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Pope Agapetus II

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Pope
Agapetus II
Bishop of Rome
Denarius of Agapetus II
Denarius of Agapetus II
Church Catholic Church
Papacy began 10 May 946
Papacy ended 8 November 955
Predecessor Marinus II
Successor John XII
Personal details
Born about 911
Rome, Papal States
Died 8 November 955
Rome, Papal States
Other popes named Agapetus

Pope Agapetus II (c. 911 – 8 November 955) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 10 May 946 to his death. A nominee of the princeps of Rome, Alberic II of Spoleto, his pontificate occurred during the period known as the Saeculum obscurum.

Pontificate

He was elected pope on 10 May 946 after the death of Marinus II. The existence of an independent republic of Rome, ruled by Alberic II of Spoleto, meant that Agapetus was prevented from exercising any temporal or secular power in Rome and the Papal States. The struggle between Berengar II and Otto I for the Kingdom of Italy allowed Alberic to exercise complete control over Rome and Agapetus, meaning the pope was largely limited to managing internal church affairs.[1] Even Agapetus’ invitation to Otto to intervene in Italian affairs in 951 was done at the instigation of Alberic, who was growing concerned at Berengar's growing power. However, when Otto's envoys, the bishops of Mainz and Chur, were sent to the pope to discuss Otto's reception in Rome and other more important questions, they were turned away by Alberic.[2]

Agapetus was forced to intervene in the dispute over the occupancy of the See of Reims. He ordered a synod to be held at Ingelheim in June 948 to resolve the rights of the rival claimants, Hugh of Vermandois and Artald of Reims. He sent his legate Marinus of Bomarzo to act on his behalf, while Agapetus wrote to a number of bishops, asking them to be present at the council.[3] Through his legate the pope indicated his support for King Louis IV of France, and gave his support for reinstalling Artald as bishop of Reims.[4] This council was followed up by another one at Trier, where Agapetus was again represented by Marinus of Bomarzo. In 949, Agapetus held a synod in Rome, which confirmed the rulings of the two councils. It condemned the former bishop Hugh and it excommunicated his father, Count Herbert II of Vermandois, for his opposition to King Louis IV.[5]

After receiving requests from both Louis IV of France and Otto I of Germany, Agapetus granted privileges to monasteries and nunneries within their respective kingdoms. He also was sympathetic towards Otto's plans to restructure the bishoprics within Germany, which were eventually aborted due to pressure exerted by William of Mainz.[6] Around 948, Agapetus granted the Archbishop of Hamburg the right of consecrating bishops in Denmark and other northern European countries instead of the pope.[7] The pope was also allegedly asked by a Danish king named Frode, now considered mythical, to send missionaries to his kingdom.[8]

Agapetus was also asked to intervene in a dispute between Herhold, archbishop of Salzburg and Gerard, bishop of Lauriacum, who both claimed the title of metropolitan of all Pannonia. Agapetus dispatched a letter to the two claimants, in which he stated that the diocese of Lauriacum had been the metropolitan church of all Pannonia before the invasion of the Huns. However, following the ravages inflicted by them, the metropolitan had transferred his see to another city, and since that time Salzburg had been raised to an archbishopric. Consequently, both lawfully occupied their respective sees, and both were to retain their rank and diocese. Agapetus ruled that jurisdiction over western Pannonia would rest with Herhold, while the eastern part, along with the regions occupied by the Avars and the Moravians, would fall under Gerard.[9]

In Italy, Agapetus wrote to the dukes of Beneventum and Capua, demanding that monasteries be returned to the monks whom they had displaced. He also deposed the bishops of Termoli and Trivento who were accused of simony. Hoping to rejuvenate the religious life of the clerics in Italy, Agapetus, with the blessing of Alberic, asked for the abbot of Gorze Abbey to send some of his monks down and join the monastic community attached to the church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.[10]

Agapetus died on 8 November 955, and was succeeded by Alberic's son, Octavian, who took the papal name of John XII. He was buried in the Lateran basilica, behind the apse, and close to the tombs of Leo V and Paschal II.[11] Agapetus was noted for his caution and for the sanctity with which he led his life.[12]

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Pope Agapetus II, a Roman by birth, elected to the papacy 10 May, 946; he reigned, not ingloriously, for ten years, during what has been termed the period of deepest humiliation for the papacy. He proved that the true spiritual dignity of the papacy can be successfully upheld by a saintly and resolute pontiff amid the most untoward surroundings. The temporal power had practically vanished and Rome was ruled by the vigorous Princeps and Senator Albericht, who was the prototype of the later Italian tyrants. Nevertheless, the name and virtues of Agapetus were respected throughout the entire Christian world. He laboured incessantly to restore the decadent discipline in churches and cloisters. He succeeded eventually in quieting the disturbances in the metropolitan see of Reims. He supported the Emperor Otto the Great in his plans for the evangelization of the heathens of the North. Seeing no other way of putting an end to anarchy in Italy, he joined with other Italian nobles in persuading the Emperor to make his first expedition into the peninsula. During his lifetime, his successor was virtually appointed in the person of Albericht's notorious son Octavian, later John XII, whose father forced the Romans to swear that they would elect him as their temporal and spiritual lord upon the demise of Agapetus. The Pope died in August, 956, leaving an unsullied name, and was buried in St. John Lateran.

Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne), II, 245. For his correspondence see Jaffé, Regesta RR. PP., 2d ed., I, 459–463; Artaud de Montor, Lives of the Popes (New York, 1867), 250–251.

References

  1. Back to citation Mann, pgs. 226-229
  2. Back to citation Gregorovius, pgs 323-324
  3. Back to citation Mann, pgs. 231-232
  4. Back to citation Mann, pgs. 233-234
  5. Back to citation Mann, pg. 234
  6. Back to citation Mann, pg. 236
  7. Back to citation Mann, pgs. 237-238
  8. Back to citation Mann, pg. 238
  9. Back to citation DeCormenin, Louis Marie; Gihon, James L., A Complete History of the Popes of Rome, from Saint Peter, the First Bishop to Pius the Ninth (1857), pg. 291
  10. Back to citation Mann, pgs. 238-240
  11. Back to citation Mann, pg. 240
  12. Back to citation Gregorovius, pg. 321; Mann, pg. 225

Bibliography

  • Gregorovius, Ferdinand, The History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Vol. III (1895)
  • Mann, Horace K., The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. IV: The Popes in the Days of Feudal Anarchy, 891-999 (1910)
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