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(Reigned 867-872.)
After the death ofSt. Nicholas I, the Romanclergy and people elected, much against his will, the venerable Cardinal Adrian, universally beloved for hischarity and amiability, descended from a Romanfamily which had already given twopontiffs to theChurch,Stephen III andSergius II. Adrian was now seventy-five years old, and twice before had refused the dignity. He had been married before taking orders, and his old age was saddened by a domestic tragedy. Aspope, he followed closely in the footsteps of his energetic predecessor. He strove to maintain peace among thegreedy and incompetent descendants ofCharlemagne. In an interview atMonte Cassino he admitted to communion the repentant King Lothair ofLorraine, after exacting from him a publicoath that he had held no intercourse with hisconcubine since thepope's prohibition, that he would take back his lawful wife Theutberga, and abide by the final decision of theRoman See. He upheld with vigour againstHincmar of Reims the unlimitedright ofbishops toappeal to theSovereign Pontiff. At theEighth General Council, which he convened at Constantinople in 869, and presided over through tenlegates, he effected thedeposition ofPhotius and the restoration of unity between the East and the West. He was unsuccessful in retaining theBulgarians for the westernpatriarchate; that nation unwisely determined to adhere to Constantinople, a course which was destined to bring upon it ruin and stagnation. Adrian saved the westernSlavs from a similarfate by seconding the efforts of thesaintly brothers,Cyril and Methodius. Of enduring influence, forgood orevil, was the endorsement he gave to their rendering of theliturgy in theSlavonic tongue. Adrian died towards the close of the year 872.
Liber Pontif. (ed. DUCHESNE), 173-190; JAFFÉ, Regesta RR. PP. (2d ed.), I, 368-375, II, 703, 704, 745, 746; MANSI Coll. Conc., XV, 819 sq.; WATTERICH, Vitae Rom. Pont 631 sq.; LAPOTRE, Hadrien II et les fausses d cr tales, in Rev. des Quest. Hist. (1880), XXVII, 377-431; ARTAUD DE MONTOR, Lives and Times of the Roman Pontiffs (tr. New York, 1867), I, 225, 226; GORINI, Defense de l'Église (1866), III, 20-38, 160-176; ALEX. NATALIS, Hist. Eccl. (1778), VI, 399-409.
APA citation.Loughlin, J.(1907).Pope Adrian II. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01156a.htm
MLA citation.Loughlin, James."Pope Adrian II."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 1.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1907.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01156a.htm>.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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