pope from 619 to 625. He succeeded St. Deusdedit after the papacy had been vacant for more than a year and was faced with the task of organizing an Italy war-torn by Eleutherius, exarch of Ravenna. In endeavouring to apply canon law to civil law, he established the right of asylum. He also greatly helped the spread of Christianity in England, especially in Northumbria, by encouraging, through letters, the saintly missionaries evangelizing the Britons.