ANASTASIUS IV, Pope. - Conrad "de Suburra," a Roman, from 1126 cardinal and bishop of Sabina; during the schism between Innocent II and Anacletus II he had been on the side of the former, and indeed was appointed vicar for Italy when Innocent had to flee to France. On the death of Eugene III he was elected Pontiff (12 July 1153) without any opposition, although there was much unrest in Rome: this shows that Conrad was generally well regarded. He was by then old, but had much experience of curial affairs; the brief duration of his pontificate did not allow him to carry out effective action, all the more so since it unfolded only at the beginning of the reign of Frederick Barbarossa. Worthy of note are his charitable action toward the Romans during a period of famine and the construction of a palace near the Pantheon. He died on 3 Dec. 1154 and was laid in a porphyry sarcophagus in the Lateran basilica.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: Letters and privileges of A. in PL. 188, 889-1088; life in Liber Pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne, II, Paris 1892, p. 388. - A. Ciaconius, Vitae romanorum Pontificum et S. R. E. cardinalium, I, Rome 1677, col. 1051; Jaffé-Wattenbach, II, pp. 89-102.

Paolo Brezzi

@incollection{ec1_anastasio_iv_papa, author = {Brezzi, Paolo}, title = {Anastasio IV, papa}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {1156}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/anastasio-iv-papa} }

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Anastasius IV, Pope

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