Sergius I, Pope, Saint

SERGIUS I, Pope, Saint. - Of Antiochene origin, born in Palermo to a certain Tiberius, died in Rome on 8 September 701.

During the pontificate of Adeodatus (672-76) he came to Rome, where he enrolled among the clergy, and in 683 Leo II conferred the priesthood on him, incardinating him to the title of St. Susanna. On the death of Conon (687) he was elected (15 December) to the supreme pontificate by the sounder part of the electors, against the candidates of the two opposing factions: the archdeacon Paschal and the archpriest Theodore, and, having been conducted to the Lateran, he was enthroned. Theodore made an act of submission, but Paschal refused to resign himself and by promises and gifts induced the exarch John Platyn to come to Rome to support his cause. The exarch recognized the regularity of S.'s election, but demanded, despite the Pope's protests, the 100 pounds of gold promised him by Paschal. In 689 S. had the joy of conferring Baptism on the king of the Saxons Ceadwalla, and in 690 he authorized St. Willibrord, whom in 695 he himself consecrated bishop, to evangelize Frisia. In

699 with the help of the Lombard king Cunibert he succeeded in eliminating the remnants of the Aquileian schism and confirmed the patriarchate of Cormons for the Lombard jurisdiction. For the Anglo-Saxon churches he granted the pallium to Bertwald, archbishop of Canterbury. In 692 Justinian II had convoked a council, the Quinisext, almost a complement to the Fifth and Sixth Ecumenical Councils for the disciplinary part, in which 102 canons were promulgated; the Emperor claimed that his Council had validity throughout the whole Church, but he encountered an energetic opposition in S.: several decisions were in fact absolutely contrary to Roman tradition. The acts of the Council, in 6 copies, were sent to Rome so that S. might sign them, but the Pope not only did not do so, but did not even wish to see the copy destined for him. In retaliation Justinian had the bishop of Porto, John, and the consiliarius Boniface arrested and brought to Constantinople. Then he ordered the protospatharius Zacharias to capture S. himself, but the militias of Ravenna and Rome rose up in defense of the Pope, who had to intervene to calm tempers and save the life of Zacharias, who ignominiously left Rome.

S.'s building activity was manifold, directed to the restoration and embellishment of several basilicas, and his liturgical activity was no less important: he established in fact that at Mass the Agnus Dei should be sung by the clergy and the people together, and that on the four feasts of the Virgin (Nativity, Presentation, Annunciation, Assumption) a procession should be made from the church of St. Adrian to the basilica of St. Mary Major. He was buried in St. Peter's. In the Roman Martyrology he is commemorated on the 9th, where Ado was the first to insert him.

Agostino Amore