St. Adrian III, Pope of Rome
Also HADRIAN
IX Century
The life and sanctity of Pope/St. Adrian III remain
obscure. He was born in Rome and was elected to the
papacy in 884. During his brief reign of sixteen months,
violent vendettas that arose from the assassination of
John VIII continued. George of the Avertine, a priest
whom John had exiled and whom Marinus I had allowed
to return to Rome, was blinded, possibly by order of A
drian III. In the summer of 885, Charles the Fat of
the Holy Roman Empire convoked the Diet of Worms to
insure the succession of his illegitimate son, Bernard.
Adrian III died, en route to Worms, at the Abbey of
Nonantola, where he was buried. He was only formally
canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1891.
Karen Rae Keck
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