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(817-824)
The date of his birth is unknown; he died in April, May, or June, 824. He was the son of a Roman named Bonosus. While still young he joined the Romanclergy and was taken into thepapalpatriarchate (Lateran Palace) where he was instructed in the Divine Service and theHoly Scripture.Leo III having appointed him superior of themonastery of St. Stephen near theBasilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, he took care of thepilgrims who came toRome. On the death ofStephen IV (24 January, 817) Paschal was unanimously chosen as his successor. On the following day he wasconsecrated andenthroned. He entered into relations with Emperor Louis, sending him several ambassadors in rapid succession. In 817 he received from the emperor a document, "Pactum Ludovicianum", confirming therights and possessions of theHoly See. This document with later amendments is still extant (cf. especially Sickel, "Das Privileg Ottos I für die römische Kirche", Innsbruck, 1883, 50 sqq., 174 sqq.). Paschal remained on friendly terms with theFrankish nobility and sent a special legation with rich gifts to the marriage of King Lothair I, son of Emperor Louis. In spring, 823, Lothair went toRome and on 5 April he wassolemnlycrowned emperor by Paschal. Although thepope himself opposed the sovereignty of theFrankish emperors overRome and Roman territory, high officials in thepapal palace, especiallyPrimicerius Theodore and his son-in-law Leo Nomenculator, were at the head of the party which supported theFranks, and advocated the supremacy of the emperor. Shortly after the departure of King Lothair in 823, both these officials were blinded and killed by thepope's servants. Paschal himself was accused of being the originator of this deed, but he cleared himself of suspicion by anoath. The ambassadors sent toRome by Emperor Louis to investigate the affair could not punish the perpetrators, as thepope declared themurdered officials guilty of treason. Paschal supported new missionary expeditions which went out from theFrankish Empire. He sent a letter of introduction to Bishop Halitgar of Cambria, and appointed Archbishop Ebo ofRheims aspapal legate to thepagan countries in NorthernEurope.
In 814 under Leo theArmenian, theIconoclastic controversy broke out with renewedviolence in theByzantine Empire.Theodore of Studium, the great champion oforthodoxy, wrote repeatedly to Pope Paschal, who encouraged him to persevere. At the same time Theodosius of Constantinople, unlawfully made patriarch by Emperor Leo, sent a legation to thepope. The latter, however, remained loyal to the cause ofTheodore of Studium, and dispatchedlegates to Leo to win him from theIconoclasts, but without success. Numerousmonks who had been driven out ofGreece by Leo came toRome where thepope received them kindly, assigning them places in the newly-erectedmonasteries, such as St. Praxedis, St. Cecilia, Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, near the Lateran Palace. Paschal was very active in completing, restoring, and beautifying churches andmonasteries. Thebasilicas of St. Praxedis, St. Cecilia, and S. Maria in Dominica were completely rebuilt by him. Themosaics, which at that time ornamented theapses of these three churches as well as thechapel of St. Zeno in St. Praxedis, demonstrate today the deterioration of this art. In St. Peter's he erectedchapels and altars, in which the remains ofmartyrs from theRoman catacombs, especially those of Sts. Processus and Marinianus, were placed. He also placed therelics of many Romanmartyrs in thechurch of St. Praxedis where their names are still legible. The discovery of the relics of St. Cecilia and companions, and their translation to the newchurch of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, are well described in"Liber Pontificalis" (cf. Kirsch, "Die hl. Cäcilia in der römischen Kirche des Altertums", Paderborn, 1910). He made great improvements in the choir of the church of S. Maria Maggiore. Paschal wasinterred in thechurch of St. Praxedis, and ishonoured as a saint on 14 May.
Liber Pontificalis, ed. DUCHESNE, II, 52 sqq.;Einhardi Annals inMon. Germ, hist.: Script., I, 124 sqq.; JAFFÉ,Regesta Rom. Pont., 2nd ed., I (Leipzig, 1885), 318 sqq.; SIMSON,Jahrbücher der deutschen Reiches unter Ludwig dem Frommen (Leipzig, 1874-76); DUCHESNE,Les premiers temps de l'Etat pontifical inRevue d'hist. et de littér. religeuses, I (Paris, 1896), 297 sqq.; HARTMANN,Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter, III, pt. i (Gotha, 1008); MARUCCHI,Basiliques el églises de Rome (Rome, 1902).
APA citation.Kirsch, J.P.(1911).Pope Paschal I. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11514a.htm
MLA citation.Kirsch, Johann Peter."Pope Paschal I."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 11.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1911.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11514a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter.Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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