Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/538

 OELESTINE

480

CELESTINE

power to "the first rich father" (Inferno, Canto XIX). King Charles of Naples, hearing of the elec- tion of his subject, hastened with his son Charles Martel, titular King of Hungary, ostensibly to present his homage to the new pope, 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 in- calculable benefits; as it was, he ruined everything by 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 on an humble ass, 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, a ceremony which had to be repeated in traditional form some days later, the only instance of a double papal cor- onation. ( 'animal Latino was so grief -stricken at the course which affairs were evidently taking that he fell sick and died. Pietro took the name of Celestine V. Urged by the cardinals to cross over into the States of the Church, Celestine, again 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 the 18th of September he created twelve new cardinals, seven of whom were French, and the res*, with one possible exception, Neapolitans, thus paving the road to Avig- non and the Great Schism. Ten days later he em- bittered 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; they humoured him while he was with them. At Benevento he created the bishop of the city a car- dinal, 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 in blank. In consequence, the affairs of the Curia fell into extreme disorder. Arrived 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. 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 the serious canonical doubt arose: Can a pope resign? As he has no superior on earth, who is authorized to accept his lion'.' The solution of tin' question was re- served to the trained canonist. Cardinal Gaetani, who, li:i>inn his conclusion on common sense and the Church's right to self preservation, derided affirm-

Mi ively.

It is interesting to notice how curtly, when he

ie Boniface VIII, he dispatches the delicate

subject on which the validity of his claim to the

Eapacy depended. In the "liber Sextus" I, vii, 1, e issued the following decree: "Whereas some curious persons, arguing on things of no great ex-

pediency, 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 govern- ment of the aforesaid Church, wishing to cut off all the matter for hesitation on the subject, having delib- erated with his brethren, the Cardinals of the Roman Church, of whom We were one, with the con- cordant 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 en- actment 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 (13 December) Celestine 's resolution was irrevocably fixed: sum- moning the cardinals on that day, he read the consti- tution mentioned by Boniface in the "Liber Sextus", announced his resignation, and proclaimed the car- dinals 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 pro- visions made by Celestine, Boniface brought his pred- ecessor, 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. managed to effect his escape at San Germano, and to the great joy of his monks reap- peared 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, but 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 cal- umny. Some years after his canonization by Clement V in Kilo, his remains wire 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 19 Mav.

Ada SS.. May, IV, 419; Bibt. haoioar. Lntina. 979 sqq.: Inaiecia Bollnndiana (1S97I. XVI. .'ifi.V.IJ (the oldest life of Cefesitne); Celidonio, Vila <!i s. Pietro del Morrone, Celeetina papa quinlo, scritta su' iltH-umenti cniri iSiilniona. 1S96); Idem, La non-aulcnticita deali Opuscula Caleetina ubid., 1896; these

opusniln edited l>y Tklkha. Naples, tlill), nriy li:i\e 1 Ti

dictated, but not composed 1 i: w am. La

rinuncia de CeUMino V (Verona, 189-H; \ DTD V cd il scsto annivereario ddla sua eororuuione (Aquila, 1894. Raynaldcs, Ann eccl. al ann. t.V. ■'."'■; HkfkI-E, ('■<m-ilicnae- erhictUc, C;also the histories of the City of Konie by von Reu-

mont and by Gheqorovius.

James F. Louohlin.