ST

ZACHARIAS  , pope from 741 to 752, was a Greek by birth, and appears to have been on intimate terms with Gregory III., whom he succeeded (November 741) . Contemporary history dwells chiefly on his great personal influence with the Lombard king Luitprand, and with his successor Rachis; it was largely through his tact in dealing with these princes in a variety of emergencies that the exarchate of Ravenna was rescued from becoming part of the Lombard kingdom . A correspondence, of considerable extent and of great interest, between Zacharias and St Boniface, the apostle of Germany, is still extant, and shows how great was the influence of this pope on events then passing in France and Germany: he encouraged the deposition of Childeric, and it was with his sanction that Boniface crowned Pippin as king of the Franks at Soissons in 752 . Zacharias is stated to have remonstrated with the emperor Constantine Copronymus on the part he had taken in the iconoclastic controversy . He died on the 14th of March 752, and was succeeded by Stephen II . The letters and decrees of Zacharias are published in Migne, Patrolog. lat. lxxxix. p . 917-960 .