Today is the 707th anniversary of the passing of the great Pope Innocent III, Lothair of Segni, who was born at Gavignano, in the province of Rome on Feb. 22, 1161 A. D., and who ascended the throne of Saint Peter on January 8, 1198 A. D..
One of the great canonists of Church History who sat on the papacy, during his pontificate he obtained the submission of Kingdoms to the throne of Christ’s Vicar, founded the Orders of St. Francis and St. Dominic and left an indelible print upon Church History, by his call of the 4th Crusade, in the Bull, Post Miserabile, of 1198.
He excommunicated the Crusaders for sacking Constantinople, but eventually recognized the legitimacy of the new State; appointing the first Latin Patriarch of Constantinople
We Franciscans shall ever hold his memory in benediction for what he has done to the Church and to our Order by the approbation given to our Seraphic Patriarch St. Francis.
