Pope St. Martin I
A native of Todi and deacon of the Roman Church, Martin was elected pope to succeed Pope Theodore, who died on May 13, 649. Immediately demonstrated very strongly in the conduct of the Church. Indeed, no consent asked or hoped for election by the emperor Constans II had issued a year before the type, a document in defense of the thesis of the Monothelites heretical. To stop the spread of this heresy, three months after his election, Pope Martin convened at the Lateran Basilica a great council, to which were invited all the bishops of the West. The condemnation of all pleadings Monothelites, solemnly declared in the five sessions the council, raised the furious reaction of the Byzantine court. The emperor ordered the Exarch of Ravenna, Olimpio, who was arrested in Rome and the Pope. Olimpio proposed not only meet the imperial orders, but tried to assassinate the Pope by a gunman during the celebration of Mass at Santa Maria Maggiore. At the time of receiving the Host in the hands of the...