INNOCENT  III
(1198-1216)

Born Lotario dei Segni in Castello di Gavignano in Campagna di Roma, he was a member of the family of the Counts of Segni and a nephew of Clement III.  After studying in Paris and Bologna, he was appointed cardinal deacon by his uncle in 1190.  At the age of 37, he was unanimously  elected to succeed Celestine III on 8 January 1198.  Endowed with great intelligence as well as political savvy, Innocent III  had a truly formidable personality and was one of the most important popes during the Middle Ages.  Taking the same theocratic stance as Gregory VII, his constant aim was to win acceptance for the supremacy of the papacy above all other powers.  Innocent III authorized the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) and summoned the Fourth Lateran Council (1215).  His death from fever on 16 July 1216 came quite suddenly at Perugia while he was making another appeal for a crusade.  He was buried there in the Cathedral of San Lorenzo.  In 1891, Leo XIII, himself a former bishop of Perugia, had the remains of Innocent III transferred to Rome's cathedral, the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

1198 May 16:  Cum a nobis petitur

English translation

1198 December 17:  Operante divine dispositionis clementia

English translation

1199 January 4:  Sacrosancta Romana Ecclesia

English translation