Servus Servorum Dei
Servus servorum Dei
(SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD.)
A title given by the popes to themselves in documents of note. Gregory the Great was the first to use it extensively, and he was imitated by his successors, though not invariably till the ninth century. John the Deacon states (P.L., LXXV, 87) that Gregory assumed this title as a lesson in humility to John the Faster. Prior to the controversy with John (595), addressing St. Leander in April, 591, Gregory employed this phrase, and even as early as 587, according to Ewald (“Neues Archiv fur altere deutsche Geschichtskunde”, III, 545, a. 1878), while still a deacon. A Bull of 570 begins: “Joannes (III) Episcopus, servus servorum Dei”. Bishops actuated by humility, e.g. St. Boniface [Jaffe, “Monum. Mogun.” in “Biblioth. Rer. Germ.”, III (Berlin, 1866), 157, 177 etc.], and the archbishops of Benevento; or by pride, e.g. the archbishops of Ravenna as late as 1122 [Muratori, “Antiq. Ital.”, V (Milan, 1741), 177; “Dissertazioni”, II, disser. 36]; and even civil rulers, e.g. Alphonsus II, King of Spain (b. 830), and Emperor Henry III (b. 1017), applied the term to themselves. Since the twelfth century it is used exclusively by the pope. (See BULLS AND BRIEFS.)
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DU CANGE, Glossarium med. et inf. lat.
ANDREW B. MEEHAN Transcribed by Herman F. Holbrook Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Servus Servorum Dei
(Servant of the servants of God), an official title of the Roman pontiffs, in use since the time of Gregory the Great, by whom, according to his biographer, Paul the Deacon, it was assumed as a practical rebuke of the ambitious assumption of the title of OEcumenical (or universal) Patriarch by John, surnamed Nestentes, or the Faster, contemporary patriarch of Constantinople. Other Christian bishops previous to Gregory had employed this form, but he was doubtless the first of the bishops of Rome to adopt it as a distinctive title. It is found in all the letters of Gregory preserved by the Venerable Bede in his history.