Who he was
Nicholas was born in Rome, the son of Theodore, a defender of the Church, and was well educated and known young for his piety, learning and eloquence. Sergius II made him subdeacon and Leo IV deacon. He was elected on 24 April 858 and consecrated the same day in St Peter's, with the Emperor Louis II present.
What he is remembered for
Called Nicholas the Great, he is counted among the greatest popes of the Middle Ages for upholding the Church's law against powerful men, even when King Lothair II besieged Rome; he would not allow the king to put away his lawful wife, and brought the archbishops of Ravenna and Reims to accept the authority of the Holy See. He refused to recognise Photius as Patriarch of Constantinople in place of the deposed St Ignatius. His long answers to the questions of the newly baptised Bulgarians are still celebrated, and he was held to be a saint soon after his death.
He is honoured by the Church as Saint. Read his page in the dictionary of saints.
Sources
All popes · Home · All saints