Saint Celestine V

Pietro Angelerio was born between 1209 and 1215, perhaps in Isernia, perhaps in Sant’Angelo Limosano, and spent much of his life as a hermit on the Maiella and on Mount Morrone. They called him Peter of Morrone. A congregation of monks had grown up around him, the Celestines. In 1294 the Church had been at a standstill for two years: the cardinals gathered in Perugia couldn’t manage to elect a pope. Peter, who was eighty, sent them a very stern letter telling them to get a move on. They elected him. They went up the mountain to fetch him. He was crowned in L’Aquila on August 29, in the basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, which he himself had had built, and during that very brief pontificate he established the Perdonanza: forgiveness for anyone who entered that church on one set day each year. It still takes place, every late August, and it is the first jubilee in history. He was pope for a hundred and seven days. He couldn’t govern amid the pressure of Charles II of Anjou and the maneuvering of the Curia, he realized it, and on December 13 he resigned. He was the first pope to do so as a reasoned choice, and he did it after making sure he had the right to. His successor, Boniface VIII, had him locked up in the fortress of Fumone so that no one could use him against the new pope. He died there on May 19, 1296. He is the patron saint of Isernia and L’Aquila. Benedict XVI, in 2009, went to pray at his tomb and left his own pallium there: four years later, he too resigned. If your name is Peter or Celestine, today is your name day.