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Pope Paschal I

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Pope Saint

Paschal I
Paschal I holding the Church of Santa Prassede wearing a zuchetto and pallium. Mosaic portrait at Church of Saint Praxedis in Rome.
Papacy began25 January 817
Papacy ended11 February 824
PredecessorStephen IV
SuccessorEugene II
Personal details
Born
Pascale Massimi

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Rome, Papal States
Died(824-02-11)11 February 824
Rome, Papal States
BuriedSanta Prassede, Rome
Sainthood
Feast day11 February
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Attributes
Other popes named Paschal
Papal styles of
Pope Paschal I
Reference styleHis Holiness
Spoken styleYour Holiness
Religious styleHoly Father
Posthumous styleSaint

Pope Saint Paschal I (Latin: Paschalis I; born Pascale Massimi; died 11 February 824) was Pope from 25 January 817 to his death in 824.[1] His mother was the renowned religious, the Lady Theodora.

Early life

Paschal was native of Rome and son of Bonosus and Lady Theodora.

Selection as popoe

Paschal was serving as abbot of Santo Stefano Rotondo when he was raised to the pontificate by the acclamation of the clergy less than a day after the death of Pope Stephen IV. This decision occurred before the sanction of the emperor Louis the Pious had been obtained, and was a circumstance for which it was one of his first tasks to apologize. Paschal advised the emperor that the decision had been made to avoid factional strife in Rome.

According to the Liber Pontificalis, Pope Paschal's papal legate Theodore returned with a document titled Pactum cum Pashali pontiff, in which the Emperor congratulated Paschal, recognized his sovereignty over the Papal States and guaranteed the free election of future pontiffs. .[2] This document was challenged by later historians as a forgery.[3]

Papacy

During his reign, he gave shelter to exiled monks from the Byzantine Empire who were persecuted for their opposition to iconoclasm, and invited mosaic artists to decorate churches in Rome.[2]

In 822, he gave the legateship over the North (Scandinavia) to Ebbo, Archbishop of Rheims. He licensed him to preach to the Danes, though Ebbo failed in three different attempts to convert them. Only later did Saint Ansgar succeed with them.

In 823, Paschal crowned and anointed Lothair I as King of Italy, which set the precedent for the pope’s right to crown kings, and to do so in Rome. Lothair immediately made use of his new authority to side with Farfa Abbey in its lawsuit against the Roman Curia, forcing the Papal administration to return properties which had been misappropriated. The decision outraged the Roman nobility, and led to an uprising against the authority of the Roman Curia in northern Italy, led by Paschal’s former legate, Theodore, and his son Leone. The revolt was quickly suppressed, and the two leaders who were about to testify were seized at the Lateran, blinded and afterwards beheaded. Suspicious that the deaths were to cover up the involvement of the pope in the revolt, the emperor sent two commissioners to investigate. Paschal refused to submit to the authority of the imperial court, but issued an oath in which he denied all personal complicity in the crime. The commissioners returned to Aachen, and Emperor Louis let the matter drop.

Construction projects

Paschal rebuilt three basilicas of Rome: Santa Prassede, Santa Maria in Domnica, and Santa Cecilia in Trastevere.[4] Paschal also undertook significant renovations on Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.[5] In addition, Paschal added two oratories to Old St. Peter's Basilica: SS. Processus et Martinianus and SS. Xistus et Fabianus.[4]

Paschal is credited with finding the body of Saint Cecilia in the Catacomb of Callixtus and translating it to the rebuild the basilica of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere.

Death

After Paschal's death, the Roman Curia refused him the honour of burial within St. Peter's Basilica, and he was buried in the basilica of Santa Prassede, which includes the famous Episcopa Theodora mosaic of his mother.[6]

Paschal was later canonized, and his feast day in the Roman calendar (prior to 1963, 14 May; currently 11 February) is similar to that of Our Lady of Lourdes.

See also

References

  1. ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Paschal I" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  2. ^ a b John N.D. Kelly, Gran Dizionario Illustrato dei Papi, p. 271
  3. ^ Claudio Rendina, I papi, p. 256
  4. ^ a b Goodson, 2010, p. 3.
  5. ^ Goodson, 2010, p.4.
  6. ^ John N.D. Kelly, Gran Dizionario Illustrato dei Papi, p. 272

Further reading

  • Goodson, Caroline J. 2010. The Rome of Pope Paschal I: Papal Power, Urban Renovation, Church Rebuilding and Relic Translation, 817-824. Cambridge University Press.
  • John N.D. Kelly, Gran Dizionario Illustrato dei Papi, Edizioni Piemme S.p.A., 1989, Casale Monferrato (AL), ISBN 88-384-1326-6
  • Claudio Rendina, I papi, Ed. Newton Compton, Roma, 1990
  • Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paschalis I.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Pope
817–824 		Succeeded by


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