Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/547

 VITALINI

485

VITALINI

According to the "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 343) he was a native of Segni in Campagna, and hia father's name was Anastasiiis. After the death of Pope Eugene I, on 2 or 3 June, 657, Vitahan was elected his successor, and consecrated and enthroned on 30 July. Like his predecessor, Vitahan sought to restore the connexion with Constantinople by friendly advances to the Eastern Emperor Constans 11 (041- 668) and to prepare the way for the settlement of the Monothelite controversy. He sent letters (aynodica) annoimcing his elevation by envoys both to the em- peror and to Patriarch Peter of Constantinople, who was incUned to Monothelitism. The emperor con- firmed the privileges of the Roman Church and sent to St. Peter as a present a codex of the Gospels in a cover of gold richly ornamented with precious stones. The Patriarch Peter also sent an answer, though not a definite one, as to Monothelilism, which he sought 1o defend. He made it appear that he was of the same opinion as the pope, who in writing to Peter had expounded the Catholic Faith. Thus ecclesiastical intercourse between Rome and Constan- tinople was restored on the basis of this mutual reserve over the dogmatic question, and Vitalian's name was entered on the diptychs of the Byzantine Church — the only name of a pope so entered between the reign of Honorius I (d. 638) and the Sixth (Ecumenical Council of 680-81. Vitalian also showed the same friendliness to the Emperor Constans II, when the latter, in 663, came to Rome and spent twelve days there during the campaign against the Lombards. On 5 July the pope, accompanied by the Roman clergy, went as far as the sixth milestone to meet the emperor and accompanied him to St. Peter's, where the emperor offered gifts. On the following Simday Consstans went in state to St. Peter's, offered a pallium wrought with gold, and was present during the Mass celebrated by the pope. The emperor dined with the pope on the following Saturday, attended Ma.ss again on Sunday at St. Peter's, and after Ma.ss took leave of the pope. At his departure Constans carried off a large number of bronze works of art from Home, tak- ing even the bronze tiles from the roof of the Pantheon, which had been dedicated to Christian worship. Constans stopped in Sicily, where he cruelly oppressed the population, and was assassinated at Syracuse in 668. The pope supported his son Constantine IV Pogonalus against a usurper and thus aided him to attain the Byzantine throne. The new emperor had no intention of using force to maintain the Mono- thelite decree {typus) of his father, and Pope Vitalian probably made use of this inclination to take a more decidefl stand against Monothelitism and to win the emperor to orthodoxy. In this latter attempt, how- ever, he was not able to succeed. The Monothelite Patriarch Theodore of Constantinople (from 678) even removed Vitalian's name from the diptychs. It was not until the Sixth (Ecumenical Council (681) that MonotheUtism was suppressed, and Vitalian's name was replaced on the diptychs of the Byzantine Church.

Pope Vitahan was verj' successful in England, where disputes still divided the Anglo-Saxon and the British clergj', respecting various ecclesiastical cu.s- toms. At the Synod of Streaneshalch (Whitby) King Oswy of Northumberland decided for the general acceptance of the Roman practices in regard to the keeping of E.aster, and the shape of the tonsure. Together with King Egbert of Kent, he sent the priest Wighard to Rome, to be consecrated there after the death of Archbishop Deusdedit of Canterbury in 664, but Wighard died at Rome of the pestilence. The pope WTole a letter to King Oswj' promising to send a suitable bishop to England as soon as po.ssible. Hadrian, abbot of an abbey near Naples, was selected to go, but he considered himself unworthy to be con- secrated bishop. At his recommendation a highly

educated monk, Theodore of Tarsus, who understood both Latin and Greek and who was at Rome, was chosen as Archbishop of Canterbury and consecrated on 26 March, 668. Accompanied by Abbot Hadrian, Theodore went to England, where lie was recognized as the head of the Church of England by all the clergy, Saxon and British. The pope confirmed to him all the privileges that Gregory the Great had formerly granted to Archbishop Aiigustine.

The archiepiscopal See of Ravenna was immediately subject to Rome. Archbishop Maurus of Ravenna (648-71) sought to rid himself of this dependence, and make his see autocephalous. When Pope Vitahan called upon him to justify his theological views, he refused to obey and declared himself independent of Rome. The pope excommunicated him, but Maurus did not submit, and even went so far as to excom- municate the pope. The EmperOr Constans II sided with the archbishop, issued an edict removing the Archbishop of Ravenna from the patriarchal jurisdic- tion of Rome, and ordained that the former should receive the palhum from the emperor. The successor of Maurus, Reparatus,'was in fact consecrated, in 671, by three of his suffragan bishops and recci^•ed the paUium from the emperor. It was not until the reign of Pope Leo II (682-83) that the independence of the See of Ravenna was suppressed: Emperor Constan- tine IV repealed the edict of Constans and confirmed the ancient rights of the Roman See over the See of Ravenna. Vitalian also had occasion to enforce his authority as supreme judge in the Eastern Church. Bishop John of Lappa in Crete, deposed by a synod under the presidency of the Metropohtan Paulus, appealed to the pope, and was imprisoned for so doing. He escaped, however, and went to Rome, where Vitalian held a synod in December, 667, to investigate the matter, basing its action on the records of the metropohtan S3mod of Crete, and pronounced John guiltless. Vitalian wrote to the Metropoli- tan Paulus demanding the restoration of John to his diocese, and the return of the monasteries which had been unjustly taken from him. At the same time the pope directed the metropolitan to remove two deacons who had married after consecration. Vita- lian also wrote respecting John to an imperial official and to Bishop George of Syracuse, who had supported the deposed bishop. Some of the letters attributed to this pope are spurious. He was buried in St. Peter's.

titer Pon(i/ira(is, ed. Duchesne, I, 343 sq.; Jaff^, fffflesto Rom. Pont., I (2nd ed.), 235-237; AIansi, Cone. coll.. XI, 16 sqq. Hefele. Konziliengeschichtc, III (2nd ed.), 248 sq.; Langen, Geschichte de rsmischen Kirche, II (Bonn, 185.5), 439-545.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Vitalini (de Vitalinis), Bonifazio, jurist, b. at Mantua, Italy, about 1320; d. at Avignon after 1388. After completing his law studies at Padua he returned to his native city and took up the prac- tice of criminal law. While thus engaged he wrote: "Super maleficiis" (Milan, 1.50.5; Venice, 1.5.59, 1584; Lyons, 15.58; Frankfort, 1600 and 1604). He suddenly gave up the law, entered the priesthood, and left Padua with the intention of never returning. In 1350, however, he came back as rector of the Church of San Martinio de' Tribesii and vicar of the bishop. Two years later he went to Avignon, where he received a professorship. He was given the privilege of granting the doctorate, was made pro- thonotarv Apostolic, aflvocate of the Consistory, fiscal of the Roman Curia, and finally auditor of the sacred palace. He is known to have been in various Itali.an cities, and at Avignon in 1388. He wTote a commentary on the "Clementines" entitled "Cotn- mcntarii iii Constitutiones Clementis PapEB V in alma .\venionensi universitale editi" (Lyons, 1.522), ancl two treatises, "Solemnis ac penitilis tractatua de mode procedendi contra apostataa" (Venice,