St. Celestine V, Pope
Celestine is a saint who will always be remembered for the unique
manner in which he was elected Pope, for his spectacular incompetence in
that office, and for the distinction of being the first pontiff ever to
have resigned.
Pietro di Murrone was born in born 1215 in the
Neapolitan province of Moline to a poor family. He became a Benedictine
monk at the age of seventeen, and was eventually ordained priest at
Rome. His love of solitude led him first into the wilderness of Monte
Morone in the Abruzzi, whence his surname, and later into the wilder
recesses of Mt. Majella. He was strongly influenced by the life of John
the Baptist, and took him as his model in his religious life. His
hair-cloth was roughened with knots, he wore a chain of iron
encompassing his emaciated frame, and he fasted every day except for on
Sunday. Each year he kept four Lents, passing three of them on bread and
water only, and he consecrated the entire day and a great part of the
night to prayer and labour.
As generally happens in the case of
saintly anchorites, Peter's great desire for solitude was not destined
to be gratified. Many kindred spirits gathered about him eager to
imitate his rule of life, and before his death there were thirty- six
monasteries, numbering 600 religious, and bearing his papal name,
Celestini.
The order that developed amongst those that gathered
around him was approved as a branch of the Benedictines by Urban IV in
1264. This congregation of Benedictine Celestines must not be confused
with other Celestines, Fransiscans, who are extreme Spirituals that Pope
Celestine permitted to live as hermits according to the Rule of St.
Francis in 1294, but were pendent of the Franciscan superiors. In thier
gratitude they named themselves after the pope (Pauperes eremitæ Domini
Celestine), but were dissolved and dispersed (1302) by Boniface VIII,
whose legitimacy the Spirituals contested.
In 1284, Pietro, weary
of the cares of government, appointed a certain Robert as his vicar and
plunged again into the depths of the wilderness. It would be well if
some Catholic scholar would devote some time to a thorough investigation
of his relations to the extreme spiritual party of that age, for though
it is certain that the pious hermit did not approve of the heretical
tenets held by the leaders, it is equally true that the fanatics, during
his life and after his death, made copious use of his name.
In
July 1294, his pious exercises were suddently interrupted by a scene
unparalleled in ecclesiastical history. Three eminent dignitaries,
accompanied by an immense multitude of monks and laymen, ascended the
mountain, and announced that Pietro had been chosen as the new Pope by a
unanimous vote of the Sacred College and humbly begged him to accept
the honour.
Two years and three months had elapsed since the
death of Nicholas IV on Apil 4, 1292 without much prospect that the
conclave at Perugia would unite upon a candidate. Of the twelve
Cardinals who composed the Sacred College six were Romans, four Italians
and two French. The factious spirit of Guelph and Ghibelline, which was
then epidemic in Italy, divided the conclave, as well as the city of
Rome, into two hostile parties of the Orsini and the Colonna, neither of
which could outvote the other.
During a personal visit to
Perugia in the spring of 1294, Charles II of Naples, who needed the
papal authority in order to regain Sicily, only exasperated the
situation. Hostile words were exchanged between the Angevin monarch and
Cardinal Gaetani, who was at that time the intellectual leader of the
Colonna, and later, Pope Boniface VIII, their bitter enemy. When the
situation seemed hopeless, Cardinal Latino Orsini admonished the fathers
that God had revealed to a saintly hermit that if the cardinals did not
perform their duty within four months, He would visit the Church with
severe chastisement. All knew that he was referring to Pietro di
Murrone.
The proposition was seized upon by the exhausted
conclave and the election was made unanimous. Pietro received the news
of his elevation with tears, but after a brief prayer, obeyed what
seemed the clear voice of God, commanding him to sacrifice his personal
inclination on the altar of the public welfare. Flight was impossible,
even if he had contemplated it, for no sooner did the news of this
extraordinary event spread abroad than multitudes (numbered at 200,000)
flocked about him. His elevation was particularly welcome to the
Spirituals, who saw in it the realization of current prophecies that the
reign of the Holy Spirit ruling through the monks was at hand, and they
proclaimed him the first legitimate Pope since Constantine's donation
of wealth and worldly power to "the first rich father" (Inferno, Canto
XIX).
King Charles of Naples, upon hearing of the election of his
subject, hastened with his son Charles Martel, titular King of Hungary,
to present his homage to the new Pope, but, in reality, to take the
simple old man into honourable custody. Had Charles known how to
preserve moderation in exploiting his good luck, this windfall might
have brought him incalculable benefits. As it was, he ruined everything
by his excessive greed.
In reply to the request of the cardinals,
that he should come to Perugia to be crowned, Pietro, at the instigation
of Charles, summoned the Sacred College to meet him at Aquila, a
frontier town of the Kingdom of Naples. Reluctantly they came, and one
by one, Gaetani being the last to appear. Seated humbly on a simple
donkey, the rope held by two monarchs, the new pontiff proceeded to
Aquila, and although only three of the cardinals had arrived, the king
ordered him to be crowned, and the ceremony had to be repeated in
traditional form some days later, instancing the only double papal
coronation.
Cardinal Latino was so grief- stricken at the course
which affairs were evidently taking that he fell sick and died shortly
after the coronation. Pietro took the name of Celestine V. As one of his
first acts of Pope, being urged by the cardinals to cross over into the
States of the Church, Celestine, at the behest of the king, ordered the
entire Curia to repair to Naples.
It is wonderful how many
serious mistakes the simple old man crowded into five short months. We
have no full register of them, because his official acts were annulled
by his successor. On September 18, he created twelve new cardinals,
seven of whom were French, and the rest, with one possible exception,
Neapolitans, thus paving the road to Avignon and the Great Schism. Ten
days later he embittered the cardinals by renewing the rigorous law of
Gregory X, regulating the conclave which Adrian V had suspended.
He
is said to have appointed a young son of Charles to the important See
of Lyons, but no trace of such appointment appears in Gams or Eubel. At
Monte Cassino on his way to Naples, he strove to force the Celestine
hermit-rule on the monks, which they humoured him with while he was with
them. At Benevento he created the bishop of the city a cardinal,
without observing any of the traditional forms. Meanwhile he scattered
privileges and offices with a lavish hand. Refusing no one, he was found
to have granted the same place or benefice to three or four rival
suitors. He also granted favours without a second thought.
In
consequence, the affairs of the Curia fell into extreme disorder. Upon
his arrival in Naples, he took up his abode in a single apartment of the
Castel Nuovo, and on the approach of Advent had a little cell built on
the model of his beloved hut in the Abruzzi. But he was ill at ease.
Affairs of State took up time that ought to be devoted to exercises of
piety, and he feared that his soul was in danger. The thought of
abdication seems to have occurred simultaneously to the pope and to his
discontented cardinals, whom he rarely consulted.
That the idea
originated with Cardinal Gaetani, the latter vigorously denied, and
maintained that he originally opposed it. But a serious canonical doubt
arose: Can a pope resign? As he has no superior on earth, who is
authorized to accept his resignation? The solution of the question was
reserved to the trained canonist, Cardinal Gaetani, who, basing his
conclusion on common sense and the Church's right to self-preservation,
decided affirmatively.
It is interesting to notice how curtly,
when he became Boniface VIII, he dispatched the delicate subject on
which the validity of his claim to the papacy depended. In the "Liber
Sextus" I, vii, 1, he issued the following decree: "Whereas some curious
persons, arguing on things of no great expediency, and rashly seeking,
against the teaching of the Apostle, to know more than it is meet to
know, have seemed, with little forethought, to raise an anxious doubt,
whether the Roman Pontiff, especially when he recognizes himself
incapable of ruling the Universal Church and of bearing the burden of
the Supreme Pontificate, can validly renounce the papacy, and its burden
and honour: Pope Celestine V, Our predecessor, whilst still presiding
over the government of the aforesaid Church, wishing to cut off all the
matter for hesitation on the subject, having deliberated with his
brethren, the Cardinals of the Roman Church, of whom We were one, with
the concordant counsel and assent of Us and of them all, by Apostolic
authority established and decreed, that the Roman Pontiff may freely
resign. We, therefore, lest it should happen that in course of time this
enactment should fall into oblivion, and the aforesaid doubt should
revive the discussion, have placed it among other constitutions ad
perpetuam rei memoriam by the advice of our brethren."
When the
report spread that Celestine contemplated resigning, the excitement in
Naples was intense. King Charles, whose arbitrary course had brought
things to this crisis, organized a determined opposition. A huge
procession of the clergy and monks surrounded the castle, and with tears
and prayers implored the Pope to continue his rule. Celestine, whose
mind was not yet clear on the subject, returned an evasive answer,
whereupon the multitude chanted the Te Deum and withdrew. A week later,
on December13, Celestine's resolution was irrevocably fixed.
Summoning
the cardinals on that day, he read the constitution mentioned by
Boniface in the "Liber Sextus", announced his resignation, and
proclaimed the cardinals free to proceed to a new election. After the
lapse of the nine days enjoined by the legislation of Gregory X, the
cardinals entered the conclave, and the next day Benedetto Gaetani was
proclaimed Pope as Boniface VIII. After revoking many of the provisions
made by Celestine, Boniface brought his predecessor, now in the dress of
a humble hermit, with him on the road to Rome. He was forced to retain
him in custody, lest an inimical use should be made of the simple old
man.
Celestine yearned for his cell in the Abruzzi, and managed
to escape at San Germano, and to the great joy of his monks reappeared
among them at Majella. Boniface ordered his arrest, but Celestine evaded
his pursuers for several months by wandering through the woods and
mountains. Finally, he attempted to cross the Adriatic to Greece but,
driven back by a tempest, and captured at the foot of Mt. Gargano, he
was delivered into the hands of Boniface, who confined him closely in a
narrow room in the tower of the castle of Fumone near Anagni (Analecta
Bollandiana, 1897, XVI, 429-30).
Here, after nine months passed
in fasting and prayer, closely watched and attended by two of his own
religious, though rudely treated by the guards, he ended his
extraordinary career in his ninety-first year. That Boniface treated him
harshly, and finally cruelly murdered him, is a calumny. Some years
after his canonization by Clement V in 1313, his remains were
transferred from Ferentino to the church of his order at Aquila, where
they are still the object of great veneration. His feast is celebrated
on May 19.
Acts 14:5-18
5 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to molest them and to stone them,
6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycao'nia, and to the surrounding country;
7 and there they preached the gospel.
8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting, who could not use his feet; he was a cripple from birth, who had never walked.
9 He listened to Paul speaking; and Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,
10 said in a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he sprang up and walked.
11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they
lifted up their voices, saying in Lycao'nian, "The gods have come down
to us in the likeness of men!"
12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, because he was the chief speaker, they called Hermes.
13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front
of the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer
sacrifice with the people.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out among the multitude, crying,
15 "Men, why are you doing this? We also are men, of
like nature with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from
these vain things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth and
the sea and all that is in them.
16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways;
17 yet he did not leave himself without witness, for
he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons,
satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."
18 With these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.
John 14:21-26
21 He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is
who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I
will love him and manifest myself to him."
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?"
23 Jesus answered him, "If a man loves me, he will
keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and
make our home with him.
24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.
25 "These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you.
26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all that I have said to you.
Psalms 115:1-4, 15-16
1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to thy name give glory, for the sake of thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness!
2 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?"
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
15 May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth!
16 The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the sons of men.
Lord Jesus, send the Holy Spirit into our hearts
Monday May 19 2025
5th Week of Easter
Acts 14:5-18; Ps.
114(113):1-2,3-4,15-16;
Jn. 14:21-26 (Ps Wk I)
“The Holy Spirit whom the Father will
send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I
have said to you” (Jn 14:26). On the basis of this affirmation of
Jesus, a spiritual writer has ventured to suggest that the Holy
Spirit is the memory of the Church: Every human body has a memory and
as the mystical body of Christ the Church is also endowed with the
faculty of memory. But the memory of the church is not merely the
collective human memory of the Faithful.
The Holy Spirit is the
Church's faculty of memory. This is quite an important insight, We
can only truly remember Jesus through the Holy Spirit. “The love of
God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been
given us” St Paul teaches us (Rom 5:5). We can only truly remember
Jesus through love. Our memory of Jesus has to be a loving memory. We
can learn to remember large portions of the Gospels, or so-called
“golden” passages but if that memory is not infused with love for
the person of Jesus, reciting them is merely a booming gong or a
cymbal clashing (cf. 1Cor 13:1)
Lord Jesus, send the Holy Spirit into
our hearts to help remember and love what You have taught us and to
love You unfailingly.