STEPHEN, the name of ten popes of the Roman Catholic church. It is only neces sary to refer in detail to the following. STEPHEN I. was the successor of Lu ins HI.
in and his pontificate (253-257) is memorable as affording a topic for the historians who discuss the question as to the early evidences of a Roman primacy. The history of Stephen I. is urged as an argument by each party in support of its own view. The advocates of the primacy infer, from several examples of the deposition of bishops by Stephen in various places, that a power equivalent to the modern primacy of Rome was even tlfen acknowledged. The adversaries of the primacy contend that the resistance offered to Stephen by Cyprian (q.v.), on the rebaptizing of heretics, is altogether irrec oncilable with the general recognition in the 3d c. of any supremacy on the part of the bishops of Roine.—STEPHEN III. plays a most important part in the history of the tem poral sovereignty of the Roman see. He was a native of Rome, and was in possession of the see during the occupation (which practically dates from the year 752) of Ravenna, the exarchate, and the Pentapolis by Astolphus, king of the Lombards. That king having invaded Rome, and the Byzantine emperor, Constantine Copronymos, having left unheeded the appeals of Stephen, and the Romans for succor, Stephen had recourse to Pepin, king of the Franks. The latter in vain sent legates to Astolphus, and the popC returned to France with the legates to solicit in person the aid of the Frank monarch, whom he solemnly crowned. Pepin agreed to compel the Lombards to with draw from these provinces (which form the portion of the states lately in occupation of the Roman see known as the " Legations"), and to bestow them on the se; of Peter.
The Lombard king made a promise to that effect; but on Pepin's withdrawal, again renewed his pretensions, and marched upon Rome. Stephen, therefore, again recalled Pepin in a most curious letter written in the name and person of St. Peter, an invitation with which Pepin at once complied; and having again forced Astolphus to withdraw, he again (notwithstanding a demand from the Byzantine emperor for their restoration to the empire) reinstated the Roman see in its sovereign rights. Stephen died in 757.— STEPHEN VII., elected in 8913, has supplied to historians much matter of dienssion, from his strange proceedings in disinterring the corpse of his penultimate predecessor, For mosus, stripping it of its pontifical garments, and condemning it, after a juridical proce dure, to lay burial. The circumstances of this curious conflict are not fully understood. —STEPHEN X. was one of the remarkable series of reforming popes in the 11th c., who are believed to have been elected under the influence of the celebrated Hildebrand, and who by their energetic rule, prepared the way for that great scheme of ecclesiastical organization of which the pontificate of that eminent man, under the name of Gregory VII. (q. v.), was the final development. It ought to be observed that, although in the series of the popes (q.v.) printed in this Encyclopcedia tell pontiffs named Stephen are recited, other catalogues reckon but nine; the discrepancy arising from the omission by seine of Stephen II., who was elected in 753. This pontiff died before consecration, and is there fou by some excluded from the series of popes; but, as his election was complete and canonical, we have included his name in our general catalogue.