- Pope Stephen III
Infobox Pope
English name=Stephen III
term_start=August 7 ,768
term_end=January 24 ,772
predecessor=Paul I
successor=Adrian I
birth_date=?? 720
birthplace=Sicily ,Italy
dead=dead|death_date=death date|772|1|24|mf=y
deathplace=?
other=StephenPope Stephen III, (720 –
January 24 ,772 ),pope August 1 orAugust 7 ,768 –January 24 ,772 , was a native ofSicily .He came to Rome during the pontificate of Gregory III and gradually rose to high office in the service of successive popes.
After the deposition of Antipopes Constantine II and Philip, Stephen was chosen to succeed him. Fragmentary records are preserved of the council (April 769) at which the degradation of Constantine was completed, certain new arrangements for papal elections made, and the practice of devotion to
icon s confirmed (seeiconoclasm ). The politics of Stephen's reign are obscure, but he inclined to alliance between thePapacy and theLombards rather than to theFranks . He was succeeded by Adrian I.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.