Pope Adrian III
{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 884 to 885}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = Pope Saint
| name = Adrian III
| title = Bishop of Rome
| church = Catholic Church
| term_start = 17 May 884
| term_end = 8 July 885
| predecessor = Marinus I
| successor = Stephen V
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Rome, Papal States
| death_date = 8 July 885
| death_place = Modena, Carolingian Empire
| feast_day = 8 July
| venerated = Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church
| canonized_date = 2 June 1891
| canonized_place = Rome, Kingdom of Italy
| canonized_by = Leo XIII
| attributes =
| other = Adrian
}}
Pope Adrian III or Hadrian III ({{langx|la|Adrianus}} or Hadrianus; died 8 July 885) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 17 May 884 to his death on 8 July 885. He served for little more than a year, during which he worked to help the people of Italy in a very troubled time of famine and war.
Background
Adrian III was born in Rome. According to Jean Mabillon, his birth name was Agapitus. Reginald L. Poole believes that Mabillon confused Adrian III, who succeeded Marinus I, with Agapetus II, who succeeded Marinus II a century later.Reginald L. Poole (1917), "The Names and Numbers of Medieval Popes", The English Historical Review, 32 (128), 465–78, at 467.
Pontificate
Adrian laboured hard to alleviate the misery of the people of Italy, prey to famine and to continuous war.{{cite web| url = https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-hadrian-iii/| title = Monks of Ramsgate. "Hadrian III". Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 1 September 2013}} He is also known to have written a letter condemning the Christians of both Muslim-ruled and Christian-ruled parts of Spain for being too friendly with the Jews in these lands.{{cite book|author1=Bernard S. Bachrach|title=Early Medieval Jewish Policy in Western Europe|date=1977|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=9780816608140|page=190|edition=reprint}} Adrian also sent Theodosius, the bishop of Brindisi and Oria, to Constantinople to deliver a synodal letter about faith and the filioque to patriarch Photius I.{{cite book |last1=Dvornik |first1=Francis |title=The Photian Schism |date=1948 |publisher=CUP Archive |pages=228–230 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_A8AAAAIAAJ |access-date=20 January 2024 |language=en}}
Adrian died in July 885 at San Cesario sul Panaro (Modena), not long after embarking on a trip to Worms, in the Rhineland. The purpose of the journey was to attend an Imperial Diet after being summoned by Emperor Charles the Fat to settle the imperial successionRichard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to John Paul II, (HarperCollins, 2000), 143. and discuss the rising power of the Saracens.
Adrian's death and subsequent burial in the church of San Silvestro Nonantola Abbey near ModenaFrançois Bougard (2002), "Hadrian III", in Philippe Levillain, ed., The Papacy: An Encyclopedia, vol. 2 (New York and London: Routledge), 682. is commemorated in the sculpted reliefs ({{circa|1122}}) that frame the doorway of this church. His relics are found near the high altar, and his tomb at once became a popular place of pilgrimage. His cult was confirmed by Pope Leo XIII on 2 June 1891, and his feast day is celebrated on 8 July. Orthodox Feasts dates are 8 and 30 July.{{Cite web |title=АДРИАН III РИМСКИЙ - Древо |url=http://drevo-info.ru/articles/10407.html |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=drevo-info.ru |language=ru}}
See also
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{Cite book|last=Dvornik|first=Francis|author-link=Francis Dvornik|title=The Photian Schism: History and Legend|year=1948|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_A8AAAAIAAJ}}
External links
- [http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01_01_0884-0885-_Hadrianus_III,_Sanctus.html Opera Omnia Hadriani III by Migne, Patrologia Latina, with analytical indexes] {{inlang|la}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=Marinus I}}
{{s-ttl|title=Pope|years=884–885}}
{{s-aft|after=Stephen V}}
{{s-end}}
{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adrian 03}}
Category:9th-century archbishops
Category:9th-century Christian saints
Category:Burials at Nonantola Abbey