Paschal I

Pope Paschal I (; died 824) was the bishop of Rome and leader of the Papal 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. In Rome in 823 he crowned Lothair I as Holy Roman Emperor. He rebuilt a number of churches in Rome, including three basilicas.

Early life According to the Liber Pontificalis, Paschal was a native of Lazio Rome born Pascale Massimi and son of Bonosus and Episcopa Theodora. The Liber Censuum says that Paschal was from the Massimi branch of the Massimo family, as was his predecessor, Stephen IV.

Pope Leo III placed Paschal in charge of the monastery of St Stephen of the Abyssinians, where his responsibilities included the care of pilgrims visiting Rome. According to early modern accounts, Leo III may have elevated Paschal as the cardinal priest of Santa Prassede. 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." He claimed that the decision had been made to avoid factional strife in Rome. According to the Liber Pontificalis, Pope Paschal's legate Theodore returned with a document titled Pactum cum Paschali pontifice, in which the emperor congratulated Paschal, recognized his sovereignty over the Papal States, and guaranteed the free election of future pontiffs. This document has since been challenged by historians as a forgery.

Papacy

At first, Emperor Louis confirmed the agreement reached in Rheims with Paschal's predecessor, Stephen IV, and detailed in the document Pactum Ludovicanum about free papal elections and noninterference in Church affairs unless officially asked for help. The two worked together to send Archbishop Ebbo of Rheims to evangelize the Danes in 822. He both offered the exiled Byzantine mosaic artists work decorating churches in Rome and the Byzantine emperor Leo the Armenian in support of those who opposed iconoclasm. These churches contain mosaics with lifelike portraits of Paschal. In addition, Paschal added two oratories to Old St. Peter's Basilica, SS. Processus et Martinianus and SS. Xistus et Fabianus, which did not survive the 16th century renovation of St. Peter's.

Paschal is also sometimes credited with the renovation of Santo Stefano del Cacco in early modern sources, but this renovation was actually undertaken by Pope Paschal II.

According to Goodson, Paschal "used church-building to express the authority of the papacy as an independent state."

Writings

Only six known letters written by Paschal remain. The first (Jaffé 2546) confirms the possessions of the Territorial Abbey of Farfa.

Paschal was canonized in the late sixteenth century. His feast day in the Roman calendar prior to 1963 was 14 May. confessor is honored in Orthodox Church on 14 May.