ZACCARIA, PAPA, saint. — Son of a Greek father residing in Calabria, he was elected on 3 December 741 and died on 15 March 752.
Unlike his predecessor Gregorio III, in his dealings with Liutprando, king of the Lombards, he judged it preferable to inaugurate friendly relations with him. He himself went to Terni (742) and concluded a highly advantageous agreement whereby Liutprando promised to return the four fortresses of Amelia, Orte, Bomarco, and Bieda, which he still unjustly retained; he restored to him the estates that had been usurped for about thirty years and concluded a twenty-year truce with the Duchy of Rome. The Pope also intervened on behalf of the Exarchate of Ravenna, which the Lombards wished to take from the Byzantines (743), but succeeded only in delaying the undertaking, later carried out by King Astolfo in 751. Z. succeeded in winning the Roman Church the favor of the emperor Costantino V and received as a gift the massae of Norma and Ninfa. In reality, this was merely compensation for the loss of other domains in Sicily and Calabria. In 747, Z. approved the change of regime in France with Breve (v.). The Pope also proved a capable administrator of the Church’s lands, which were cultivated through well-organized agricultural establishments (v. PIETRO). In Rome he restored the Lateran Palace, which had been badly damaged, and embellished, at the foot of the Palatine, the church of S. Maria Antiqua, where his portrait, executed while he was still alive, is still preserved. His feast is celebrated on 15 March.