Pope Zacharias

Saint Zacharias, or Zachary pope (741-752), a Greek by birth, appears to have been on intimate terms with Gregory III, whom he succeeded (November 741).

Contemporary history dwells chiefly on his great personal influence with the Lombard king Luitprand, and with his successor Rachis; it was largely through his tact in dealing with these princes in a variety of emergencies that the exarchate of Ravenna was rescued from becoming a Lombard duchy. A correspondence, of considerable extent, and great interest, between Zacharias and Saint Boniface, the apostle of Germany, survives, and shows how great was the influence of this pope on events then passing in France and Germany; he encouraged the deposition of the last Merovingian king of the Franks, Childeric III, and it was with his sanction that Boniface crowned Pepin the short as king of the Franks at Soissons in 752. Zacharias is stated to have remonstrated with the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Copronymus on the part he had taken in the iconoclastic controversy. He died March 14, 752, and was succeeded by Stephen II

The letters and decrees of Zacharias are published in Migne, Patrolog. lat. lxxxix. p. 917-960.

Preceded by:
Pope Gregory III List of popes Succeeded by:
Pope Stephen II