate in history--three days--a Roman deacon became Stephen
III. (Because of Stephen II's short reign, he is sometimes not numbered
with the popes. Stephen III then becomes Stephen II.) Depending on the
sources one reads, the date was either on March 26, 752 or on March 30th,
752. His papacy is highly significant. Up to his day, popes had exercised
little temporal power. But with Italy practically abandoned by the emperors,
popes increasingly tended to step into the breach. In this way they came
to possess lands. Stephen became the first papal monarch when Ravenna
was placed under his control by Pepin the Short of France.
That Pepin was involved at all is the other significant fact of Stephen's
reign. The Lombards had invaded Italy. They seized Ravenna and eyed Rome.
Stephen paid for peace, but it was shaky. King Aisulf of the Lombards
wasn't one to put much stock in his own oaths where he sniffed that there
might be plunder to be seized.
Seeing that no help was likely from Constantinople, and afraid of losing
his holdings, Stephen made a personal trip to France to seek assistance
from Pepin. Dressed in black robes, ashes on his head, the Pope knelt
before Pepin and pleaded for assistance. "Save St. Peter," he
implored. Pepin agreed. In return, Stephen crowned him and his sons Charles
and Carloman kings. Charles, of course, is better known to history as
Charlemagne.
Pepin forced the Lombards back temporarily. As soon as the Franks pulled
back, the Lombards stirred again. They seized all the territory Pepin
had taken and blockaded Rome. Stephen wrote entreaty after entreaty to
Pepin, finally appealing to him in the name of St. Peter. At last Pepin
acted. The Lombards once again purred as if they hadn't a ferocious bone
in them. This time they remained quiet for a while.
Acting on a spurious document known as the "Donation of Constantine,"
Pepin handed Ravenna to Stephen. He recognized Stephen and his successors
as "Protectors of the Romans." Thus the papal states were born.
A pope had become a temporal king, had tied the papacy to France, and
had given ecclesiastical sanction to a man who would become one of the
greatest emperors of Christendom. Charlemagne would have to rescue popes
from the Lombards again.
In 757 Stephen died. He had little inkling of how greatly he had changed
the course of Europe and of the church. Left to himself, he would have
been content to practice virtue and distribute charitable gifts to Rome's
poor.
Resources:
- Brusher, Joseph Stanislaus. Popes through the Ages. Princeton,
N. J.: Van Nostrand, 1959.
- De Rosa, Peter. Vicars of Christ; the dark side of the papacy. Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 2000.
- Lea, Henry C. Studies in Church History. Philadelphia: Henry
C. Lea; London: Samson, Low, Son, & Marston, 1869.
- Mann, Horace K. "Pope Stephen III (II)." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
- Montor, Chevalier Artaud de. Lives and Times of the Popes. New York: Catholic Publication Society of America, 1909.
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