Lotario de Conti was born into a pope-rich family, the Contis, around the year 1160. His uncle was Pope Clement III, and he was distantly related to Gregory IX, Alexander IV, and Innocent XIII. Lotario was incredibly well-educated, having studied theology in Paris and jurisprudence in Bologna, and went on to become known as one of the greatest legal scholars of his era. Though he had retired to live a life of contemplation by the time Celestine III (his predecessor) was in office, Lotario served in different capacities under the four popes prior to Celestine. 

A sign of a good and virtuous pope, Innocent III was reluctantly consecrated pope on January 8, 1198. He was just 37 years old. Despite having one of the longer papacies to date, Innocent was no couch potato pontiff, and has gone down as one of the most influential and powerful popes in Church history. His incredible knowledge of the law made him a force to be reckoned with politically, so he was able to begin restoring papal supremacy in Rome and throughout Italy with few headaches (pretty uncommon at that time). Germany, who could never seem to cool its jets, was the exception. The nation had been split by rival claimants to the throne there -- Otto IV and Philip of Swabia -- neither of whom was the four-year-old heir, Frederick II. It would take more than a decade for the dust to settle there. 

Innocent III ushered in crusading efforts -- perhaps his most controversial acts as pope -- to Spain and the Holy Land. The former worked out alright, but the latter went terribly wrong (read here for more) and soured the Western Church’s relationship with the East even further, despite Innocent’s best efforts. The pope died suddenly on July 16, 1216 and was buried at Perugia until being moved to the Lateran by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. 

Pope Innocent III was best known for being a reformer who sent ripples throughout the Church which can still be seen today. He organized the suppression of the Albigensian heresy in France, which taught (among other things) a Star Wars-esque belief of forces of both good and evil existing and battling against each other in the universe. Innocent also convened the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, which issued 70 decrees. Chief among them was the infallible declaration and detailed description of transubstantiation (Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist). 

One of his most well-known acts was welcoming St. Francis of Assisi to the Vatican, where the young monk fulfilled a vision Innocent had received depicting a poor man holding up the crumbling Lateran Basilica. He also hosted St. Dominic at a different time, and rubber-stamped the creation of both the Dominican and Franciscan orders to fight the scourges of luxury and laziness, which had infected both clergy and laity. 

Fun Fact: The material world didn’t see the last of Innocent III when he died in 1216. Soon after his death, he appeared to St. Lutgardis of Aywières of Belgium, a saint who was known for her mystical visions and remarkable holiness. In the apparition, Innocent thanked Lutgardis for her prayers during his lifetime, but exhorted her to continue. He was in purgatory and needed prayers to be purified from three specific faults committed during his lifetime: