There have been many great popes, but to three only has
posterity awarded the title of the Great: St. Leo I, St. Gregory I, and St.
Nicholas I. Nicholas, a man of handsome appearance, was noted for two virtues,
charity and justice. He took loving care of his poor, and for the oppressed or
wronged he was a mighty protector. Add great strength of soul and dynamic
energy, and it is easy to see why this man made so strong an impression on his
age. Nicholas was a Roman, the son of an official in the papal service. Educated
at the Lateran, he joined the clergy, was highly favored by Popes St. Leo IV and
Benedict II, and after Benedict's death was easily elected his successor.
His passion for justice led him to oppose Lothair, king of
Lorraine, when that unworthy monarch wished to exchange his wife for his
mistress. Lothair had the subservient Frankish bishops at his beck, but when the
injured wife appealed to the Pope, it was a different story. Nicholas not only
quashed the unjust verdicts but deposed the influential archbishops of Cologne
and Trier. Angrily they appealed to Emperor Louis II. Louis marched on Rome to
teach the Pope a new canon law by force of arms. He blockaded Nicholas and had
the indomitable Pope reduced almost to starvation, when a fever brought the
Emperor to think better of his brutal conduct. The Franks marched away, Lothair
remained married, the archbishops remained deposed. It was a striking stand for
the independence of the spiritual and the maintenance of moral standards. As for
an injured wife, so did the Pope act for a deposed bishop. Rothad of Soissons,
deposed by the famous Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims, appealed to Nicholas. The
Pope, after studying the case, ordered Rothad reinstated. As for a bishop, so
did the Pope act for oppressed people.
Archbishop John of Ravenna had caused great complaints by his
oppression. Nicholas, after several unsuccessful attempts to get justice, went
personally to Ravenna and saw to it that property was restored to rightful
owners. The Bulgarians at this time were becoming Christians. In contact with
both the Eastern and the Western rite, they hesitated between the two. Nicholas
sent them legates and wrote a regular treatise to answer their questions.
Constantinople resented the efforts of the Pope to attach the Bulgarians to the
Western Patriarchate. But it was an internal conflict which caused a schism to
break out. St. Ignatius, the patriarch, was deposed. Photius, the most brilliant
Greek of the age, replaced him. According to Dvornik, whose studies have
undermined the traditional view of this Photian business, St. Ignatius actually
resigned and Photius was legitimate patriarch. When Photius and Emperor Michael
III appealed to the Pope, Nicholas sent legates to a synod held at
Constantinople to judge the affair. But even though the legates favored Photius,
Nicholas still refused to recognize him. It seems that bitter opponents of
Photius had fled to Rome to give the Pope their side of the picture. Then
Photius lost his temper. He held a synod in 867 which denounced certain Western
practices and declared Nicholas deposed. But it was Photius who was deposed. His
protector Michael III was overthrown by Basil the Macedonian. Basil promptly
replaced Photius with St. Ignatius. Nicholas encouraged St. Ansgar and his
successor Rembert in their activity among the Scandinavians. He also tried hard
to bring peace to Europe, but to keep the descendants of Charlemagne from
fighting was too much even for Nicholas. Nicholas the Great died November 13,
867. His feast is kept on that day.
Excerpted from "Popes
Through the Ages" by Joseph Brusher, S.J.
