{"id":1339,"date":"2026-06-23T09:08:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/?page_id=1339"},"modified":"2026-08-19T07:43:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:43:55","slug":"papa-onorio-iii","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/papa-onorio-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Honorius III"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1331.2px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p class=\"translation-block\">Honorius III, born Cencio but of unknown family (Rome, circa 1150 \u2013 Rome, 18 March 1227), was the 177th\npope of the Catholic Church from 1216 until his death.\nLittle is known about his life before the pontificate: in the past he was associated with the Savelli and Capocci\nfamilies, but these attributions are not considered reliable.\nHe was a canon of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome; he then became papal chamberlain in 1188\nand was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope Celestine III as Cardinal Deacon of Santa Lucia in Silice in 1193.\nUnder the pontificates of Clement III and Celestine III he also held the office of Camerlengo, that is, treasurer.\nIn 1196 the widowed empress Constance of Hauteville entrusted her son Frederick II of Swabia to the guardianship\nof Pope Innocent III, who assigned Cencio the task of overseeing the education of the future emperor.\nDuring this period he changed his cardinalatial title, becoming in 1200 Cardinal Priest of Saints John and Paul.\nOn 18 July 1216 he ascended to the papal throne with the name Honorius III, succeeding Innocent III.\nIn the heart of the thirteenth century, on 3 July 1223, in the seventh year of his pontificate, Pope Honorius III\nissued a papal bull addressed to the Basilian monks of the Monastery of San Pancrazio, permanently established\non the rock of Scilla since 842 (9th century), by the will of the Eastern Empress Theodora.\nThe document attests to and praises the assistance provided by the religious community to sailors and shipwrecked\nmariners, who were frequently victims of the treacherous currents of the Strait of Messina, and to\nwhom they offered both material aid and spiritual comfort.\nAs a sign of recognition, through this bull the papal authority confirmed and renewed specific fiscal privileges\nfor the monks, thus acknowledging the value of an activity that was at once charitable, social, and strategic,\nintertwining piety, safety, and vigilance over a maritime passage of primary importance.\nThis activity was also carried out at the so-called Island of Strofaria, an eremitical community connected to\nthem, located on the rocky promontory of Pac\u00ec, which marks the western side of the Bay of Scilla and extends\ninto the sea near the northern entrance to the Strait of Messina.\nArchaeological evidence of medieval religious settlements can still be found there today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"translation-block\"><i>\u201d\u00abTo the prior and the brothers of the Island of Strofaria.\u00bb<\/i><br>\n<i>Since they, leading an eremitical life between Scylla and Charybdis, offer comfort to sailors and appropriate\nassistance to shipwrecked men, placing at their disposal freely, out of a duty of piety, what they prepare with\nanxious care for their own poor sustenance through the labour of their hands, it is granted that they be exempt\nfrom payment of the twentieth intended for the support of the Holy Land and that, for the goods possessed\nwithin the Island of Strofaria, no one may exact tithes from them.\nSignie III. Non. Iulii anno septimo. - Reg. Vat. lib. 7. epist. 204.^0! 64; Mss. Vallicell. I. 33. - \u00abReligiose pietatis\net.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"translation-block\">The document is a papal letter of privilege that recognizes and rewards the work carried out by the community\nof hermit monks of the Basilian Monastery of San Pancrazio, situated on the rock of Scilla, near the Island of\nStrofaria, a monastic possession located on the promontory of Pac\u00ec, in one of the most dangerous and symbolically\nevocative stretches of sea in the Mediterranean.\nThe act fits fully within the medieval practice by which the Church protected poor religious communities engaged\nin works of mercy in strategic locations for the safety and assistance of the faithful travelling by sea.\nThe text insists, first of all, on the monks\u2019 way of life, describing them as men who lead an eremitical existence\n\u201cbetween Scylla and Charybdis.\u201d\nThe expression has both a literary and a concrete value, for, while evoking the myth, Honorius III alludes to\nthe historical difficulties of navigation that characterized the Strait of Messina, a place of violent currents and\nfrequent shipwrecks.\nThe Island of Strofaria, mentioned in the document, constituted a landed property of the monks of San Pancrazio,\nsituated\u2014as already noted\u2014on the promontory of Pac\u00ec, which closes the Bay of Scilla on the western\nside, and represented one of the few material resources on which the community could rely.\nIt was not, therefore, an island in the strict sense of the term, but rather a rocky strip of land projecting into\nthe sea, easily perceived as insular from the point of view of navigation.\nFar from living isolated from the world, the monks carried out here a fundamental function for all who crossed\nthat stretch of sea.\nThe document recalls, in fact, how the monks offered comfort to sailors and assistance to shipwrecked mariners,\nwelcoming those who found themselves in danger or distress.\nThis help was provided free of charge, as an \u201coffice of piety,\u201d drawing solely upon the fruits of their own manual\nlabour, which were scarcely sufficient to guarantee their daily sustenance.\nThe text conveys admiration for this form of silent and concrete charity, exercised in conditions of poverty and\ndanger.\nIt is precisely by virtue of this activity that the pope grants the monks important privileges and fiscal exemptions.\nThey are exempted from payment of the twentieth, an ecclesiastical tax equal to one twentieth of revenues\n(5%), often intended to finance crusades or, as in this case, to support the Holy Land; and from the tithe on the\ngoods possessed at the Island of Strofaria, namely the ordinary tribute of 10% on goods or income owed to the\nChurch. Exemption from tithes represented a privilege of great importance.\nThese were not privileges granted because of wealth or power, but rather a necessary protection to ensure the\nsurvival of a fragile community whose service possessed a clear social, spiritual, and strategic utility. Taken as a\nwhole, the document conveys the image of a frontier monasticism: poor, exposed to the dangers of the sea, yet\ndeeply integrated into the human reality surrounding it. The monks of San Pancrazio, on the rock of Scilla, thus\nappear as silent guardians of a crucial maritime passage, witnesses to a religiosity that intertwines asceticism,\ncharity, and service to travellers. The papal letter merely officially recognizes this role, granting them legal protection\nso that they might continue their work in one of the harshest and most symbolic places of the medieval\nMediterranean, offering testimony of great significance for the religious and civil history of Scilla.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Giuseppe Ribuffo<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-2 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1331.2px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div ><a class=\"fusion-button button-flat fusion-button-default-size button-custom fusion-button-default button-1 fusion-button-default-span\" style=\"--button_accent_color:#f20800;--button_border_color:#2038b2;--button_accent_hover_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_border_hover_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_gradient_top_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_gradient_bottom_color:var(--awb-color1);--button_gradient_top_color_hover:var(--awb-color4);--button_gradient_bottom_color_hover:var(--awb-color4);--button_text_transform:none;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/henry-swinburne-viaggio-nelle-due-sicilie\/\"><i class=\"fa-angle-double-right fas awb-button__icon awb-button__icon--default button-icon-left\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><span class=\"fusion-button-text awb-button__text awb-button__text--default\">Next page: 64. Henry Swinburne, A Voyage to the Two Sicilies, 1783<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1861,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1339","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Papa Onorio III - Discover Scilla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/papa-onorio-iii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Papa Onorio III - Discover Scilla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/papa-onorio-iii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Discover Scilla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-19T07:43:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/63.1-1024x725.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/papa-onorio-iii\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.discoverscilla.com\\\/papa-onorio-iii\\\/\",\"name\":\"Papa Onorio III - 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