ask not for rights. Besides, if I do not continue to help you, great trouble will befall you. For Carloman, king of the Franks, is the friend of Christophorus and Sergius, and will be wishful to come to Rome and seize you.” Continuing troubles and the death of Stephen Desiderius continued to stir trouble in Italy; in 771, he managed to convince the bishops of Istria to reject the authority of the Patriarch of Grado, and to have them place themselves under the Patriarch of Aquileia, which was directly under Lombard control. Stephen wrote to the rebellious bishops, suspending them and ordering them to place themselves once again under the authority of Grado, or face excommunication. After Christophorus’ fall, Paulus Afiarta continued to serve the papal court in a high capacity. During early 772, as Stephen fell ill and was soon clear that he was dying, Afiarta took advantage of this to exile a number of influential clergy and nobles from Rome, while others he put into prison. Then on 24 January, eight days before Stephen’s death, Afiarta dragged the blinded Sergius from his cell in the Lateran and had him strangled. Stephen died on 24 January or 1 February 772. He was succeeded by Adrian I. Local cult of sainthood During the Middle Ages, Stephen III was considered a saint in his home island of Sicily. Various calendars, martyrologies, etc., such as the ancient calendar of the saints of Sicily, number Stephen among the saints, and assign his feast to 1 February. The citizens of Syracuse at one point attempted to convince the Holy See to officially endorse the sainthood of the pope, but this was not successful. Notes References Partner, Peter, The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance (1972) Mann, Horace K., The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. I: The Popes Under the Lombard Rule, Part 2, 657–795 (1903) DeCormenin, Louis Marie; Gihon, James L., A Complete History of the Popes of Rome, from Saint Peter, the First Bishop to Pius the Ninth'' (1857) External links 720 births 772 deaths Greek popes Sicilian popes 8th-century archbishops 8th-century popes Popes Burials at St. Peter's Basilica