Pope Paschal I

Pope Saint Paschal I (baptismal name, Pascale Massimi) was pope from 25 January 817 to 11 February 824. A native of Rome and son of Bonosus, he was raised to the pontificate by the acclamation of the clergy shortly after the death of Pope Stephen IV and before the sanction of the emperor Louis the Pious had been obtained - a circumstance for which it was one of his first tasks to apologize. His relations with the imperial house, however, never became cordial, and he was also unsuccessful in winning the sympathy of the Roman nobles.

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.

Paschal died in Rome while the imperial commissioners were investigating the circumstances under which two papal officials that were testifying against the pope had been seized at the Lateran, blinded and afterwards beheaded. Paschal shielded the murderers, but denied all personal complicity in their crime. The Roman people refused him the honour of burial within St. Peter's Basilica, but he now holds a place in the Roman calendar (prior to 1963, 14 May; currently 11 February).

The church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere was restored and Santa Maria in Domnica rebuilt by him. He also extensively renovated the basilica of Santa Prassede, which includes the famous Episcopa Theodora mosaic of his mother.

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia article
• Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes

Pope Portal · 
Catholicism Portal · 

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.