Hadrian III.

Hadrian III. (Romans, † September 17 (?) September 885 in San Cesario sul Panaro near Modena , northern Italy ), was Pope from May 884 until his death in 885 .

Life

Hadrian's father is said to have been called Benedict. His real name is unknown and there are no reports of life before the pontificate . There is also no vita that tells of his martyrdom .

Hadrian III. was enthroned on May 17, 884 as the successor to Pope Marinus I. For the short pontificate almost exclusively acts of violence have come down to us. While the drought and famine prevailed in Rome, the Pope had to assert himself in the ongoing urban turmoil that had persisted since the murder of his predecessor John VIII (872–882). He brutally fought against the supporters of his predecessor Marinus I. Soon after taking office, a high-ranking cleric was murdered in St. Peter's Church . Hadrian blinded another follower of Marinus. He had a Roman aristocrat scourged and drifted naked through the streets of Rome. His few documents, which are addressed to Italian and southern French recipients, do not reveal a clear profile of the pontificate.

At the request of the Frankish emperor Karl III. In the year 885 he started a trip to the Reichstag in Worms , where he was supposed to depose some bishops and help Karl's illegitimate son Bernhard to succeed him as ruler of the Frankish Empire . During the trip, the Pope was violently killed near Modena in September 885 and was buried in the nearby Abbey of Nonantola . According to the speculation of Volker Reinhardt, the husband of the humiliated aristocrat could be the murderer, but robbers or a politically motivated assassination attempt are also conceivable .

Adoration

Probably mainly because of his violent death, Hadrian III. at his grave a local cult of saints, which on June 2, 1891 by Pope Leo XIII. has been confirmed. At times, there was this confusion with Hadrian I. Shown is the holy Hadrian in the Pope robe and with the attributes of Tiara and equipped with three cross bar cross bar . His patronage festival is celebrated on July 8th.

The Orthodox Church venerates him as the “last Orthodox Pope of Rome” and has set his feast day on June 17th.

literature

Rudolf Schieffer : Hadrian III. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 4, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8904-2 , Sp. 1823.
Klaus Herbers : Hadrian III. In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 4 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1995, Sp. 1135 .
Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Hadrian III. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 427. ( Article / beginning of article in the Internet archive )
Lexicon of Saints. Verlagsgruppe Weltbild , Augsburg 2006 (license from Voltmedia-Verlag, Paderborn 2005), ISBN 3-8289-4980-0 , p. 20f.

Web links

Commons : Hadrian III. - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Tobias Glenz: Popes in the crosshairs. In: Katholisch.de , May 11, 2017, accessed December 4, 2018.

predecessor	Office	successor
Marinus I.	Pope 884-885	Stephan V.

personal data
SURNAME	Hadrian III.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Pope (884-885)
DATE OF BIRTH	9th century
PLACE OF BIRTH	uncertain: Rome
DATE OF DEATH	uncertain: September 17, 885
Place of death	San Cesario sul Panaro near Modena , Northern Italy

[1] Tobias Glenz: Popes in the crosshairs. In: Katholisch.de , May 11, 2017, accessed December 4, 2018.