Stephanos 8 was bishop of Rome from 752 to 757. A native of Rome, he was the son of Constantinus (Konstantinos 138): Lib. Pont. 94. 1 ("Stephanus, natione Romanus, ex patre Constantino"), 95. 1. He was the older brother of Paulus (Paulos 49), who succeeded him as bishop of Rome: Lib. Pont. 95. 1. Their father died when they were still very young; they both served in the Lateran palace among the attendants of a succession of popes, receiving an ecclesiastical training, and rose through the stages of the clergy to become deacons: Lib. Pont. 94. 1 ("hic post patris sui transitum, parvus derelictus, in venerabili cubiculo Lateranensi pro doctrina apostolicae traditionis, sub praedecessoribus beate memoriae pontificibus permansit. Quem singillatim per ecclesiasticos ordines promoventes diaconatus ordine eum ordinaverunt"), cf. 95. 1 (their father, Konstantinos 138, died under the papacy of pope Gregory II (Gregorios 72), i.e. 715/731). Stephanos 8 and his brother were probably both deacons in 744, when two deacons called Stephanus and Paulus, probably the same two men, attended the council held in Rome then: see Duchesne, Lib. Pont., p. 456, n. 2. After the death of Zacharias 16, a priest called Stephanus (Stephanos 81) was elected bishop of Rome, but died after only three days; the people then chose Stephanos 8 to be his successor, unanimously: Lib. Pont. 94. 2-3. Because his predecessor (Stephanos 81) was pope Stephen II, this man was pope Stephen III; but the brevity of his predecessor's tenure means that he is not always counted and therefore Stephanos 8 is given two numbers and is usually listed as pope Stephen III (II).

He succeeded Zacharias 16 and Stephanos 81 and was bishop of Rome for five years and twenty-nine days: Lib. Pont. 94. 1. Because of the harassment of Rome and its dependent cities by the Lombards, he sent an embassy to Aistulf 1, consisting of his brother Paulos 49 and the primicerius Ambrosius (Ambrosios 1), bearing gifts and seeking peace; they returned with a peace treaty for forty years; the date of the embassy was probably in June 752, in the third month after Stephanos 8 became pope ("tertio apostolatus ordinationis suae mense"): Lib. Pont. 94. 5. Four months later Aistulf 1 broke the treaty and demanded the subjection of Rome and its dependent forts; Stephanos 8 sent the heads of the monasteries of St Vincent and St Benedict to him, without success (see Anonymus 244 and Anonymus 245, and cf. Azzo 1 and Optatos 2); Stephanos 8 then placed the fortunes of the Roman cause in the hands of God: Lib. Pont. 94. 6-7. Shortly afterwards he sent his brother Paulos 49 to accompany the imperial envoy, Ioannes 235, to Ravenna to ask Aistulf 1 to restore the imperial places he had seized, but again with no success; he then sent his own representatives back to Constantinople with Ioannes 235 to ask the emperor Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) to come and help in every way possible to liberate Italy from the Lombard threat ("ut ... modis omnibus adveniret et de iniquitatis filii morsibus Romanam hanc urbem vel cunctam Italiam provinciam liberaret"): Lib. Pont. 94. 8-9. Aistulf 1 continued to demand the submission of Rome, and Stephanos 8 organised a solemn day of procession and prayer for the people of Rome, seeking God's intercession; he personally carried the image of Christ known as the acheropsita (presumably a corruption of acheropoita, from acheiropoiiton) and went barefoot with the populace in the procession to the Church of S. Maria Maggiore; the text of the broken treaty was carried attached to a crucifix: Lib. Pont. 94. 10-11. Stephanos 8 assembled the clergy in the Lateran palace and encouraged them to pursue their devotions even more scrupulously, and continuously urged the people to avoid wrongdoing and to live pious lives: Lib. Pont. 94. 12.

Stephanos 8 approached Aistulf 1 with gifts and entreaties on behalf of the occupied territories of Ravenna and elsewhere in Italy, without success; seeing no possibility of effective help from the emperor, Stephanos 8 did what his predecessors had done and sent a secret message (cf. Anonymus 247) to the ruler of the Franks, Pepin 1, asking for help and seeking an opportunity to visit him: Lib. Pont. 94. 15. Stephanos 8 received favourable replies, delivered by Droctegang 1 and by another, unnamed, messenger (Anonymus 246): Lib. Pont. 94. 16. Then, in late summer 753, further Frankish envoys reached Rome to escort Stephanos 8 to Pepin 1 in Francia (Chrodegang 1 and Autchar 1), at the same time as orders arrived from the emperor (Konstantinos 7) that Stephanos 8 should visit the Lombard king Aistulf 1 for further talks (see also Anonymus 249): Lib. Pont. 94. 17-18. Stephanos 8 set out from Rome on 14 October 753, with a retinue of clergy and laymen ("adsumens secum ex huius sanctae ecclesiae quosdam sacerdotes, proceres etiam et ceteros clericorum ordinis, necnon et ex militie obtimatibus"): Lib. Pont. 94. 19. Stephanos 8 was also accompanied by the Frankish envoys and probably by the imperial envoy Ioannes 235. After arriving at Ticinum (Pavia) Stephanos 8 raised the subject of the occupied territories with Aistulf 1, in spite of the Lombard king's demand not to, but made no progress: Lib. Pont. 94. 21. Stephanos 8 then secured king Aistulf 1's permission to proceed on to Francia, though with difficulty and only after pressure from the Frankish envoys; Stephanos 8's party (see Wilchar 2) left Ticinum on 15 November 753 and made its way quickly, in spite of further attempts by Aistulf 1 to prevent them, to the monastery of St Maurice at Agaunum; there they expected to meet Pepin 1, but instead were met by his envoys Fulrad 1 and Rothard 1 who came to escort Stephanos 8 and his party, with all honour, to the Frankish ruler: Lib. Pont. 94. 22-24. Stephanos 8 was greeted with the greatest honour and respect by Pepin 1, his family and the Frankish nobles, and was escorted to the palace of Ponthion, where Stephanos 8 arrived on 6 January 754; there Stephanos 8 asked Pepin 1 to help the cause of the Church and the Roman republic and obtained from Pepin 1 a guarantee under oath to do all in his power to restore the exarchate of Ravenna and all other occupied territories to the republic: Lib. Pont. 94. 25-26. At Pepin 1's request he remained in the monastery of St Denis in Paris for the remainder of the winter; while there, Stephanos 8 and Pepin 1 met and Stephanos 8 anointed Pepin 1 and his two sons Charlemagne (Karoulos 1) and Carloman (Karoulomannos 2) kings of the Franks: Lib. Pont. 94. 27. The strain of travel and the bad winter affected Stephanos 8's health and he fell dangerously ill; he was expected to die, but made a sudden and complete recovery ("dum eum mane mortuum invenire sperabant, subito alio die sanus repertus est"): Lib. Pont. 94. 28. Stephanos 8 and Pepin 1 agreed to confine Carloman (Karoulomannos 1), Pepin 1' s brother, to a monastery in Francia, since he was a monk: Lib. Pont. 94. 30.

It was apparently at this time that a promise was made to Stephanos 8 by Pepin 1 and his two sons, together with the leading Franks, at Quierzy ("ipsam promissionem, quae Francia in loco qui vocatur Carisiaco facta est") concerning the granting of various cities and territories in Italy to the see of St Peter in perpetuity; this formed the basis of the later agreement between Charlemagne (Karoulos 1) and pope Hadrian I (Hadrianos 1): Lib. Pont. 97. 41-42. While Pepin 1 made his preparations for war with the Lombards, Stephanos 8 persuaded him to send several embassies to Aistulf 1 seeking a peaceful solution; he himself also wrote to Aistulf 1 trying to avoid bloodshed: Lib. Pont. 94. 31-33. Later, after the siege of Pavia, he again persuaded Pepin 1 to seek a peaceful end to the matter and the result was the treaty between the Lombards, the Franks and the Romans making peace and guaranteeing the restoration of the occupied cities; Pepin 1 and Stephanos 8 then parted company, but Aistulf 1 failed to carry out the agreement: Lib. Pont. 94. 36-37. Stephanos 8 was escorted back to Rome by noble Franks, including Hieronymos 2, the brother of Pepin 1; there he received a tumultuous welcome: Lib. Pont. 94. 38 (later recension).

Following further aggression by Aistulf 1, Stephanos 8 sent envoys with the Frank Warnehar 1 to inform Pepin 1 and to ask him to fulfil his promises of help: Lib. Pont. 94. 42. Pepin 1 went to war again against the Lombards; meanwhile imperial envoys (Georgios 130 and Ioannes 235) reached Rome and, refusing to believe Stephanos 8's account of events, were sent by Stephanos 8 by sea with a papal envoy ("missum apostolicae sedis") (Anonymus 252) to Marseilles to learn the truth: Lib. Pont. 94. 43. Pepin 1 then informed the imperial envoys (Georgios 130 and Ioannes 235) that he would restore the lands recovered from the Lombards only to the see of St Peter and to the pope, not to the empire: Lib. Pont. 94. 44-45. Aistulf 1 finally restored the cities which he had seized to the pope, under Frankish supervision: Lib. Pont. 94. 46-47. Following the death of Aistulf 1, Stephanos 8 was approached by Desiderios 3 for support in obtaining the Lombard throne; in consultation with the Frank Fulrad 1 he sent envoys to Desiderios 3, with whom he reached an agreement, and then sent further envoys to Ratchis 1, Desiderios 3's main challenger, and secured the succession of Desiderios 3 to the Lombard throne without bloodshed: Lib. Pont. 94. 49-50. Stephanos 8 then sent his representative to recover the cities which Desiderios 3 had promised to restore: Lib. Pont. 94. 51.

Stephanos 8 died on 26 April 757 and was buried in the basilica of St Peter: Lib. Pont. 94. 53, 95. 1-2 (attended during his last illness by his brother).

Stephanos 8 (Στεφάνου, τοῦ πάπα Ῥώμης) approached the Franks under Pepin III (Pepin 1) for help against the Lombards under Aistulf 1; he released Pepin 1 (who was mayor of the palace - προοίκου καὶ ἐξάρχου τῆς διοικήσεως τῶν ὅλων πραγμάτων) from his oaths of loyalty to the king of the Franks and elected him as king, tonsuring the former king and sending him to honourable retirement in a monastery: Theoph. AM 6216 (λύσαντος αὐτὸν τῆς ἐπιορκίας τῆς πρὸς τὸν ῥῆγα τοῦ αὐτοῦ Στεφάνου, καὶ ἀποκείραντος τὸν πρὸ αὐτοῦ ῥῆγα καὶ ἐν μοναστηρίῳ μετὰ τιμῆς ἀναπαύσεως περιορίσαντος) (the narrative is chronologically out of place; the mission of pope Stephanos 8 was in 754).

Described as a lover of the churches of God, he was a steadfast champion of church traditions (perhaps referring to his opposition to the iconoclast policies currently pursued by the emperor Constantine V, Konstantinos 7); swift to help the poor, a preacher of the Word of God, he visited widows and orphans and was a brave defender of his flock: Lib. Pont. 94. 3. He restored a number of xenodochia at Rome, founded another one, and created two more outside the city-walls: Lib. Pont. 94. 4. He adorned the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore: Lib. Pont. 94. 13 (later recension). He also restored the Basilica of St Laurence above St Clement's, in the third region, restored the roof of the cemetery of St Soter, and presented in person an altar cloth to the Church of Santa Maria ad Martyres: Lib. Pont. 94. 13 (with later recension). He reinstated the performance of offices at St Peter's which had been discontinued, and founded a fourth monastery there to ensure their performance: Lib. Pont. 94. 40 (later recension). He presented to the Church of St Mary precious icons: Lib. Pont. 94. 45 (later recension). He carried out improvements to the atrium of St Peter' s and also built a new Basilica of St Petronilla, in fulfilment of promises made to Pepin 1 in Francia: Lib. Pont. 94. 51 (later recension). Stephanos 8 retained in his service in the Lateran palace the priest Stephanos 84, who had served under Stephanos 8's predecessor Zacharias 16, and who would serve further under Stephanos 8's successor Paul 49; eventually Stephanos 84 became pope himself in 768 as pope Stephen IV (III): Lib. Pont. 96. 2.

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