Saint Zacharias

Zacharias, Saint (1884–1939) ( Zachary) Pope (741–52). He strengthened the Holy See, and during his papacy he achieved a 20-year truce with the Lombards. Along with St Boniface, he established cordial relations with the Franks by supporting the accession of Pepin III (the Short) to the Frankish throne.

Saint Zacharias , pope (741-52), a Calabrian Greek; successor of St. Gregory III. He was the first pope after Gregory the Great not to seek confirmation of his election from the Byzantine emperor. By his personal prestige he forced Luitprand, king of the Lombards, to restore some towns he had taken from the pope. He sanctioned the assumption by Pepin the Short of the Frankish crown, thus beginning the cordial relations between Pepin's house and the papacy. St. Zachary's correspondence is extant; the letters to St. Boniface confirming the ecclesiastical settlements in Germany are notable. An illustrious pope, he did much to strengthen the authority of the Holy See. He was succeeded by Stephen II. Feast: Mar. 22.

Zacharias, St (d.752), Pope from 741. The last Greek Pope, he induced the Lombard King Liutprand to return four cities and all her patrimonies to the Church and to abandon his attack on Ravenna. His relations with the Frankish kingdom were cordial, and in 751 he sanctioned the deposition of the last Merovingian in favour of Pepin. He denounced the Iconoclastic policy of the Emps. Leo III and Constantine V. Feast day in the E., 5 Sept.; in the W., formerly 15 Mar.