Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/80

 NICHOLAS

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NICHOLAS

may see in their liighost perfection these unique mani- festations of the subtility and refinement of the per- fect art of CathoUc civihzation.

Ralph Adams Cram.

Nicholas I, Saint, Pope, b. at Rome, thite un- known; (1. 13 November, 867; one of the great popes of tlie Middle Ages, who exerted decisive influence upon the historical development of the papacy and its position .among the Christian nations of Western Eu- rope. He was of a dist inguished family, being the .son of the Defensor Theodore, and received an excellent training. Already dist inguished for his piety, benevo- lence, ability, knowledge, and eloquence, he entered, at an early age, the service of the Church, was made subdeacon by Pope Sergius II (844-47), and deacon by Leo IV (S47-.5.5). He w.os employed in all impor- tant matters during the pontificate of his predecessor, Benedict III (S.'),5-5S). After Benedict's death (7 April, 8.58) the Emperor Louis II, who was in the neighbourhood of Rome, came into the city to exert his influence upon the election. On 24 April Nicholas was elected pope, and on the same day was conse- crated and enthroned in St. Peter's in the presence of the emperor. Three days after, he gave a farewell banquet to the emperor, and afterwards, accompanied by the Roman nobility, visited him in his camp before the city, on which occasion the emperor came to meet the pope and led his horse for some distance.

Christianity in \\'estern Europe was then in a most melanclioly condition. The empire of Charlemagne had fallen to pieces. Christian territory was threatened both from the north and the east, and Clmstendom seemed on the brink of anarchy. Christian morality was despised; many bishops were worldly and un- worthy of their office. There was danger of a univer- sal decline of the higher civilization. Pope Nicholas appeared as a conscientious representative of the Ro- man Primacy in the Church. He was filled with a high conception of his mission for the vindication of Christian morality, the defence of God's law against princes and dignitaries, and of ecclesiastical law against powerful bishops. Archbishop John of Ravenna oppressed the inhabitants of the papal territory, treated his suffragan bishops with violence, made unjust demands upon them for money, and illegally imprisoned priests. He also forged documents to support his claims against the Roman See and maltreatecl the papal legates. As the warnings of the pope were without result, and the archbishop ignored a thrice-repeated summons to ap- pear before the papal tribunal, he was excommuni- cated. Having first visited the Emperor Louis at Pavia, the archbishop repaired, with two imperial delegates, to Rome, where Nicholas cited him before the Roman synod assembled in the autumn of 860. Upon this John fled from Rome. Going in person to Ravenna, the pope then investigated and equitably regulated everything. Again appealing to the em- peror, the archbishop was recommended by him to submit to the pope, which he did at the Roman Synod of November, 861. Later on, however, he entered into a pact %vith the excommunicated Archbishops of Trier and Cologne, was himself again excommuni- cated, and once more forced to make his submission to the pojje. Another conflict arose between Nicholas and Archbishop Hincmar of Reims; this concerned the prerogatives of the papacy. Bishop Rothad of Sois- sons had appealed to the pope against the decision of the Synod of Soissons, of 861, which had deposed him; Hincmar oppo.sed the appeal to the pope, but eventu- ally had to acknowledge the right of the papacy to take cognizance of important legal causes {causw ma- jores) and pa,S8 indept'ndent judgment upon them. A further dispute broke out between Hincmar and the pope as to the elevation of the cleric Wulfad to the archiepiscopal See of Bourges, but here, again, Hinc- mar finally submitted to the decrees of the Apostohc

See, and the Prankish synods passed corresponding ordinances.

Nicholas showed the s:iiiie zeal in other elTorts to maintain ecclesiastical discipline, especially as to the marriage laws. Ingiltrud, wife of Cotmt Boso, had left her husband for a paramour; Nicholas comniaiKled the liishops in the dominions of Charles the Bold to excommunicate her imless she returned to lier hus- band. As she paid no attention to the summons to apijcar before the Synod of Milan in 860, she was put under the ban. The pope was also involved in a des- perate stmggle with Lothaii' II of Lorraine over the inviolability of marriage. Lothair had abandoned his lawful wife Theutberga to marry Waldrada. At the Synod of Aachen, 28 April, 862, the bishojis of Lor- raine, unmindful of their duty, approved of tliis illicit union. At the Synod of Metz, June, 863, the papal legates, bribed by the king, assented to the .Aachen de- cision, and condemned the absent Theutberga. Upon this the pope brought the matter l)efore iiis own tribu- nal. The two archbishops, Gunther of Cologne and Thietgaud of Trier, who had come to Rome as dele- gates, were summoned before the Lateran Synod of October, 863, when the pope condemned and deposed them as well as John of Ravenna and Ilagano of Ber- gamo. The Emperor Louis II took up the cause of the depo.sed bishops, while King Lothair advanced upon Rome with an army and laid siege to the city, so that the pope was confined for two days in St. Peter's without food. Yet Nicholas did not waver in his de- termination; the emperor, after being reconciled with the pope, withdrew from Rome and commanded the Archbishops of Trier and Cologne to return to their homes. Nicholas never ceased from his efforts to bring about a reconciliation between Lothair and his lawful wife, but without effect. Another matrimo- nial case in which Nicholas interposed was that of Judith, daughter of Charles the Bold, who had mar- ried Baldwin, Count of Flanders, without her father's consent. Prankish bishops had excommimicated Judith, and Hincmar of Reims had taken sides against her, but Nicholas urged leniency, in order to protect freeflom of marriage. He commanded Hincmar to bring about a reconciliation between father and daugh- ter, and succeeded in obtaining Charles's consent to the marriage. In many other ecclesiastical matters, also, he issued letters and decisions, and he took active measures against bishops who were neglectful of their duties.

In the matter of the emperor and the patriarchs of Constantinople Nicholas showed himself the Divinely appointed ruler of the Church. In violation of ec- clesiastical law, the Patriarch Ignatius was deposed in 857 and Photius illegally raised to the patriarchal see. In a letter addressed (8 May, 862) to the patriarchs of the East, Nicholas called upon them and all their bishops to refuse recognition to Photius, and at a Ro- man synod held in April, 863, he excommunicated Photius. He also encouraged the missionary activity of the Church. He sanctioned the union of the Sees of Bremen and Hamburg, and confirmed to St. An- schar. Archbishop of Bremen, and his successors the office of papal legate to the Danes, Swedes, and Slavs. Bulgaria having been converted by Greek missiona- ries, its ruler. Prince Boris, in August, 863, sent an em- bas.sy to the pope with one hundred and six questions on the teaching and discipline of the Church. Nicho- las answered these inquiries exhaustively in the cele- brated "Responsa Nicolai ad consulta Bulgarorum" (Mansi, "Coll. Cone.'', Xy, 401 sqq.). The letter shows how keen was his desire to foster the principles of an earnest Christian life in this newly-converted people. At the same time he sent an embassy to Prince Boris, charged to use their personal efforts to attain the pope's object. Nevertheless, Boris finally joined the Eastern Church.

At Rome, Nicholas rebuilt and endowed several