
Honorius, from Campania, succeeded Boniface V in 625. He was much respected in his lifetime, did a great deal to restore and beautify the churches of Rome, including Sant'Agnese fuori le mura, where his portrait survives in the apse mosaic, and repaired the aqueduct of Trajan.
He took a close interest in the British Isles: he sent St Birinus to the West Saxons, gave the pallium to St Paulinus of York and to Honorius of Canterbury, and in 630 urged the Irish bishops to keep Easter with the rest of the Church, after which southern Ireland adopted the Roman date. His reply to Patriarch Sergius of Constantinople on the question of Christ's will was censured after his death by the Third Council of Constantinople (680-81), and Pope Leo II explained that he was faulted for not opposing error firmly enough.
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