Pope Saint Paul I (757-767)

The pope of fraternal continuity

Paul I is an almost unique case in the ancient history of the papacy: he directly succeeds his biological brother, Stephen II (752-757), with whom he was educated at the Lateran and shared for five years the conduct of the most delicate affairs of the Roman Church.^[13][14] This continuity is not only familial: it is political and doctrinal. Stephen II had concluded the alliance with Pippin the Short, obtained the donation of 754 and the Lombard restitution of 756. Paul I was elected precisely because he is the man who must extend this program.^[15]

The Liber Pontificalis says that his faction during the election was “more precious and stronger” than that of his rival, Archdeacon Theophylact. The phrase is revealing: in Rome in 757, “more precious” meant “better anchored in the high Roman aristocracy and more capable of holding the Frankish line”.^[16][17]

The Pope of the birth of the Papal States

Under Paul I, the Papal States were not yet a stabilized legal reality. They are a political heritage in formation, fragile, contested both by the Lombards to the north and by Byzantium to the east. Paul I is the pope who must give concrete life to the Donation of Pippin of 754, obtain the material application of what was promised on paper, and resist all Lombard or Byzantine attempts to empty it of its substance.^[18][19]

It was also under him that a decisive fact crystallized: the papacy definitively ceased to see itself as a dependency of Constantinople. During his pontificate, "it became clear that the Eastern Emperor was no longer a major factor in the Italian power structure.".^[20] The See of Peter now looked to the Frankish kings as the natural protectors of St. Peter's heritage.

The Pope of Roman Orthodoxy against iconoclasm

The other nerve of the pontificate is doctrinal. The Byzantine emperor Constantine V Copronymusous (741-775) took iconoclasm to its peak with the council of Hieria in 754, which claimed to impose the destruction of holy images.^[21] Paul I refused this drift and engaged the Apostolic See: he “vigorously protested” against the resumption of iconoclasm and repeatedly sent “ legates and letters concerning the veneration of images ” in Byzantium.^[22][23]

When Constantine V sought in 767 to seduce the Frankish bishops to rally them to his cause, Paul I obtained on the contrary that the synod of Gentilly _“maintains the doctrines of the Church concerning the Trinity and the veneration of images.”^[24][25] The Roman defense of the iconodule defense prepares the path which will lead, twenty years later, to the second council of Nicaea (787) under Hadrian I.

Table of witnesses

The Liber Pontificalis and Roman memory

The notice in the Liber Pontificalis on Paul I is particularly rich. It relates his Roman birth, his education at the Lateran with his brother Stephen, the election against the faction of Theophylact, the conversion of his father's house into a monastery, the dedication of the church of Saints Stephen and Sylvester, the translations of relics, the nocturnal visits to the prisons for charity, and finally the illness which surprised him in the heat of summer 767, his retirement at Saint Paul Outside the Walls, his death and his burial.^[26][27]

This notice must be read with the sobriety of a Roman archive. It does not seek to embellish a minor pope: it records what an eighth-century pontiff actually accomplished in a threatened Rome. Its information is convergent with that of Lombard, Byzantine and Frankish sources.

The Codex Epistolaris Carolinus: 32 irreplaceable letters

The most exceptional source for understanding Paul I is the Codex Epistolaris Carolinus, a collection of 99 papal letters to Carolingian sovereigns compiled in 791 under Charlemagne. Of these 99 letters, 32 are from Paul I, which makes him, with Hadrian I, one of the two best represented popes.^[28][29]

Modern historiography (McKitterick, Espelo, Pollard, Price 2021) emphasizes that these “32 often agitated letters from Paul I” reveal the Pope's uncertainty about Pippin's ability or willingness to return to Italy to force the Lombards to keep their promises.^[30] This permanent worry makes Paul I a transparent pope about his fears: he does not hide the difficulty of the moment.

“Historiography notes the “32 often agitated letters” of Paul I, which reveal the Pope's uncertainty about Pippin's ability, or willingness, to return to Italy to have the Lombard promises honored. ” — R. McKitterick et al., Codex Epistolaris Carolinus, Liverpool University Press, 2021^[31]

Lombard, Byzantine and Frankish sources

The Continuation of Fredegar records on the Frankish side the papal embassies and Pippin's mediation in favor of Rome.^[32] On the Byzantine side, the lack of imperial response to Roman protests over images testifies, implicitly, to the progressive rupture between Rome and Constantinople. On the Lombard side, the charters of Desiderius and the chronicles of Pavia reflect the strategy of attrition carried out against the papacy.^[33]

Noble Roman family

Paul was born in Rome, probably around 700, into a family of the Roman nobility.^[34][35] Ancient sources do not give his exact date of birth. Encyclopedia.com and the Britannica present him as a member of “an important Roman noble family” who served the papal curia before his election.^[36][37]

The identification with the Orsini family that we sometimes read on Wikipedia is anachronistic: the Orsini as an identifiable lineage only appeared in the 12th century. What the sources allow us to cautiously assert is that it is a Roman aristocratic family influential in the pontifical administration of the mid-8th century.^[38]

Education at the Lateran Palace

The Liber Pontificalis and the Catholic Encyclopedia confirm that Paul and his brother Stephen _“had been educated for the priesthood at the Lateran Palace.”^[39][40] The Lateran was not only the residence of the pope: it was the main clerical school of Rome, where the curia trained its future officials. There one learned the Holy Scriptures, the Roman liturgy, ecclesiastical chant, emerging canon law, and the Greek language essential for dialogue with Constantinople.

This training explains Paul I's familiarity with Byzantine diplomatic files, his ease in the careful Latin correspondence of the Codex Carolinus, and his constant attention to the Roman liturgy (chant, festivals, translations of relics).

Right arm of Stephen II

During the five years of the pontificate of Stephen II (752-757), Paul was his trusted collaborator. The Catholic Encyclopedia writes that _“Stephen entrusted to his brother many important ecclesiastical affairs, among which the restoration to the Roman States of the cities which had been seized by the Lombard kings Aistulf and Desiderius.”^[41] Even before becoming pope, Paul was already the man in charge of the Lombard dossier: he knew the contested cities, the embassies, the ruses of the Lombard kings, the reflexes of the Franks.

It is this acquired skill which makes him, at the time of succession, the candidate most capable of extending his brother's policy.^[42]

Stephen II dying, factions in Rome

The papal election of 757 took place in a tense context. Stephen II is dying in the Lateran. According to the Liber Pontificalis, Romans meet in the house of Archdeacon Theophylact to prepare his candidacy, _“in order to secure his succession to the papal seat.”^[43] The maneuver is common: at each vacancy, parties are formed before the death of the reigning pope.

But this time, the fraternal and Carolingian party is more powerful. Paul, already associated with his brother's government, had the support of the Lateran clergy, the close collaborators of Stephen II and the secular Roman nobility acquired by the Frankish alliance. The factio “more precious and stronger” of which the Liber Pontificalis speaks is precisely the one which wants to prolong the pro-Frankish policy.^[44][45]

Archdeacon Theophylact

Theophylact is not a marginal character. The Roman archdeacon was, in the 8th century, one of the main dignitaries of the curia: he administered property, supervised charity, and represented the pope in temporal affairs. An archdeacon's candidacy for the papacy is legitimate and frequent.

But Theophylact is probably the representative of a party more cautious on the Frankish alliance, more accommodating perhaps with Byzantium or with the Lombards.^[46] His defeat against Paul is therefore a victory for the line of Stephen II. Political continuity prevails over the alternative.

The majority vote and the consecration of May 29

Stephen II died on April 26, 757. “Immediately after the burial of Stephen”, says the Catholic Encyclopedia, “Paul was elected by a large majority” and received episcopal consecration on May 29, 757.^[47][48]

This one-month delay is compatible with the Roman procedure of the time: election by the clergy and the people, ratification of civil authority (still Byzantine in theory), episcopal consecration by the bishops of the province. That Paul was consecrated quickly and without further struggles indicates that the opposing faction dispersed, in accordance with the testimony of the Liber Pontificalis.^[49]

Aistulf's legacy and Donation of Pippin

The Lombard crisis did not break out in 757. It dates back to Aistulf, king of the Lombards from 749 to 756, who had taken Ravenna in 751, putting an end to the Byzantine exarchate, then threatened Rome itself. It was this aggression which pushed Stephen II to go in person to Francia in 753-754, to conclude the alliance with Pippin and to obtain the donation of 754, by which Pippin promised the restitution to Rome of the old exarchate and the Pentapolis.^[50]

Two Frankish expeditions (754, 756) forced Aistulf to sign and then confirm the donation. The promise was clear: Imola, Osimo, Ancona and Bologna, Ravenna and the cities of the Pentapolis were to return to the _“patrimony of Saint Peter.”^[51][52]

King Desiderius and the refused cities

Aistulf died at the end of 756. He was succeeded by Desiderius (757-774), Lombard king whom Paul I had to face throughout his pontificate. Desiderius _“shows little inclination to honor his promises.”^[53] He refuses to hand over the cities that the Donation of Pippin attributed to Rome: Imola, Osimo, Ancona and Bologna are retained despite papal protests.^[54]

“The Lombards retained the cities of Imola, Osimo, Bologna and Ancona which the papacy claimed. ” — Catholic Encyclopedia, notice “Pope Paul I”^[55]

The duchies of Spoleto and Benevento (758)

In 758, the situation worsened: Desiderius “seized the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento”, which until then had enjoyed relative autonomy and which provided a buffer between the Northern Lombards and the Papal States.^[56] This annexation encircled Rome to the south as well as to the north and directly threatened the viability of the patrimony of Saint Peter.

Paul I immediately informs Pippin. He reminds the Frankish king that Desiderius had also ravaged the Pentapolis during this expedition against the rebel dukes.^[57] The Donation of Pippin is therefore, de ​​facto, emptied of its substance by the Lombard king.

The dual papal diplomacy

Paul I then deployed a two-level diplomacy of which the sources keep precise trace. When Desiderius came to Rome after his victory over Benevento (around 762-763), he forced Paul to write to Pippin to _“concede all Lombard demands.” The pope accepts under duress and entrusts two letters to his ambassadors: the bishop George of Ostia and the Roman priest Stephen.^[58]

But Paul also gives them a second, secret letter, begging Pippin to listen only to the first and come to Rome's aid. The ambassadors thus have an official version to safely pass through Lombardy territory, and a real version for Pippin.^[59]

This dual diplomacy is not cynicism: it is the prudence of Pierre in irons. Paul I knew that he was under Lombard military pressure, that his ambassadors could be inspected along the way, and that any compromising words could justify an immediate attack against Rome.

Pippin's mediation and partial restoration (765)

Pippin delays. “He finds it advantageous to maintain good relations with Desiderius”, and Paul, says modern criticism, _“apparently apparently obtained little from his double approach.”^[60] But in the longer term, Pippin ends up supporting the pope and agrees to play the role of arbitrator between Roman and Lombard claims.

In 765, as a result of this mediation, “papal privileges were restored in the duchies of Benevento and Tuscany”, and partially in the duchy of Spoleto.^[61] The restoration was neither total nor definitive, but it gave Paul I concrete room for maneuver in the center and south of Italy. The papacy is no longer confined to the Roman duchy alone.

The continuity of Pippin’s donation

Paul I inherits and defends the alliance sealed by his brother with Pippin the Short (751-768). This alliance is of a mixed nature: political (military protection against the Lombards), religious (the pope crowns the Carolingian kings, the kings protect the Apostolic See), and symbolic (Pippin receives the Roman title of patricius Romanorum).^[62]

The Donation of Pippin is not a simple territorial cession: it invents, de facto, the temporal heritage of the papacy in Italy, which will last until 1870. Paul I is the pope who, in the decade after the donation, must give it practical substance despite the Lombard obstruction.

The 32 letters of the Codex Carolinus

The Codex Epistolaris Carolinus was compiled in 791 under Charlemagne to preserve the correspondence received by the Frankish kings. It contains 32 letters from Paul I, out of 99 in total.^[63][64]

The tone of these letters is famous. They are sometimes solemn, sometimes pleading, sometimes full of worry. They show a pope who is not ashamed to ask for help, who constantly reminds Pippin of the alliance sworn at Quierzy in 754, who fears that the Lombards will end up convincing the Franks and who invokes the protection of Saint Peter as a decisive argument.

“May Your most Christian Excellency therefore rise with manly promptness in defense of the holy Church of God, and may you delay no longer in coming to this province of Italy. ” — Paul I, letter to Pippin the Short, Codex Epistolaris Carolinus^[65]

These letters are also a doctrinal testimony. Paul develops the idea that the Frankish kings are the spiritual sons of the Apostolic See, that they must defend Peter as their ancestors defended the faith, and that the cause of the papacy is the cause of God.^[66] We see the birth of Carolingian political theology.

The baptismal linen of Pippin's daughter (758)

An emblematic scene dates from 758. Pippin and his wife Bertrade have a daughter. According to Germanic custom, they send the linen used during baptism to the pope as a symbolic gift of alliance.^[67] Paul I responds with a letter of thanks in which, under the guise of gratitude, he informs Pippin of Desiderius's hostility and asks him for help.^[68]

This detail shows that correspondences are never purely ceremonial. Relations between Rome and the Frankish court combine Christian piety, family alliance and emergency diplomacy. A baptismal cloth becomes an opportunity for the pope to relaunch his request.

Saint Petronilla, patron saint of Frankish kings

The episode most charged with symbolic meaning is the translation of the relics of Saint Petronilla. In 757, from the start of his pontificate, Paul I had the relics of the saint transferred from the catacomb of Domitilla to a chapel in the Vatican basilica that his brother Stephen II had prepared for this purpose.^[69][70]

Saint Petronilla, traditionally venerated as the “spiritual daughter” of Saint Peter, then became patroness of the Frankish kings.^[71] The symbolism is powerful: by placing Peter's daughter as protector of the Carolingians, Paul I cements the Franco-Roman alliance in a language that speaks to popular devotion. The kings of France were the patrons and defenders of this chapel until the Revolution.

“Saint Petronilla was named by Pope Paul I protector and patroness of the kings of France to reward Pippin the Short for his service to the papacy in the face of the Lombard invasion. ” — Roman tradition on the translation of 757^[72]

The Byzantine context and the council of Hieria (754)

Iconoclasm is the heresy that dominated Byzantium in the 8th century. Inaugurated by Leo III the Isaurian (717-741) in 726-730, it reached its peak under his son Constantine V Copronymus (741-775).^[73]

In 754, just before the election of Stephen II and three years before that of Paul I, Constantine V brought together the Council of Hieria, which brought together more than 330 Eastern bishops but without any of the five traditional patriarchates (Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Constantinople being represented by an imposed patriarch). Hieria decrees the destruction of the holy images and describes as idolaters those who venerate them.^[74]

Paul I was therefore elected in 757 in the face of an officially iconoclastic Orthodox empire, which persecuted monks and icons, and which claimed to represent the _“true faith.”

Legates and letters to Byzantium

Paul I rejects this drift. The Catholic Encyclopedia indicates that he _“sent legates and letters on several occasions to the emperor of Byzantium concerning the veneration of images.”^[75] He _“protested vigorously against the revival of iconoclasm by Constantine.”^[76]

No direct letters from Paul I to Constantine V have survived on iconoclasm. But their existence is attested by contemporary Roman and Frankish sources, and their content is consistent with the constant position of the Apostolic See: the images are not worshiped like God; they are venerated to the extent that they refer to the prototype (Christ, the Virgin, the saints); destroying them amounts to denying the Incarnation, which makes possible the representation of the Word made flesh.

Constantine V's maneuvers with the Franks

Faced with Roman opposition, Constantine V tried to bypass Rome by addressing the Frankish kings directly. Already in 757, he sent an embassy to Pippin. In 767, he renewed the operation by seeking _“to win the sympathy of the Frankish bishops for his campaign against images.”^[77]

This maneuver fails. Pippin remains loyal to Rome. “None of his enterprises succeeded”, says modern criticism. “During the pontificate of Paul I, it became clear that the Eastern Emperor was no longer a major factor in the Italian power structure. ”^[78]

The Frankish synod of Gentilly (767)

The crowning achievement of Paul I's iconodule policy was the synod of Gentilly, held near Paris in the spring of 767 by the Frankish bishops under the presidency of Pippin the Short.^[79][80] This synod officially ruled on two issues: the doctrine of the Trinity (probably concerning the Filioque, the Western expression of which the Latins defended against Greek objections) and the veneration of sacred images.^[81]

The result is the Western confirmation of the Roman position. The Frankish bishops, in full alliance with Paul I, refused Byzantine iconoclasm and maintained traditional doctrine. Gentilly is not an ecumenical council: it is a local synod. But its historical significance is great, because it prepares the ground on which the second Council of Nicaea (787) under Hadrian I will be held, twenty years later, where the Catholic doctrine of images will be solemnly defined.

“The Synod of Gentilly (767) sanctioned the traditional Trinity and the veneration of images in the Western Church. ” — Historiographical summary of Gentilly 767^[82]

Iconodoule refugees in Rome

Byzantine iconoclasm had a concrete consequence: Eastern monks who refused to destroy icons were persecuted, imprisoned, sometimes executed or blinded. Many fled the empire and sought refuge in the West.

“Paul I offered refuge to a large number of monks fleeing persecution. ” — Encyclopedia.com, notice "Paul I, Pope, St."^[83]

Rome then became, in the middle of the 8th century, one of the main refuge cities of Eastern monasticism. This phenomenon did not begin with Paul I: it began with his predecessors Gregory II and Gregory III. But Paul I gives it an institutional organization.

Paternal house converted into a monastery

The Liber Pontificalis reports that Paul I converted his paternal house into a monastery for these monks.^[84][85] This gesture is rare: a pope from a noble family who hands over the ancestral residence to refugee Eastern monasticism. It is at the same time an act of personal charity, a sign of communion with the persecuted iconodules and an assumed welcome policy.

San Silvestro in Capite and the rule of Saint Basil

The monastery was dedicated to Saints Stephen and Sylvester, attached to a church which would later take the name of San Silvestro in Capite — “Saint Sylvester at the Head”, because of the relics of the head of John the Baptist which would later be deposited there. The foundation was begun by Stephen II and completed by Paul I in 761.^[86][87]

The monastery followed the rule of Saint Basil, the rule of Eastern monks, and was initially entrusted to Greek monks.^[88] This detail is precious: in Rome itself, a few streets from the Lateran, a Greek Basilian monastery functions with Eastern monastic usages and the memory of the Eastern martyrs. At the heart of a Roman pontificate, the persecuted East finds a land of hospitality.

The monastery remained Basilian until its transition to Benedictine observance between the 10th and 12th centuries.^[89]

The looted and abandoned catacombs

In the middle of the 8th century, the Roman catacombs were no longer the sanctuary they had been during the first centuries. Several factors contribute to their decline:

• the Lombard invasions of 756, which ravaged the sanctuaries of the Roman periphery and desecrated several catacombs;
• the progressive depopulation of the Roman countryside, which made guarding the sites increasingly difficult;
• the shift of the cult of the martyrs towards the intramural basilicas, safer and more accessible.^[90][91]

The result was a crisis in the conservation of relics. The bodies of the martyrs of the first centuries risked being lost, scattered or desecrated.

Saint Petronilla in Saint Peter (757)

The first major translation of Paul I was that of Saint Petronilla, from the start of his pontificate in 757. The body of the saint was transferred from the catacomb of Domitilla on via Ardeatina to a round chapel located in the ancient Constantinian basilica of Saint Peter, prepared for this purpose by Stephen II.^[92][93]

The marble sarcophagus bears the inscription “Aureae Petronillae Filiae Dulcissimae” — _“of the golden Petronilla, very sweet girl.”^[94] This translation is, as we have seen, both a gesture of piety for a great saint of the first centuries and a diplomatic act which seals the alliance with the Frankish kings.

The inscription of the relics of San Silvestro in Capite

The monastery of San Silvestro in Capite received a considerable part of the relics translated by Paul I. A marble inscription from the 8th century, still preserved at the entrance to the current church, lists the saints whose relics were deposited there under Paul I and his immediate successors.^[95]

The inscription mentions in particular:

• Pope Saint Sylvester I (314-335), patron of the foundation;
• Pope Saint Stephen I (254-257), martyr;
• Pope Saint Dionysius (259-268);
• the young martyr Saint Tarcisius, transferred from the catacomb of Saint Callixtus;
• many other martyrs of the first centuries.^[96][97]

A liturgical pastoral in memory of the martyrs

These translations are not a simple archaeological rescue. They are part of a precise liturgical pastoral. By bringing the relics closer to the faithful, Paul I:

1. Saved the material memory of the martyrs threatened by the Lombards;
2. Recentered worship on the city's churches, easier to access and monitor;
3. Multiplied the altars where mass can be celebrated on the stone of a martyr, as required by Roman tradition;
4. Reinforced the sense of continuity between the Church of the first centuries and the Church of the 8th century, in a politically weakened but spiritually rooted Rome.^[98]

This policy of relic translations became a model. The following popes (Stephen III, Hadrian I, Leo III) would continue it. But Paul I, by the scale of his work, was one of its main architects.

The portrait of the Liber Pontificalis

The notice in the Liber Pontificalis on Paul I insists, alongside political and liturgical files, on his personal charity. Encyclopedia.com and several modern hagiographic sources report that he was _“a man of noble character, known for his charity towards the poor.”^[99]

This memory must be taken seriously. In a Rome impoverished by wars, exposed to famine, where epidemics follow sieges, charity is not a decorative detail: it is an act of government. The pope who negotiates with Pippin and Constantine V is also the one who feeds the poor.

Night visits to prisons

The most famous detail is that of the night visits to prisons. According to Roman hagiographic sources, Paul I _“regularly visited prisons at night to perform acts of mercy.”^[100]

This practice is not isolated in the papal tradition: it is found among several holy popes of the first centuries. But its insistent mention in the memory of Paul I has a particular significance. In the 8th century, Roman prisons held political prisoners, unpaid debts, Lombard or Byzantine hostages. Visiting these places at night, in person, supposes on the part of the pope real humility and a desire to put mercy above diplomacy.

“Paul I was a man of noble character, known for his charity towards the poor. He regularly visited prisons at night to perform acts of mercy. ” — Roman tradition, OrthodoxWiki^[101]

Roman summer and retreat at Saint Paul Outside the Walls

The summer of 767 hits Rome with a formidable heatwave. Paul I, exhausted by ten years of tense pontificate, fell ill. Tradition reports that he left the Lateran and retired to the basilica Saint Paul Outside the Walls (San Paolo fuori le mura), a little outside the Aurelian walls, where the heat was less stifling and where he could pray near the tomb of the Apostle of the Gentiles whose name he bears.^[102][103]

Died June 28, 767

On June 28, 767, in or near the Pauline basilica, Paul I breathed his last.^[104][105] The date is attested both by the Liber Pontificalis, by the official pontifical list and by contemporary Frankish sources. His pontificate lasted ten years and one month.

His death comes at a particularly delicate moment. Pippin the Short is still alive (he died in 768); Desiderius remains in Pavia; Constantine V still reigns over Byzantium. The Synod of Gentilly has only just confirmed the Roman position on the images.

Initial burial and translation to Saint Peter

Paul I was first buried at Saint Paul Outside the Walls, where he died.^[106][107] But three months later, his body was solemnly translated to the Vatican basilica, near the tomb of Peter, as befits a Roman pope.^[108][109]

This double burial is itself symbolic: Paul I dies near Paul and rests near Peter. The papacy of the 8th century, despite its crises, retained awareness of this double apostolic foundation.

The Catholic Church honors him as a saint on June 28, the day of his death. The liturgical memorial extends into Roman devotion, where Saint Paul Outside the Walls and San Silvestro in Capite remain the two emblematic places of his pontificate.

Consistency against iconoclasm

Paul I is one of the popes who, through their constancy, saved the Catholic doctrine of images. He does not hold a great council; he does not write a famous dogmatic definition. But he refused for ten years the pressure of an emperor, multiplied the legates, welcomed the persecuted monks, and obtained from the Franks a synod which prepared Nicaea II.

This discreet constancy is typical of Roman greatness. The Apostolic See stands firm not through polemical brilliance, but through daily fidelity to received tradition. Leo III, twenty years later, could not have summoned Nicaea II without the ground prepared by Paul I.

The Pope of Memory of the Martyrs

Paul I is also, par excellence, the pope of the material memory of the martyrs. The translations he makes are not a simple gesture of piety: they establish in the city the presence of the saints, multiply the places where one can pray over their relics, and place the Church of the 8th century in the uninterrupted continuity of the Church of persecutions.

This policy has theological significance. It affirms that the communion of saints is concrete, that the Church does not live only by abstract doctrine but by bodies of martyrs, and that holiness spans the centuries in the flesh of relics as much as in conciliar definitions.

The Pope of the Frankish Alliance

On the political level, Paul I consolidated what his brother had initiated: the alliance between the papacy and the Carolingian dynasty. This alliance cannot be reduced to a calculation. It opens, in the long term, what will be called medieval Christendom: a West in which the spiritual authority of the pope and the temporal authority of the kings work together for the diffusion of the faith, the organization of councils, the defense of the Papal States and the mission.

Paul I did not crown Charlemagne, as Leo III did in 800. But without the ten years of Paul I and his 32 letters to the Codex Carolinus, the alliance which made possible the coronation of 800 would not have held.

Charity as a signature

Finally, we must remember the charity of Paul I. The pope who defends the images, negotiates with Pippin, resists Desiderius and welcomes the Eastern monks, is also the one who visits the prisons at night. This unity between great decisions and small acts is a mark of holiness. It alone would be enough to justify his canonization and his inscription in the Roman calendar on June 28.

• Pope Stephen II — brother and predecessor of Paul I, pope of the donation of Pippin and the trip to Francia.
• Pope Stephen III — successor of Paul I, pope of the Roman council of 769 against the antipope Constantine.
• The Donation of Pippin (754-756) — legal foundation of the Papal States that Paul I defended for ten years.
• Pippin the Short — first Carolingian king, ally of the papacy, recipient of the 32 letters of the Codex Carolinus.
• Council of Nicaea II (787) — Catholic definition of the veneration of images, twenty years after the Synod of Gentilly supported by Paul I.
• Ancient Saint Peter's Basilica — place of the translation of Saint Petronilla and the final burial of Paul I.
• The Roman catacombs — sanctuaries of the martyrs of the first centuries, stripped by Paul I to shelter the relics in the churches of the City.
• Pope Saint Leo III — crowns Charlemagne in 800, distant heir of the Frankish alliance consolidated by Paul I.