Sabinian

Sabinianus (Latin: Sabinianus) (Blera, ¿? - Rome, February 22, 606) was the 65th Pope of the Catholic Church between 604 and 606. He was pope during the period of dominance of the Eastern Roman Empire over the papacy. He was the fourth Constantinople apocrisiary to be elected pope.

He was born in Blera (Bieda), near Viterbo and was probably consecrated pope on September 13, 604.

He had been sent as apostolic nuncio to Constantinople by his predecessor in the papacy, Gregory the Great, and was later entrusted with a mission in Gaul (596), but it seems that his performance was not entirely satisfactory and he returned to Rome in 597.

During his pontificate, he was highly unpopular for his economies, despite the fact that the Liber Pontificalis states that he distributed grain during a famine in Rome. The Italian scholar and Augustinian Onofrio Panvinio (1529–1568), in his Epitome pontificum Romanorum (Venice, 1557), credits him with introducing the custom of ringing bells at canonical hours and at the celebration of the Eucharist. Although the first attribution of this was that of William Durand in the thirteenth century in his Rationale Divinorum Officiorum.

During his tenure, Sabinian was seen as going against the grain of his predecessor Gregorio, because while Gregorio distributed the grain to the population, Sabinian sold it at high prices (although this could be a later interpolation made by Sabinian's biographers). The Liber Pontificales praises him for 'filling the church with clergy', in contrast to Gregory, who went from being a simple monk to being bishop of Rome.