HE succeeded Gregory III., in 741, and was a man of singular meekness
and goodness; and so far from any thought of revenge, that he heaped
benefits on those who had persecuted him before his promotion to the
pontificate. He loved the clergy and people of Rome to that degree, that
he hazarded his life for them on occasion of the troubles which Italy
fell into by the rebellion of the dukes of Spoletto and Benevento
against king Luitprand. Out of respect to his sanctity and dignity, that
king restored to the church of Rome all the places which belonged to it:
Ameria, Horta, Narni, Ossimo, Ancona, and the whole territory of Sabina,
and sent back the captives without ransom. The Lombards were moved to
tears at the devotion with which they heard him perform the divine
service. By a journey to Pavia, {597} he obtained also of Luitprand,
though with some difficulty, peace for the territory of Ravenna, and the
restitution of the places which he had taken from the exarchate. The
zeal and prudence of this holy pope appeared in many wholesome
regulations, which he had made to reform or settle the discipline and
peace of several churches. St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany, wrote
to him against a certain priest, named Virgilius; that he labored to sow
the seeds of discord between him and Odilo, duke of Bavaria, and taught,
besides other errors, that there were other men under the earth, another
sun and moon, and another world.[1] Pope Zachary answered, that if he
taught such an error he ought to be deposed. This cannot be understood
as a condemnation of the doctrine of Antipodes, or the spherical figure
of the earth, as some writers have imagined by mistake. The error here
spoken of is that of certain heretics, who maintained that there was
another race of men, who did not descend from Adam, and were not
redeemed by Christ. Nor did Zachary pronounce any sentence in the case:
for in the same letter he ordered that Virgilius should be sent to Rome,
that this doctrine might be examined. It seems that he cleared himself:
for we find this same Virgilius soon after made bishop of Saltzburgh.[2]
Certain Venetian merchants having bought at Rome many slaves to sell to
the Moors in Africa, St. Zachary forbade such an iniquitous traffic,
and, paying the merchants their price, gave the slaves their liberty. He
adorned Rome with sacred buildings, and with great foundations in favor
of the poor and pilgrims, and gave every year a considerable sum to
furnish oil for the lamps in St. Peter's church. He died in 752, in the
month of March, and is honored in the Roman Martyrology on this day. See
his letters and the Pontificals, t. 6, Conc., also Fleury, l. 42, t. 9,
p. 349.
Footnotes:
1. Quod alius mundus et alii homines sub terra sunt, seu alius sol et
luna. (Ep. 10, t 6, Conc. pp. 15, 21, et Bibl. Patr. Inter. Epist.
S. Bonif.) To imagine different worlds of men upon earth, some not
descending from Adam, nor redeemed by Christ, is contrary to the
holy scriptures, and therefore justly condemned as erroneous, as
Baronius observes, (add. ann. 784, n. 12.)
2. Many ancient philosophers thought the earth flat, not spherical, and
believed no Antipodes. Several fathers adopted this vulgar error in
philosophy, in which faith no way interferes, as St. Austin, (l. 16,
de Civ. Dei, c. 9,) Bede, (l. 4, de Principiis Philos.,) and Cosmas
the Egyptian, surnamed Indicopleustes. It is, however, a mistake to
imagine, with Montfaucon, in his preface to this last-mentioned
author, that this was the general opinion of Christian philosophers
down to the fifteenth century. For the learned Philophonus
demonstrated before the modern discoveries, (de Mundi Creat. l. 3,
c. 13,) that the greater part of the fathers teach the world to be a
sphere, as St. Basil, the two SS. Gregories, of Nazianzum and of
Nyssa, St. Athanasins, &c. And several among them mention Antipodes,
as St. Hilary, (in Ps. 2, n. 32,) Origen, (l. 2, de princip. c. 3,)
St. Clement, pope, &c.