Excerpted from 
"Souvenir of the Dedication of Pope St. Eugene I Church and School, June 7, 1959 

Pope St. Eugene I, born a Roman, about the turn of the seventh century, reigned from September 8, 654 to June 2, 657. 

Terrific struggles characterized the times in- which he lived. The complete collapse of the Roman Empire in 476 commences a chronicle of savagery, lawlessness, and ignorance. There was constant conflict with Byzantine Emperors in civil affairs and with the Patriarchs of Constantinople on doctrine. 

These controversies sowed the seed of the schism that separated Eastern and Western Churches in 1054, one of the most calamitous dates in Christian history. 

Major among the difficulties facing the Vatican during the seventh century was the heresy of Monothelitism which denied to Christ a human will. This view was strongly urged by Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople. The controversy lasted for more than fifty years and was brought to a close only by the Sixth General Council, called by Pope Agatho at Constantinople in 681. 

But in the meantime, Pope St. Martin 1, (649-655) the immediate predecessor of Eugene, literally died a martyr. He excommunicated Sergius. For this, at the instigation of the Byzantine Emperor, Constans II, he was taken prisoner in 653. After being insulted, ill-treated, and cast into jail, he was exiled to Chersonesus in the Black Sea where he died on the 16th of September, 655. 

For fear of seeing the election of a heretical pope, and with the consent of the still living Martin I, the Roman clergy placed Eugene I on the papal throne as vicar-general of the Church. Eugene did not become truly pope until Martin’s death in 655. 

Eugene took an equally firm stand against the heresy that denied a human will to Christ. In an effort to come to an understanding with the Byzantine Court he sent apostolic delegates to the Emperor Constans II. He ended by condemning his own representatives at the imperial court. Seduced by the patriarch, they had begun to stray from the Catholic Faith. 

Pope St. Eugene I was saved from the same fate as Martin I only by the advent of the Moslems who took Rhodes in 654 and defeated Constans in the naval battle of Phoenix in 655. 

Eugene died on the 2nd of June, 657 and was buried at the Vatican. He governed the Church, reckoning from the year 654, two years, eight months, and twenty-four days. During his short reign he created twenty-two bishops. In those early days of the Church, even as now, it is the Pope who appoints bishops.

www.newadvent.org/cathen/05598a.htm

www.catholic.org/saints/saints/eugene.html