ADEODATUS II (or I), POPE. — A Roman, he received the tiara in 672 and died in 676. Son of Jovinianus, he succeeded St. Vitalian. Elected, perhaps, shortly after his predecessor’s death (27 January 672), he had to wait more than two months for imperial confirmation before being consecrated (11 April 672).
He governed the Church for four years, two months, and five days. The *Liber Pontificalis* records few details about him, none entirely accurate and rather generic. He increased the alms that popes were accustomed to distribute. He had been a monk in the Benedictine monastery of St. Erasmus on the Caelian Hill; thus, once pope, it is understandable that he enlarged, embellished, and enriched II. He also restored the church of St. Peter at the *Campo di Merlo* on the Via Portuense, between Ponte Galera and La Magliana; its ruins were discovered during excavations in 1858. Two documents are attributed to him: a letter to Adrian, abbot of SS. Peter and Paul in Canterbury, confirming the exemption of that monastery, and a letter to the bishops of Gaul notifying them of the privileges granted to the monastery of St. Martin of Tours. The authenticity of the latter was questioned, but on the authority of Mabillon (*De re diplomatica*, I, 3rd ed., Naples 1789, cap. 3, § 9) it may be accepted. He is the first pope to date his correspondence by the year of his pontificate. Some martyrologies list his name on 26 June; however, the Bollandists demonstrate that he was never venerated in the Church.