Note 836 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
Gregory III. (731-741) styles himself “the most holy and blessed Apostolic Pope”—Sanctissimus ac Beatissimus Apostolicus Papa. Boniface VIII. adopted the triple-crowned tiara, to indicate the Pope’s dominion over heaven, earth, and hell.
Dante represents the pope as an all-powerful griffin, symbolical of his spiritual and temporal functions, drawing the triumphal car of the church.—Purgatorio, Can. xxix. Yet in a fresco of the seventh or eighth century, of Cornelius, bishop of Rome, he is in no way distinguished by costume, insignia, or title from Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who stands beside him.