(photo: Erich)
(photo: Theo Goekel)
PADERBORN, ARCHDIOCESE OF - Reliquary casket of St. Liborius (17th cent.), preceded by the peacock wheel, symbol of the Saint since the 18th cent.
The history of Christianity in P. begins with the martyr St. Justina, venerated on 7 Oct. and buried in the immediate outskirts of the city; she was honored even in antiquity, but the *Passio* concerning her is not reliable; nor can anything be gleaned from the legend of St. Prosdocimus (q.v.), who is said to have been the first bishop of P. The first certain bishop is a Crispinus mentioned by St. Athanasius in 356 as active even before 345. Venantius Fortunatus (MGH, *Script. antiquiss.*, IV, 1, p. 369) recalls at P. a friend John who, with his sons, delighted in poetry; but among the bishops, a Bergullus is mentioned at the Synod of Grado in 579, then an Ursinianus in 680 in connection with the Monothelites. A Ticidius is recalled in an epitaph of uncertain date, perhaps of the 8th cent.; a Dominicus at the Synod of Mantua in 827. As can be seen, reliable information about the Church of P. is very scarce in these centuries. This is certainly due to the profound decline into which, like the other neighboring cities, P. fell following the Lombard invasion. It was burned and razed to the ground by Agilulf in 601 after stubborn resistance (Paulus Diaconus, *Hist. Langob.*, IV, 23), and the inhabitants perhaps sought temporary refuge in Malamocco; however, it slowly recovered, especially from the favors granted by the Carolingian rulers. A donation deed of Louis II in 835 to Bishop Rorigo recalls earlier grants by Charlemagne and Lothar. Greater growth occurred under the Italian kings: Berengar I granted the episcopal see of Padua the court of Sacco “from our palace chamber” in the county of Treviso on 5 May 867; after the Hungarian invasions, on 25 March 912, he confirmed privileges lost to the bishop Siculo and granted him the right to build castles; a grant of Solana on the Brenta dates to 915; on 20 April 918, another confirmation and provisions regarding the canons. New confirmation by Rudolph II in 924; between 926-31 another by King Hugh; on 25 May 942 that of Kings Hugh and Lothar. The Saxon rulers, following their policy, were no less generous: Otto I with Bishop Gauslin in 964 and Otto III with Bishop Orso in 998; then Conrad II in 1027. Privileges con-
