EUGENE III, POPE. — Born Pietro Bernardo, of a noble family from the vicinity of Pisa, he was born at Tivoli on 8 July 1103. He was a canon of the cathedral in Ascoli Piceno and later, at Clairvaux, a monk and disciple of St. Bernard, from where he moved as abbot to the monastery of St. Vincent and Anastasius in Rome. Upon the death of Lucius II, he was unanimously elected pope on 15 February 1145, but due to opposition from the Senate, he was forced to flee to Farfa, where he was consecrated on the 18th of the same month. Of a gentle disposition, he had to confront the popular uprisings stirred up by Arnold of Brescia, who inflamed the Romans to restore the Republic. His first concern was to return to Rome.
From Viterbo, where he had taken refuge after his consecration, with the help of the nobility and the surrounding territory of Tivoli, he managed to reach an agreement with the people, maintaining the Senate and the prefect in the city. On Christmas of 1145, he entered Rome in triumph. However, the city’s discord resumed, and in March 1146, he was again compelled to leave; passing through Sutri, Viterbo, and Lombardy, he made his way to France. During his absence, Arnold, who had already once obtained forgiveness, resumed stirring up the people against papal authority; the Republic was proclaimed, while the houses of nobles, cardinals, and churches were plundered. In France, Eugene presided over several synods, addressing ecclesiastical reform; he condemned the errors of Gilbert de la Porrée and Eudo of Stella and promoted the Second Crusade, whose preaching was entrusted to St. Bernard. Toward the end of 1149, with the support of King Roger II of Sicily, he was able to return to Rome, but he had to depart again in May 1150, wandering through the cities of Lazio. Weary of the burdensome protection of Roger, he sought to draw closer to Conrad III of Germany, who was preparing an expedition to Italy, but the king’s death prevented any agreement. In December 1152, Eugene was able to return to Rome, still troubled by Arnold’s machinations, and in March 1153, he concluded a treaty with Frederick Barbarossa, by which the emperor pledged to restore papal authority in Rome, while Eugene promised him the imperial crown. Eugene, however, died shortly afterward. He was buried in St. Peter’s. Though living in difficult times, he always cultivated religious virtues, drawing admirable strength of endurance from the teachings of his master St. Bernard, who had dedicated to him the work *De consideratione*, proposing methods to be followed in the governance of the Church. In 1872, Pius IX approved his cult as a blessed.
