His works have been referenced and idealized by many inhabitants of Verona throughout history, and his charters were frequently used as evidence in debates surrounding the authority of the bishops and archdeacons of the city.
He was supposedly descended from noble stock, and was educated at the Abbey of Reichenau,[9] known for it clerical school which produced clerks for many Imperial and ducal chanceries during the Carolingian period.
He was reportedly the founder of the city's schola sacerdotum at the beginning of the ninth century, which he later made directly subject to the Patriarch of Aquileia.
[14][15][16] Pacificus was also supposedly involved with the building or renovating of a number of other churches throughout the area, including the Basilica of St Zeno.
[23] In the church's Veronese archives there are marginalia and notes attributed to Pacificus on texts such as the Sapiential Books, Psalms, and the Rule of St Benedict.
"Poetae" IV/2, and followed by rhythmus 117, "Carmen sperae caeli", a praise of the Christian zodiac, signed by the author himself with the same formula (Hirenicus humilis levita) found in the ms. Paris 1924 in a folio written, according to Campana, by Pacificus himself.
[38] The life and accomplishments of Pacificus of Verona has recently come under fire, most prominently by the Italian medievalist Cristina La Rocca.
[39][40] La Rocca argues that Pacificus, while still real and holding the position of archdeacon of Verona for some time, was not the illustrious, well-educated and charitable author, inventor and architect he is purported to be.
La Rocca notes that Pacificus, along with the rest of the cathedral chapter, likely sided with King Bernard of Italy during his rebellion against his uncle, Emperor Louis the Pious, of whom the Veronese Bishop Ratoldus was a staunch supporter.
One of the items constructed during this period, according to La Rocca, is the epitaphs, or at least the first one, which were mounted in the Verona Cathedral, where they were publicly visible, to support their claims surrounding Pacificus and have him serve as a model of the duties of an archdeacon.
[42] She argues that it is based on this epitaph that much of the later work written about Pacificus is based upon, with later additions to his story being similarly constructed to serve the purposes of the present by moving the argument into the past, such as Panvinius' account of the trial surrounding the payment for the reconstruction of the city's walls being fabricated to underscore an argument the clergy of Verona were having at the time with the Venetian Republic's tax assessment of the church.
[44] The documents used to justify the chapter's exemptions were also challenged prior to La Rocca, and were eventually declared to be forgeries by an investigation instigated by Benedict XIV in 1756.
[45] While La Rocca has raised a number of questions about the veracity of the claims surrounding Pacificus of Verona, her arguments are not entirely accepted among medieval scholars.
Some scholars accept the conclusions she has reached, such as Nicholas Everett, who in his 2003 book Literacy in Lombard Italy describes "... the more famous examples of marginalia attributed to Bishop Pacificus [sic] and his schola sacerdotum, both of which appear to belong more to the realm of myth than history.