Pope Paschal I (Latin:Paschalis I; died 824) was thebishop of Rome and ruler of thePapal States from 25 January 817 to his death in 824.
Paschal was a member of an aristocratic Roman family. Before his election to the papacy, he was abbot of St. Stephen's monastery, which served pilgrims. InRome in 823 he crownedLothair I asHoly Roman Emperor. He rebuilt a number of churches in Rome, including three basilicas.
Pope Leo III placed Paschal in charge of the monastery ofSt Stephen of the Abyssinians, where his responsibilities included the care of pilgrims visiting Rome.[5] According to early modern accounts, Leo III may have elevated Paschal as thecardinal priest ofSanta Prassede.[6] Goodson attributes this account to a "desire to explain the attention that the pope so lavishly and prominently paid to that church later in his career."[6]
Paschal becamepope on 25 January 817, just one day after the sudden death of Stephen IV.[6] This decision was made without the sanction of EmperorLouis the Pious. Paschal began his pontificate apologizing for this slight, stressing that the office had been thrust upon him.[7] He claimed that the decision had been made to avoid factional strife in Rome. According to theLiber Pontificalis, Pope Paschal'slegate Theodore returned with a document titledPactum cum Paschali pontifice, in which the emperor congratulated Paschal, recognized his sovereignty over thePapal States, and guaranteed the free election of future pontiffs.[8] This document has since been challenged by historians as a forgery.[9]
At first, Emperor Louis confirmed the agreement reached inRheims with Paschal's predecessor, Stephen IV, and detailed in the documentPactum Ludovicanum about free papal elections and noninterference in Church affairs unless officially asked for help. The two worked together to send ArchbishopEbbo of Rheims to evangelize theDanes in 822.[7]
On Easter Sunday of 823, Paschalcrowned andanointed Louis's sonLothair I. Lothair was less amenable to cooperating with the Papal Curia than his father. He held a court and declaredFarfa Abbey, just north of Rome, exempt from papal taxation. Paschal's aristocratic opponents in the papal palace, especially his former legate, Theodore, and his son-in-law, Leo, who turned to the young leader of the Franks for support in their opposition to Paschal.[5] The decision outraged the Roman nobility and led to an uprising against the authority of the Roman Curia in northern Italy led by Theodore and Leo. The revolt was quickly suppressed, and two of its leaders were seized, blinded, and afterwards beheaded by members of the papal household. Paschal denied any involvement, but the Emperor remained suspicious and sent two commissioners to investigate. Paschal refused to submit to the authority of the imperial court, but he did take an oath of purgation before a synod of thirty-four bishops.[7] The commissioners returned toAachen, and Emperor Louis let the matter drop.
Paschal gave shelter to exiled monks from theByzantine Empire who had fled persecution for their opposition toiconoclasm.[10] He both offered the exiled Byzantine mosaic artists work decorating churches in Rome[8] and wrote to Louis the Pious[11] and the Byzantine emperorLeo the Armenian in support of those who opposed iconoclasm.[7]
Paschal is also sometimes credited with the renovation ofSanto Stefano del Cacco in early modern sources, but this renovation was actually undertaken byPope Paschal II.[15]
According to Goodson, Paschal "used church-building to express the authority of the papacy as an independent state."[16]
Paschal died on 11 February 824. The Roman Curia refused him the honour of burial withinSt. Peter's Basilica because of his harsh government of the Roman people.[7] He was instead buried in the Basilica ofSanta Prassede, which also contains the famousEpiscopa Theodora mosaic of his mother.[19]
Paschal wascanonized in the late sixteenth century. His feast day in the Roman calendar prior to 1963 was 14 May.[20][7] It is currently celebrated on 11 February.
^ab One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Kirsch, Johann Peter (1911)."Pope Paschal I". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved13 September 2017.
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),ISBN88-384-1326-6
Claudio Rendina,I papi, Ed. Newton Compton, Roma, 1990
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