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May 19 – St Peter Celestine V (1215-96) the first pope who resigned. Peter of Morrone was born in the Abruzzi, the eleventh child of a peasant family. Intelligent, devout and austere, he became a hermit …More
May 19 – St Peter Celestine V (1215-96) the first pope who resigned.

Peter of Morrone was born in the Abruzzi, the eleventh child of a peasant family. Intelligent, devout and austere, he became a hermit in the mountains in the diocese of Benevento when he was seventeen. Later he was ordained a priest and went back to being a hermit. He was often asked for guidance and spiritual direction and in the end agreed to become the abbot of a monastery of hermits at Monte Morrone, near Sulmona in the Abruzzo mountains. Here he lived for forty years founding his own order of the Celestines in 1274. They did not get this name till after their founder had became pope. They continued in France up until the 17th century when they were dissolved.
In 1284, when deadlock delayed the outcome of a papal election in succession to Pope Nicholas IV, Peter of Morrone spoke out, threatening divine vengeance on the cardinals gathered in Perugia, if they did not elect a pope quickly. In frustration, the aged dean of the college of cardinals cried out: “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I elect Brother Peter of Morrone”. Before they could think better of it, the cardinals had quickly ratified this decision, but Peter declined and tried to take flight. However, accompanied by a deputation of cardinals and by the kings of Naples and of Hungary, he was finally prevailed upon to accept. He was consecrated bishop and crowned pope at Aquila taking the name of Celestine V.
Confusion
He was an unfortunate choice. King Charles II of Naples immediately manipulated him into bestowing benefices – sometimes the same ones twice or even three times over – naming cardinals and giving away church treasures. Things soon got into a very confused mess and after five months Celestine decided to resign. He asked the cardinals to pardon his mistakes and elect his successor.
After a lot of argument ensued about whether this was possible or not, an experienced canonist and diplomat Benedetto Gaetani persuaded the cardinals that it was indeed possible and the cardinals then elected him. Gaetani took the name Boniface VIII and became a proponent of a strong papacy. In this he came into a major conflict with King Philip IV of France. He wrote the famous Bull Unam sanctam declaring that both spiritual and temporal power were under the pope’s jurisdiction, and that kings were subordinate to the power of the Church.
Celestine imprisoned and dies
Celestine was not allowed to remain in solitude or to go to Rome. Boniface imprisoned him in the castle of Fumone, near Anagni, where after ten months he died. Judgments differ about him: Dante has him outside (but not inside) the gates of hell and calls him Colui che fece per viltade il gran rifiuto (= “He who by his cowardice made the grand refusal”) (Inferno, III, 59). Others argue that his abdication showed a rare freedom and fortitude. Not every holy man makes a success of his life.
Circumstances of his canonisation
A network of political circumstances affected the process of the canonisation of St Peter Celestine and these are worth noting. Pope Boniface VIII, his successor, came into conflict with King Philip IV of France, who wanted to tax his clergy half their annual income. Boniface responded with three papal bulls: Clericis laicos (1296) threatening excommunication on anyone who tried it; Ausculta, fili (1301) saying the pope was set over kings and kingdoms; and Unam sanctam (1302) declaring more specifically that kings were subordinate to the power of the Church and that both spiritual and temporal power were under the pope’s jurisdiction. This struggle dragged on for quite a few years and Philip’s agents were probably involved in some “roughing up” that led up to Boniface’s death in 1303.
French revenge on Pope Boniface VIII – the papacy at Avignon
The next pope died after a few months, but the second next pope was a French cardinal and archbishop of Bourdeaux, Raymond Bertrand de Got, who took the name of Clement V (1305-14). He selected Lyon as the place of his coronation. Afterwards he moved the papal court first to Poitiers and then to Avignon, where it remained for the next seventy years. Pope Clement V came under pressure from King Philip to summon a council to declare his predecessor Boniface VIII a heretic and a sodomite. Pope Clement had the wisdom to resist this. However, he did agree to canonise Boniface’s predecessor, Pope Celestine V, whom Boniface had imprisoned, but he defused it somewhat by canonising him under his monastic name Peter, and not his pontifical name Celestine, and designating him a “confessor”, whereas Philip wanted him designated a “martyr”, implying that Boniface had murdered him. One need not be surprised that even the canonisation process is not entirely outside the ambit of political influence!

www.catholicireland.net/…/st-peter-celest…
Saint Celestine V Biography: The Hermit who became Pope, the Pope who resigned.
www.alleluiaaudiobooks.com/saint-celestine…
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