Eugene III

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Eugene III Pope from 1145-1153, the blessed Eugene III was born Bernard Pagnelli di Montemagno and was the first Cistercian pope. A disciple of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who wrote De consideratione to instruct him in his papal duties, Eugene convoked several synods to reform the church, including ones at Paris (1147), Trier (1147-1148), and Rheims (1148). The fall of Edessa in 1149 shocked Eugene, and as pope, he urged Louis VII to liberate the city. In 1146, Arnold of Brescia controlled Rome and exiled the pope, who returned in 1148 and excommunicated Arnold. Eugene sent Nicholas Breakspear (later Adrian IV) to Scandinavia to reorganize the church there; Eugene also negotiated the Treaty of Constance, which laid out the terms by which Frederick Barbarossa would be crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Eugene died in 1153 and was beatified in 1872.