Boniface III, Pope

BONIFACIO III, POPE. - When Pope Sabiniano died, after a year the Roman B. was given to him as successor, and was consecrated on 19 February 607. He had held numerous important offices under St. Gregorio Magno: he had been appointed to deal in Rome with foreign bishops concerning questions affecting their dioceses; he was then sent to Antiochia and Corinto to administer there the patrimonies of the Church; and finally he had been sent as apocrisiarius to Costantinopoli. The anonymous author of the Liber Pontificalis and Paolo Diacono (Hist. Langobard., IV, 36) inform us that he obtained from the emperor Foca an edict which, against the claims of the patriarch of Costantinopoli to the title of “ecumenical patriarch,” recognized for the see of Rome the title of “caput omnium ecclesiarum.” This recognition is explained by B.’s good relations with the emperor, who at that time was instead in conflict with his patriarch. The same anonymous author, recalling a synod in which 72 bishops and numerous clergy took part, attributes to B. a decree issued at its conclusion, establishing that, while the Pope or bishop is still living, no candidacy is to be put forward nor any party formed; the election is then to take place three days after the funeral. B.’s pontificate was very brief: he died in November 607. The inscription placed on his tomb in S. Pietro calls him “guardian of justice, upright, patient, kindly, eloquent, and pious.”