A Memorable Church In An Unexpected Place
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Pope Gregory VIII was a very old man when he called for the Third Crusade against the Moors of the Middle East. Born Alberto di Morra in around 1100 to 1105, he was the son of the noble, Sartorius de Morra. His hometown was Benevento, Papal States.
Alberto became a monk at a young age. He was either a Cistercian in Laon or a Benedictine in Monte Cassino. Somewhere between 20 and 30 years of age, he joined the new order of Premonstratensians, also known as the Norbertines. Later in his career, he was a canon at St. Martins Abbey in Laon. Later, still, he was a professor of canon law in Bologna.
He came to the notice of Pope Adrian IV in 1156, when he was named a cardinal-deacon of Sant’Adriano. Only two years later, he was named a cardinal-priest of San Lorenzo at Lucina in March 11, 1158.
As a middle-aged man, Cardinal di Morra was a papal legate for Pope Alexander III. First, he was sent to teach canon law in Europe. Then he went to Portugal to crown Alfonso I, the first king of that country. In 1163, di Morra was the one who brought the offer of reconciliation to the excommunicated Emperor Frederick.
His standing in the history of Western Europe was heightened when he went to England to investigate the murder of Thomas a Becket (December 1170). Di Morra eventually absolved Henry II of murder during the Council of Avranches (September 1172), after Henry did penance.
As an elderly man, Cardinal di Morra became a legate to Italy. Within a year, he became the Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church. His conciliatory tone towards Emperor Frederick is seen in this one instance. The succession of the Archbishop of Trier was disputed. The Pope wanted Folmar and the Emperor wanted Rudolph. Di Morra suggested setting aside both choices and called for the canons of Trier to hold a new election. Pope Urban III overruled this suggestion.
At this point, Di Morra compiled a collection of official papal acts and also completed codification of writing rules for all papal acts. This last document was very influential in shaping the rhetoric used in future papal documents. In the early 1180s, the old cardinal founded a monastery in his hometown of Benvenuto.
On October 20, Pope Urban III died in Ferrara, on his way to Venice. The chancellor, Cardinal de Morra, was elected the very next day and took the name of Gregory VIII, in honor of Gregory VII. He was consecrated on the 25th. His outreach to the emperor led to a friendly relationship with the Empire. He quickly began reforms in the Curia and among the clergy.
The new pope soon heard of the defeat of the crusaders of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin. He issued a bull calling for the Third Crusade, called Audita tremendi. In the bull, Pope Gregory insisted that God’s anger is the result of human sin, that penance is mandatory, not optional and that a new expedition would be an opportunity for the salvation of Christian warriors.
Immediately after that, Gregory set out to Pisa. His goal was to call for the ceasing of the Pisa-Genoa hostilities so that the seaports and naval fleets could join together for the crusade. On the way, he stopped at Lucca and ordered Antipope Victor IV’s body to be removed from his tomb and be taken from the church.
After the pope arrived in Pisa, he quickly got sick and died of a fever. Gregory VIII had been in office only 57 days. He was buried in the Duomo in Pisa. The Third Crusade lasted until 1192.
Debra Booton McCoy is a cradle Catholic and is a native of central New York. She works in the health care field and spends her spare time writing and enjoying her family, two grown children, and husband Bob. Growing up through the Vatican II era, she remembers the traditional teaching of the Church and was witness to the changes. For many years Debra was a Catholic on the sidelines, going to Mass every week, but not living the Faith. When she decided to homeschool her son, she found that she had to teach herself what she had forgotten or never learned. That is when she realized her role.
Debra is a published author, having written a column for a women’s monthly newspaper in the mid-1990s. Debra started a Catholic publishing company in 2013, Lanternarius Press. With that, she published her first book in 2014, an edited version of a French book from the 1800s, “A Catholic Mother Speaks to Her Children” by Marie, Countess de Flavigny. This is an advice book for children. She has also edited and published an advice book for young men, "Conferences for Boys" by Fr. Reynauld Kuenhel. For those who like stories of popes, Debra is writing a series, using many of the articles on this site. The first book is History of the Popes, 34AD - 499AD.
You can visit her website at http://lanternariuspress.net or visit Lanternarius Press on Facebook.
