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St. Vitalian I, Pope of Rome
VII Century
Elected to the papacy in 657, St. Vitalian held his position on
monotheletism
firmly but was conciliatory toward Constans II, who visited
Rome in 663 and took bronze from many buildings to make weapons. When
Constans was murdered in 668, Vitalian supported Constantine IV, who
remained mindful of his debt and kept the pope's name in the diptychs.
Vitalian supported the decisions of the
Synod of Whitby in 664 and
consecrated St.
Theodore of Tarsus, the
archbishop of Canterbury, to rule
over the entire
English church. Vitalian died in 672.
Karen Rae Keck
- ABOUT:
- St. Vitalian and
Instrumental Music in the Church:
It is widely alleged that St. Vitalian introduced
the use of the organ in the Western liturgy (in the
year 666, opponents of instruments sometimes add!).
While chronologically plausible, this claim appears to
rest on a very late (possibly XVI Century) tradition;
if anyone knows of an earlier source, we would be interested
in hearing about it.
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