Pope Gregory II

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Gregory II
Birth name  ???
Papacy began May 19, 715
Papacy ended February 11, 731
Predecessor Constantine
Successor Gregory III
Born  ???
Rome, Italy
Died February 11, 731
Rome, Italy. Location of tomb has since been lost.
Other popes named Gregory
Styles of
Pope Gregory II
Reference style His Holiness
Spoken style Your Holiness
Religious style Holy Father
Posthumous style Saint


Pope Gregory II served as pope from May 19, 715 to his death on February 11, 731, succeeding Pope Constantine. Having, it is said, bought off the Lombards for thirty pounds of gold, he used the tranquillity thus obtained for vigorous missionary efforts among the Germanic tribes, and for strengthening the papal authority in the churches of Britain and Ireland. By excommunicating the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian, he prepared the way for a long series of revolts and civil wars, which tended greatly to the establishment of the temporal power of the popes. He died in 731, and subsequently attained the honour of canonization. The day that Gregory is remembered in the "Martyrology" seems to be any one of February 11th, February 13th, and February 28th.

Gregory II was an alleged collateral ancestor to the Roman Savelli family, according to a 15th century chronicler, but this is undocumented and very likely unreliable. The same was said of Benedict II, but nothing certain is known about a kinship between the two popes.

[edit] References


Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Constantine
Pope
715–731
Succeeded by
Gregory III


from the 9th edition (1880) of an unnamed encyclopedia

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