Pope Saint Gregory II.
This File: 4 December 2006.
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Apparently, the practice had been frowned upon by Popes of previous Centuries, as pagans had Fasted on Thursdays as part of their worship of Jupiter.[24]
He also prescribed the Offices be Said during Church Services on Thursdays in Lent, as, prior to this, The Mass of the preceding Sunday was Said on those Thursdays.[25]
Gregory attempted to remain on good diplomatic terms with the Lombards, and especially with their King, Liutprand. In April 716 A.D., he managed to get Liutprand to agree not to retake the Cottian Alps, which had been granted to The Roman Church in the Reign of Aripert II.[26]
However, the semi-independent Lombard Duchy of Benevento, under the expansionist Duke Romuald II, resumed hostilities by capturing Cumae in 717 A.D., cutting Rome off from Naples.[27]
Neither threats of Divine retribution, nor outright bribery, made an impression on Romuald, and, so, Gregory appealed to Duke John I of Naples, funding his campaign to successfully retake Cumae.[28]
That same year saw the Lombard Duke Faroald II of Spoleto, capture Classis, the port of Ravenna. Gregory brokered a deal with Liutprand, who forced Faroald to return it to The Exarch of Ravenna.[29]
Perceiving that the Lombard threat would continue to fester, and they would take Imperial territory in Italy a piece at a time, around 721 A.D. Pope Gregory II appealed to the Franks, asking Charles Martel to intervene and drive out the Lombards. Charles, however, did not respond to the request.[30]
A law issued by Liutprand in 723 A.D. (law number thirty-three), prohibited a man from marrying the widow of his cousin on either the mother’s or father’s side, and specifically stated that the “Pope in the City of Rome” [“papa urbis romæ”] had sent him a Letter exhorting him to issue this legislation,[31] indicating a degree of cordial communication between them.
Imperial weakness in Italy encouraged further Lombard incursions, and, in 725 A.D., they captured the fortress of Narni.
Then, in 727 A.D., with The Exarchate of Ravenna in chaos over the Byzantine Emperor’s iconoclast decrees (see, below), the Lombards captured and destroyed Classis and overran The Pentapolis.[32]
Although Classis was retaken in 728 A.D., fighting continued between Byzantine forces and the Lombards until 729 A.D., when Gregory brokered a deal between Liutprand and the Byzantine Exarch, Eutychius, bringing about a temporary ceasing of hostilities that held until Gregory’s death.[33]
Gregory and Liutprand met in 729 A.D. at the ancient City of Sutri. Here, the two reached an agreement, known as the Donation of Sutri, whereby Sutri and some Hill Towns in Latium (see, Vetralla) were given to The Papacy.[34] They were the first extension of Papal territory beyond the confines of The Duchy of Rome, and, in effect, marked the beginning of The Papal States.
Tensions between Gregory and the Imperial Court began around 722 A.D., when The Holy Roman Emperor Leo III attempted to raise taxes on the Papal patrimonies in Italy, draining the Papacy’s monetary reserves.
Leo required this revenue to pay for the ongoing Arab War, while Gregory needed it to provide local foodstuffs for the City of Rome, thereby relieving Rome on its reliance upon the long-distance supply of grain.[35]
The result was, through refusing to pay the additional taxes, Gregory encouraged the Roman populace to drive the Imperial Governor of Rome from the City, and Leo was unable to impose his will upon Rome, as Lombard pressure kept the Exarch of Ravenna from fielding an army to bring the Pope to heel.[36]
However, in 725 A.D., possibly at the Emperor’s request, Marinus, who had been sent from Constantinople to govern The Duchy of Rome, encouraged a conspiracy to murder the Pope.
Involving a Duke, named Basil, the Chartoularios Jordanes, and a Sub-Deacon named Laurion, the departure of Marinus paused the Plot, only to see it resume with the arrival of the new Exarch, Paul. However, the Plot was uncovered, and the conspirators were put to death.[37]
Then, in 726 A.D., Leo issued an iconoclast edict, condemning possession of any icon of the Saints.[38] Although Leo made no move to enforce this edict in The West, beyond having it read in Rome and Ravenna, Gregory immediately rejected the edict.[39]
Paul rallied the loyalist forces and attempted to restore order, but was killed. The armies discussed electing their own Emperor and marching on Constantinople, but were dissuaded by Pope Gregory from acting against Leo.[40] At the same time, the self-described “Duke” Exhilaratus and his son, Hadrian, rebelled in Naples, sided with The Emperor and marched on Rome in order to kill Gregory, but were overthrown by the people and killed.[41]
In 727 A.D., Gregory summoned a Synod to condemn Iconoclasm.[42] According to Greek sources, principally Theophanes, it was at this point that Gregory excommunicated Leo.
He wrote:
“You say: ‘We worship stones and walls and boards.’ But it is not so, O Emperor; but they serve us for remembrance and encouragement, lifting our slow spirits upwards, by those whose names the pictures bear and whose representations they are.
“And we worship them not as God, as you maintain. God forbid ! . . Even the little children mock at you. Go into one of their schools, say that you are the enemy of images, and straightway they will throw their little tablets at your head, and what you have failed to learn from the wise you may pick up from the foolish . . .
“In virtue of the power which has come down to us from Saint Peter, The Prince of The Apostles, we might inflict punishment upon you, but, since you have invoked one on yourself, have that, you and the counsellors you have chosen . . . though you have so excellent a High Priest, our brother Germanus, whom you ought to have taken into your counsels as father and teacher . . .
“The dogmas of The Church are not a matter for the Emperor, but for the Bishops.”[44]
Gregory’s letters to Leo have been accused of being apocryphal,[45] and may not accurately reflect the real content of Gregory’s correspondence with Leo.
Next, he attempted to turn the Lombard King and Dukes against the Pope, but they retained their ambivalent stance, not committing one way or the other.[47] That same year, Gregory wrote to Patriarch Germanus I of Constantinople, giving the Patriarch his support, and when Germanus abdicated, Gregory refused to acknowledge the new Patriarch, Anastasius, nor the iconoclast rulings of a Council summoned by Leo.[48]
In 729 A.D., Eutychius finally managed to bring about an alliance with the Lombard King, Liutprand, and both agreed to help the other deal with their rebellious subjects. After they had subjugated the Dukes of Spoleto and Benevento, bringing them under Liutprand’s authority, they turned to Rome with the intent of bringing Gregory to heel.[49]
Regardless, Gregory was still a devoted and vigorous defender of the Empire. This was demonstrated in 730 A.D. when there arose another usurper, Tiberius Petasius, who raised a revolt in Tuscany. He was defeated by the Exarch, Eutychius, who received steady support from Pope Gregory.[51]
Gregory died on 11 February 731 A.D., and was buried in Saint Peter’s Basilica. The location of his tomb has since been lost. He was Canonised and is Commemorated as a Saint in The Roman Calendar and Martyrology on 13 February, although some Martyrologies list him under 11 February.[52]
A miracle concerning Pope Gregory II is linked to the victory over Muslim forces at the Battle of Toulouse (721 A.D.). According to The Liber Pontificalis, in 720 A.D., Pope Gregory sent to Odo, Duke of Aquitaine, “three Blessed sponges/baskets of bread”. The Duke kept these, and just before the battle outside of Toulouse, he distributed small portions of these to be eaten by his troops. After the battle, it was reported that no-one who had eaten a part of the sponges/baskets of bread had been killed or wounded.[53]
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