Stephania (died 868) was a Roman noblewoman and the wife of Pope Adrian II. Upon her husband's election to the papacy in 867, she resided in the

Lateran Palace The Lateran Palace ( la, Palatium Lateranense), formally the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran ( la, Palatium Apostolicum Lateranense), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main papal residence in southeast Rome. Located on St. ...

. She and her daughter were abducted and later murdered by her son-in-law, Eleutherius, in 868. Her abduction and death was described in the chronicle '' Annales Bertiniani'' by Saint Hincmar.

Biography

Stephania married the future Adrian II before he took his vows as a priest and had a daughter with him. Adrian was at the old age of seventy-five at the time of his election as Pope. Catholic priests had been required to abstain from all further sexual relations since the 4th century at the latest. However, in this time period, it was not yet forbidden for Catholic priests to marry, only an ideal: the formal celibacy for priests was not introduced until the

Second Council of the Lateran The Second Council of the Lateran was the tenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church. It was convened by Pope Innocent II in April 1139 and attended by close to a thousand clerics. Its immediate task was to neutralise the after-ef ...

in 1139. Stephania was still alive when Adrian II was elected pope in 867. Her position was almost unique. While six popes in total had been married at some point, Adrian II was likely the only one married during his papacy, while the others appear to have been widowed by the time they became popes. The last married pope had been Hormisdas three centuries prior, and he was widowed when he became pope. The wives of Catholic priests were called by the female version of their husband's title, which would have made Stephania "popess". Stephania and her daughter lived with Adrian in the

. The daughter of Adrian II and Stephania married Eleutherius, a relative of the Papal librarian Anastasius Bibliothecarius. However, Eleutherius withheld the fact that he was already espoused to another. In 868, Stephania and her daughter were abducted by Eleutherius and murdered by him. Eleutherius was condemned to death for the abduction and murder. His relative Anastasius Bibliothecarius was accused of having conspired to the abduction and excomunicated. The abduction and murder of the pope's wife and daughter attracted a lot of attention and was described in the third part of the famous chronicle '' Annales Bertiniani'' by Bishop

Hincmar Hincmar (; ; la, Hincmarus; 806 – 21 December 882), archbishop of Reims, was a Frankish jurist and theologian, as well as the friend, advisor and propagandist of Charles the Bald. He belonged to a noble family of northern Francia. Biography Ea ...

in Pertz, Mon. Germanica vol. 1.William Cornwallis Cartwright
On Papal Conclaves
' 123

References

Works cited

* William Cornwallis Cartwright
On Papal Conclaves
' 123 * Alexander Penrose Forbes
Articles XXII to end
' 637 *
The Religion of Rome described by a Roman: Authorised translation by William Howitt
' 293 * Richard Wigginton Thompson
The Papacy and the Civil Power
' {{authority control 868 deaths 9th-century Christians 9th-century Italian women Christian clerical marriage Clerical celibacy Consorts of monarchs Female murder victims Italian murder victims Nobility of Italy Italian Roman Catholics Murdered ancient Roman women Papal family members People murdered in Italy Women and the papacy