STEPHEN
289
STEPHEN
and preventing civil wax. Ratchis returned to his
monastery and Desiderius was recognized as king
(about March, 757). The latter, however, did not
fulfil his promise to the pope in its entirety. He
gave up Faenza, Fcrrara, and two small towns, but
retainetl Bologna, Imola, and other towns in the
Pentapolis till his overthrow by Charlemagne.
Stephen had scarcely established a system of govern-
ment in the exarchate when he had to quell the
rebellion of Sergius, Archbishop of Ravenna, whom
he had made its governor. He, however, caused the
rebel to be brought to Rome, and kept him there
whilst he lived. Stephen corresponded with the
Emperor Constantine on the subject of the restoration
of the sacred images, and himself restored many of
the ancient churches of the city. Remarkable for
his love of the poor, Stephen built hosjiiials for them
near St. Peter's, in which church he was buried.
Ed. DnCHESSE, Liber PontificaKs. I (Paris, 18S0), 440 sq.; ed. Jaff^. Codex Carolinus (Berlin, 1867); Man. Ger. Hist.: Epp., Ill (Berlin, 1892); Script., 1; Script, rerum Langob. Most of these sources will be found in H.\ller, Die queiten zur Gesch. der Entstehung des Kirchenstaates (Leipzig, 1907) ; Hodqkin, Italy and her Inmders, VII (Oxford. 1899) ; Dochesne, The Beginning of the Temporal Sovereignty of the Popes (London, 1908), iii, iv; Mann, Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, I, pt. ii (Lon- don, 1902), 289 sqq.
Horace K. Mann.
Stephen (HI) IV, Pope, b. about 720; d. 1 or 3 August, 772. Paul I was not dead when trouble began about the election of his successor. Toto of Nepi with a body of Tuscans burst into Rome, and, despite the opposition of the primicerius Christopher, forcibly intruded his brother Constantine, a layman, into the chair of Peter (June, 767). In tlie spring of 768, however, Christopher and his son Sergius con- trived to escape from the city, and with the aid of the Lombards deposed the usurper. They were also able to overthrow the monk Philip, whom some of their Lombard allies had clandestinely elected pope. By their efforts Stephen, a Sicilian, the son of Olivus, was at length canonically elected and consecrated (7 August, 768). He had been a Benedictine monk, and had been ordained priest by Pope Zachary. After his consecration the antipopes were treated with the greatest cruelty which, it seems to be generally al- lowed, Stephen was unable to hinder. To prevent the recurrence of such an election as that of Con- stantine, the Lateran council forbade laj-men to be elected popes or to take part in their election for the future. Only cardinals were to be chosen popes (.\pril, 769). Through Stephen's support the arch- deacon Leo was enabled to hold the See of Ravenna against a lay intruder, and in turn through the sup- port of the brothers Charlemagne and Carloman, Kings of the Franks, Stephen was able to recover some territories from the Lombards. But their king, Desiderius, managed to strike two serious blows at Stephen. He brought about a marri;ige between his daughter and Charlemagne, .and in .some mysterious manner effected the fall of the pope's chief ministers, Christopher and Sergius. He also allied himself with Paul Afiarta, Stephen's chamberlain, who practised great cruelties when the pope lay dying. Desiderius also brought about trouble in Istria by trying to cause a schism against the Patriarch of Grailo, but Stephen defended the patriarch promising him even armed support if necessary. Stephen is honoured as a saint in some MartjTologies.
For bibliography see Stephen (H) III. Pope.
Horace K. Mann.
Stephen (IV) V, Pope (816-17), date of birth unknown; d. 24 Jan., 817. Stephen, the son of Mari- nus, was of the same noble Roman family which gave two other popes to the Church. During his ^•outh he had been patronized by Hadrian I and Leo III, the latter of whom had ordained him deacon. His virtues were celebrated, and he was elected pope and XIV.— 19
consecrated immediately after Leo's death, abotit
22 June, 816. He at once caused the Romans to
take an oath to the Emperor Louis the Pious as their
suzerain, and he sent notice of his election to him.
He then went to France and crowned Louis. From
that benevolent prince he received a number of splen-
did presents, and with him renewed the pact or agree-
ment that had already existed for some time between
the Franks and the papacy. Whilst still in Gaul
he granted the palhum to Theodulf of Orleans, one
of the emperor's chief advisers, ^^■hen returning to
Rome he \'isited Ravenna, there exposing the sandals
of Christ to the veneration of the faithful, and he
brought back with him a number of exiles whom
poUtical reasons had sent into exile during the
pontificate of Leo III. He was buried in St. Peter's.
Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne. II, 49 sqq.; Lives of Louis the Pious and various annals in Mon, Germ. Hist.: Script., II; Mann, Lives of the Popes. II, 111 sqq.
Horace K. Mann.
Stephen (V) VI, Pope (885-91), date of birth unknown; d. in Sept., 891. His father, Hadrian, who belonged to the Roman aristocracy, entrusted his education to his relative. Bishop Zachary, libra- rian of the Holy See. Stephen was created cardi- nal-priest of SS. Quattro Coronati by Marinus I, and his obvious holiness was the cause of his being chosen pope. He was consecrated in September, 8S5, without waiting for the imperial confirmation; but when Charles the Fat found with what unanimity he had been elected he let the matter rest. Stephen was called upon to face a famine caused by a drought and by locusts, and as the papal treasury was empty he had to fall back on his father's wealth to relieve the poor, to redeem captives, and to repair churches. To promote order he adopted Guido III, Count of Spoleto, "as his son" and crow^led him Emperor (891). He also recognized Louis the Blind as King of Provence. As Aurelian, Archbishop of Lyons, would not con.secrate Teutbold who had been canon- ically elected Bishop of Langres, Stephen nimself consecrated him. He had also to oppose the arbi- trary proceedings of the Archbishops of Bordeaux and Ravenna, and to resist the attacks which the Patriarch Photius made on the Roman See. His resistance was successful, and the Emperor Leo sent the disturber into exile. \Mien writing against Photius, he begged the emperor to send wanships and soldiers to enable him to ward off the assaults of the Saracens. Stephen, who received many English pilgrims and envoys bringing Peterspence, was buried in the portico of the basilica of that Apostle.
Liber Pontificalis. II. 191 sqq., 226; Letters of Stephen in P. L., CXXIX, and LowENFELD, Epp. Pont. Rom. (Leipzig, 1885), 35 sqq.; various annals in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script.. I; Frodoard in ibid., XIII; Duchesne, The Beginnings of the Temporal Sovereignly of the Popes (London, 1907), 189, 194-5; Mann, Lives of the Popes, III, 367 sqq.
Horace K. Mann.
Stephen (VI) VII, Pope (896-7), date of birth unknown; d. about August, 897. Stephen was a Roman, and the .son of John, a priest. He had been consecrated Bi.shop of Anagni, possibly against his will, by Formosus, and became pope about May, 896. Whether induce<l by evil pa.ssion or perhaps, more probably, com])elIed by the Emperor Lambert and his mother Ageltruda, he caused the body of For- mosus to be e.xhumed, and in January, 897, to be placed before an unwilling sjTiod of the Roman clergy. A deacon was appointed to answer for the deceiised pontiff, who was condemned for performing the functions of a bishoj) when he had been deposed and for passing from the See of Porto to that of Rome. The corpse was then stripped of its sacred vestments, deprived of two fingers of its right hand, clad in the garb of a layman, and ultimately thrown into the Tiber. Fortunately it was not granted to Stephen to have time to do much else besides this atrocious
