Editing Pope Zachary

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 741 to 752}}
{{redirect|Pope Zacharias|the Coptic Orthodox pope|Pope Zacharias of Alexandria}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[Pope Saint]]
| name = Zachary
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[State church of the Roman Empire|Church of Rome]]
| image = Età di papa Zaccaria, cappella del primicerius Teodoro, Madonna in trono con Theodoto e la moglie, 741-752 (09).jpg
| caption = Contemporary Byzantine fresco in [[Santa Maria Antiqua]]
| term_start = 3 or 5 December 741
| term_end = March 752
| predecessor = [[Pope Gregory III|Gregory III]]
| successor = [[Pope Stephen II|Stephen II]]
| consecration = 4 or 6 December 741
| cardinal = 12 April 732
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Gregory III|Gregory III]]
| birth_date = 679
| birth_place = [[Santa Severina]], [[Calabria]], [[Eastern Roman Empire]]
| death_date = 15 March 752 (aged 72–73)
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Duchy of Rome]]
| feast_day = 15 March
| venerated = [[Catholic Church]]<br>[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
}}

'''Pope Zachary''' ({{langx|la|Zacharias}}; 679 – March 752) was the [[bishop of Rome]] from 28 November 741<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Cormenin |first=Louis-Marie de Lahaye vicomte de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-kppAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA185 |title=A Complete History of the Popes of Rome, from Saint Peter, the First Bishop, to Pius the Ninth, the Present Pope |date=1851 |publisher=J. & J. L. Gihon |pages=185 |language=en |quote=...the priest Zachary, a Greek by descent, who was ordained sovereign pontiff on the 28th of November, 741.}}</ref> to his death in March 752. He was the last [[pope]] of the [[Byzantine Papacy]]. Zachary built the original church of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], forbade the traffic of slaves in [[Rome]], negotiated peace with the [[Lombards]], and sanctioned [[Pepin the Short]]'s usurpation of the Frankish throne from [[Childeric III]]. Zachary is regarded as a capable administrator and a skillful and subtle diplomat in a dangerous time.

==Early career==
Zachary was born into a family of Greek origin,<ref name=":0" /> in the [[Calabria]]n town of [[Santa Severina]]. He was most probably a [[deacon]] of the Roman Church and as such signed the decrees of the Roman council of 732. He was [[papal selection before 1059|selected]] to succeed [[Pope Gregory III|Gregory III]] as [[pope]] on 3 December<ref name=miranda/> or 5 December 741.<ref name=kirsch>{{cite Catholic Encyclopedia |last= Kirsch |first= Johann Peter |wstitle= Pope St. Zachary |volume=15 }}</ref>

==Pontificate==
Gregory III's alliance with the [[Kingdom of the Lombards|Lombard]] [[Duchy of Spoleto]] put papal cities at risk when the [[dukes of Spoleto]] and [[Duke of Benevento|Benevento]] rebelled. Zachary turned to King [[Liutprand the Lombard]] directly. Out of respect for Zachary the king restored to the church of Rome all the territory seized by the Lombards and sent back the captives without ransom.<ref name=butler>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.bartleby.com/210/3/152.html|last= Butler|first= Alban|encyclopedia=The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints|title=Zachary, Pope and Confessor |volume=III|year=1866|location=Dublin|publisher=James Duffy}}</ref> The contemporary history (''[[Liber pontificalis]]'') dwells chiefly on Zachary's personal influence with Liutprand, and with his successor [[Ratchis]].<ref name=EB1911/> At the request of the [[Exarchate of Ravenna]], Zachary persuaded Liutprand to abandon a planned attack on Ravenna and to restore territory seized from the city.<ref name=kirsch/>

Zachary corresponded with Archbishop [[Saint Boniface|Boniface]] of [[Mainz]],<ref name=EB1911/> counseling him about dealing with disreputable prelates such as [[Milo (bishop of Trier)|Milo, bishop of Reims and Trier]]. "As for Milo and his like, who are doing great injury to the church of God, preach in season and out of season, according to the word of the Apostle, that they cease from their evil ways."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2CQeAwAAQBAJ&dq=Milo+%28bishop+of+Trier%29&pg=PA133 Wansbrough OSB, Henry. "St. Boniface, Monk and Missioner", ''Prayer and Thought in Monastic Tradition: Essays in Honour of Benedicta Ward SLG'', (Santha Bhattacharji, Dominic Mattos, Rowan Williams, eds.), A&C Black, 2014, p. 133], {{ISBN|9780567082954}}</ref> At Boniface's request, Zachary confirmed three newly established bishoprics of [[Würzburg]], [[Büraburg]], and [[Erfurt]]. In 742 he appointed Boniface as papal legate to the [[Concilium Germanicum]], hosted by [[Carloman (mayor of the palace)|Carloman]], one of the Frankish [[mayors of the Palace]]. In a later letter Zachary confirmed the metropolitans appointed by Boniface to [[Rouen]], [[Reims]] and [[Sens]]. In 745 Zachary convened a [[synod]] in Rome to discourage a tendency toward the worship of angels.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://zenit.org/articles/assigning-names-to-angels/|title=Assigning Names to Angels – ZENIT – English|website=zenit.org|date=September 2015|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-13}}</ref>

Zachary corresponded with temporal rulers as well. Answering a question from the Frankish Mayor of the Palace [[Pepin the Short]], who planned to usurp the Frankish throne from the puppet-king [[Childeric III]], Zachary rendered the opinion that it was better that he should be king who had the royal power than he who had not. Shortly thereafter, the Frankish nobles decided to abandon Childeric, the last [[Merovingian]] king, in favor of Pepin.<ref name=EB1911>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Zacharias, St |volume=20 |page=950}}</ref> Zachary remonstrated with the [[Byzantine emperor]] [[Constantine V]] on his [[Byzantine Iconoclasm|iconoclastic policies]].<ref name=kirsch/><ref name=EB1911/>

Zachary built the original church of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]] over an ancient temple to [[Minerva]] near the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]]. He also restored the decaying [[Lateran Palace]], moving the relic of the head of [[Saint George]] to the church of [[San Giorgio al Velabro]]. After Venetian merchants bought many slaves in Rome to sell to the Muslims of [[Africa]], Zachary forbade such traffic and then paid the merchants their price, giving the slaves their freedom.<ref name=butler/><ref>{{cite book |last=Stantchev |first=Stefan K. |title=Spiritual Rationality: Papal Embargo as Cultural Practice |date=3 July 2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191009235 |page=28}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pNVCAQAAMAAJ Annali d'Italia: Dall'anno 601 dell'era volare fino all'anno 840], by Lodovico Antonio Muratori, Giuseppe Catalani, Monaco (1742); page 298.</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Pope Zachary died around 15 March 752 (it may also have been the 12th or 14th)<ref name="miranda">{{cite web |last=Miranda |first=Salvador |title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church |url=http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios732.htm#Zaccaria |url-status=dead |access-date=9 July 2015}}</ref> and was buried in [[St. Peter's Basilica]]. His elected successor, [[Pope-elect Stephen|Stephen]], died within days, and Zachary was finally succeeded by [[Pope Stephen II|Stephen II]]. The letters and decrees of Zachary are published in [[Jacques Paul Migne]], ''[[Patrologia Latina|Patrolog. lat.]]'' lxxxix. p.&nbsp;917–960.<ref name=EB1911/>

Church historian [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] said of Zachary: "In a troubled era Zachary proved himself to be an excellent, capable, vigorous, and charitable successor of Peter."<ref name=kirsch/> [[Peter Partner]] called Zachary a skilled diplomat, "perhaps the most subtle and able of all the Roman pontiffs, in this dark corridor in which the Roman See hovered just inside the doors of the Byzantine world."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bZ6eJuZfTAEC&dq=Guy+III+of+Spoleto&pg=PA1 Partner, Peter. ''The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance'', University of California Press, 1972, p. 17], {{ISBN|9780520021815}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*{{cite book |last=Baronius |first=Cesare |editor-last=Theiner |editor-first=Augustinus |title=Annales ecclesiastici denuo excusi et ad nostra usque tempora perducti ab Augustino Theiner... |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qhTnAAAAMAAJ |volume=Tomus Duodecimus |year=1867 |location=Barri-Ducis |language=la |pages=466–562}}
*{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Raymond |title=The Lives of the Eighth-century Popes (Liber Pontificalis): The Ancient Biographies of Nine Popes from AD 715 to AD 817 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VR3ZAAAAMAAJ |year=1992 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-0-85323-018-2}}
*Delogu, Paolo (2000). "[http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-zaccaria_%28Enciclopedia-dei-Papi%29/ Zaccaria, santo]", Enciclopedia dei papi Treccani. {{in lang|it}}
*Duchesne, Louis, [https://archive.org/details/duchesne01 ''Le Liber Pontificalis'']: texte, ''introduction et commentaire par L. Duchesne'' Tome I (Paris: E. Thorin 1886), pp. 426–439. (in Latin)
*{{cite book |last=Hallenbeck |first=Jan T. |title=Pavia and Rome: The Lombard Monarchy and the Papacy in the Eighth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCcsAQAAMAAJ |year=1982 |publisher=American Philosophical Society |location=Philadelphia |pages=39–55 |isbn=9780871697240}}
*{{cite book |last=Noble |first=Thomas F. X. |title=The Republic of St. Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680-825 |url=https://archive.org/details/republicofstpete0000nobl |url-access=registration |year=1984 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-1239-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/republicofstpete0000nobl/page/49 49]–60}}

{{Commons category|Zacharia (pope)}}

{{wikisource author}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Pope Gregory III|Gregory III]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Pope]]
| years = 741–752
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Pope Stephen II|Stephen II]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zachary}}
[[Category:679 births]]
[[Category:752 deaths]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Crotone]]
[[Category:Byzantine saints]]
[[Category:Medieval Italian saints]]
[[Category:Popes of the Byzantine Papacy]]
[[Category:Greek popes]]
[[Category:8th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:8th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:8th-century popes]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]