, so called because he was librarian of the church of Rome, was a
, so called because he
was librarian of the church of Rome, was a native of Greece,
and one of the most learned men of his age. He flourished
about the middle of the ninth century, and was abbot of
St. Mary’s trans Tiberim. His chief work, the “Liber
Pontincalis,
” or the lives of the Popes from St. Peter to
Nicholas I. is of a doubtful character: Blondel and Salmasius bestow great encomiums on it, while Hailing, a
Roman catholic writer of note, depreciates it as much. To
the last edition of this book is joined Ciampinius’s examination of the validity of the facts therein mentioned; and
from this we learn that he wrote only the lives of Gregory
IV. Sergius II. Leo IV. Benedict III. and Nicholas I. and
that the lives of the other popes in that book were done by
different authors. Anastasius is said to have assisted at the
eighth general council held at Constantinople in the year
869, of which he translated the acts and canons from Greek
into Latin. The time of his death is a disputed point, as
indeed are many particulars relating to him. Bayle has a
very elaborate article on his history, which Cave had previously examined, and Blondel, in his “Familier eclaircissement,
” and Boeder in his “Bibl. critica,
” have likewise
entered deeply into the controversy. He wrote a great
number of translations, more valued for their fidelity than
elegance, yet they have all been admitted into the popish
collections of ecclesiastical memoirs and antiquities. The
first edition of the “Liber Pontincalis
” was printed at
Mentz,