Pope Gregory VIII reigned just 57 days but launched the Third Crusade
Alberto di Morra spent decades as a papal diplomat before being elected pope in October 1187. Within weeks he had patched up relations with the Holy Roman Emperor and issued the bull that summoned the Third Crusade. Then, travelling to Pisa to make peace between rival ports, he caught a fever and died.
Born around 1105 in Benevento, son of the nobleman Sartorius di Morra, he became a monk young, possibly at Laon or Monte Cassino, before joining the new Premonstratensian order as a canon of St Martin's Abbey in Laon. He went on to teach canon law at Bologna. Pope Adrian IV made him a cardinal in 1156.
Under Alexander III he became a trusted troubleshooter. He toured Europe teaching canon law, crowned Afonso I of Portugal, and in 1163 carried an offer of reconciliation to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, excommunicated three years earlier. Sent to England after the murder of Thomas Becket, he absolved Henry II at the Council of Avranches. As chancellor of the Church from 1178 he generally favoured compromise with the emperor, urging a fresh election in a disputed contest for the archbishopric of Trier, though Urban III overruled him.
His lasting mark on the papal bureaucracy was literary. He compiled a collection of official papal acts and codified the cursus, the strict rules governing the rhythm of sentence endings in papal documents. The style was named stylus gregorianus in his honour and shaped the language of papal letters for a long time afterwards. Shortly before his election he founded a monastery in his native Benevento.
Elected on 21 October 1187, the day after Urban III died, he took his name in tribute to Gregory VII. News of the crusader defeat at Hattin prompted his bull Audita tremendi calling Christians to a new crusade, and he set out to reconcile Pisa and Genoa so both fleets could take part. On the way, at Lucca, he had the remains of the antipope Victor IV removed from their tomb and cast out of the church. He died in Pisa on 17 December 1187. His tomb in Pisa Cathedral was lost when fire swept the building in 1600, and Clement III succeeded him.
Source: Pope Gregory VIII
