VALENTINE, POPE

Pontificate: August 827 to September 827; b. Rome, date unknown; d. Rome. Trained in a noble Christian home of Rome, Valentine entered the Church at an early age. Pope paschal i (817–824) made him the cardinal deacon of the Roman diaconate. When Pope eugene ii died, August 27, 827, the Roman clergy and lay nobility sought young Valentine, found him at prayer in the church of St. Mary Major, led him to the Lateran Basilica, and there insisted that he accept the papacy. He was consecrated bishop and enthroned as pope at St. Peter's. This election showed the role played by the lay nobility and people in papal elections, despite previous conciliar regulations that denied them any participation (Roman Council, 796). During his short pontificate Valentine was noted for his piety, clemency, and liberality. He was buried at the Vatican.

Bibliography: l. jaffÉ, Regesta pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum 1198, ed. p. ewald 1:322–323. Liber pontificalis, ed. l. dushesne (Paris 1958) 2:71–72. l. duchesne, The Beginnings of the Temporal Sovereignty of the Popes, A.D. 754–1073 (London 1908). h. k. mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages from 590 to 1304 (London 1902–32) 2:183–186. É. amann, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant (Paris 1903–50; Tables générales 1951–) 15.2:2497. j. n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 102.

[m. a. mulholland]