BONIFACIO III, PAPA

BONIFACE III, POPE. — After the death of Pope Sabinianus, after a year he was succeeded by the Roman B., who was consecrated on 19 February 607. He had held numerous and important positions under St Gregory the Great: he had been designated to negotiate in Rome with foreign bishops on matters concerning their dioceses, was then sent to Antioch and Corinth to administer the patrimonies of the Church there, and finally was sent as an apocrisiary to Constantinople. The anonymous author of the *Liber Pontificalis* and Paul the Deacon (*Hist. Langobard.*, IV, 36) inform us that he obtained from Emperor Phocas an edict which, in opposition to the pretensions of the Patriarch of Constantinople to the title of “Ecumenical Patriarch,” recognized the See of Rome as the “head of all churches.” This recognition is explained by B.’s good relations with the Emperor, who at that time was in conflict with his patriarch. The same anonymous author, recalling a synod attended by 72 bishops and numerous clergy, attributes to B. a decree issued at its conclusion to establish that, while the Pope or bishop is still living, no candidacy should be advanced nor any faction formed; the election should then 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 St Peter’s calls him “guardian of justice, upright, patient, kind, eloquent, and pious.”