Greetings, Dear Reader(s),
Today is the feast of Pope St. Peter Celestine, a pope who actually was canonically elected to the throne of Peter and who validly abdicated the office thereof. As an aside, after abdicating he left Rome, re-assumed his life as a simple monk, did not wear white, did not wear a papal ring, and did not give his papal blessing. Just saying. I can never mark the day without thinking of the description of that holy soul by the great Dante Alighieri in Canto III of the Inferno, which is the title of this post. Wait, the Inferno, you say? Isn’t that the book about Dante’s journey through hell? Why would a saint be in hell?
Well, dear reader, you are correct. It is the portion of the Divine Comedy about hell. And St. Peter Celestine is portrayed by Dante as being there, among the lukewarm. You see, Dante had a huge problem with Pope Boniface VIII, who during his lifetime supported the political enemies of Dante and his political party in Florence, Italy.
In Dante’s defense, St. Peter Celestine was canonized in 1313, after Dante wrote the Divine Comedy. I can see why Dante was, ahem, “cheesed” at Pope Celestine, because his abdication led to the election of Boniface VIII. I don’t wish to speak ill of the dead, but it is possible that Pope Boniface was not a very kind man and who may have been ruthless in the realm of the political. I wasn’t there, of course. As an aside, this Pope promulgated the bull Unam Sanctam, which defined as infallible dogma that it is necessary for salvation to submit to the Roman Pontiff.
The Church’s decision to canonize a person a saint is considered, among the overwhelming majority of theologians, to be infallible. So it is that, innocent or otherwise, Dante’s placement of St. Peter Celestine in hell for cowardice and lukewarmness is one of the great calumnies of history.
Fast forward to the moment in April of 2009 when Pope Benedict left his pallium– the symbol of his metropolitan authority– on the tomb of St. Peter Celestine. Coincidence? A sign he would, too, abdicate? A feint?
Peter Seewald asked His Holiness whether his case was to considered as Celestine’s. The answer: “The situation of Celestine V was extremely peculiar and could in no way be invoked as (my) precedent.”
“In no way” could it be invoked as Benedict’s precedent. In no way. Celestine resigned the office of the papacy. If Benedict resigned the papal office, would not that be “one way” in which it is precedent? Is Benedict telling us something here? Can you not see the irony here, the interplay between Celestine, Boniface, submission to the Roman Pontiff, Benedict and Bergoglio?
Dante blamed St. Peter Celestine for cowardice. Some people blame Pope Benedict XVI for cowardice. Celestine’s abdication led to the papacy of Boniface the VIII. Pope Benedict’s action led to the papacy, or antipapacy, of Bergoglio. It is natural to be disappointed when one sees the disaster that follows upon a pope refusing to fulfill, to the end, his office given him by Our Lord. Bad things happen. It is natural to try to make sense of it all.
And yet good can come out of all such disasters, because God is sovereign. Unam Sanctam is a true and beautiful document, in which is defined dogma that can see us through these days of woe. Who cares if the person who wrote it is less than perfect, even by a lot? The probable usurpation by Bergoglio could lead one to wonder why Benedict would have done this. But hasn’t the event shaken the tree so much that we see who wants to “submit to the Roman Pontiff” and who does not? And by that I mean who really want to, regardless of accuracy of identifying who the person of the Pope really is. What if Pope Benedict XVI wasn’t a coward who fled “for fear of the wolves”? What if Our Lord or Lady told him to do this, as the Pope himself said?
What if Benedict is being calumniated– even by persons who mean well– just like St. Peter Celestine was by Dante? Celestine was a saint. Benedict is still on this earth…what is his fate?
We are being asked to remain faithful; the Church is going through a dark night. God’s plans are beyond us, and we need to trust Him. We can use our intellects to analyze the unprecedented events of the last nine years. God knows our hearts and our minds.
But use that intellect through the light of faith. God in no way wants our faith in Him, His Son, or His Son’s Mystical Body to be lost.
There is one pope. He is acting in a mysterious way about which we don’t know everything relevant. Let’s pray for him, and that his actions will serve to glorify God and His Holy Mother. The prophecy of Fatima has yet to fully play out, and her Immaculate Heart will triumph.
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Final point. You may have noticed I’m blogging again. Didn’t I quit? Was it only a month? Yes, and yes. Why? I don’t know. As St. Paul says, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings.” (Romans 8:26). Well, I certainly don’t know what I should pray for as I ought. But just consider what you may read here, as often or seldom as you read them, as the unspeakable groanings of one Catholic in the (former) Rome of the (former) West. I expect I’ll eventually say something stupid and imprudent and will end up carted off to a camp for it. So pray for me by all means, if you are willing.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
Saint Louis Catholic 
All well thought out. As usual. Thank you.
Last part….True that (as kiddos say)
Pretty good posting by golly by gum.
Celestine V, Benedict XVI and the Paraclete
In the Saint Malachi’s prophecy, we find the mistical nickname of the Pope Celestine V (Pietro da Morrone):
‘Ex eremo celsus’ = The ‘Sublime (Exalted) from the Desert’
Hermit, but not a misanthrope. He lived a harsh life like the second John the Baptist. More heavenly than earthly. And yet a practical man, the creator of the new branch of the Benedictines, originally called Brothers of the Holy Spirit. On the way to the Second Council of Lyon (convened on May 7, 1274), Abbot Peter of Morrone had the vision of the Holy Virgin in Collemaggio (L’Aquila), who asked him to build a temple in that place in Her honor. Peter’s Benedictines quickly fulfilled Her wish, because already on August 25, 1288, the monumental church in open fields was consecrated.
At least since the council in Lyon, the hermit Peter was well known in the highest ecclesiastical circles, so when the conclave elected him on July 5, 1294, he was not made a joke for the pope. He took the name Celestine V, means ‘The Heavenly’ V.
Peter built the church in Collemaggio, where he himself later was crowned Pope on August 29, 1294, that is on the Passion of John the Baptist. To this circumstance, the new pope set up an annual jubilee indulgence on August 28/29, beginning with the feast of Saint Augustin, the Great Convert.
Celestine was nicer, however, spiritual life, heavenly than courtly, earthly: he abdicated on December 13, 1294, on Saint Lucy. In that era it was the winter solstice day. A hope for light! What light? Of which? From the Fire, about which the Lord Jesus spoke [Luke 12: 49]: ‘I have come to throw fire on the earth, and how I long for it to burn!’ Pope Celestine V following in the footsteps of John the Baptist, as the brother of the Holy Spirit, removed himself to make room for the Fire from Heaven, for the Paraclete – someone more heavenly than earthly, someone who is full of the Holy Spirit, though He is not the Holy Spirit.
Pietro da Morrone died on May 19, 1296, on the 7th day of the octave of the Pentecost and commemoration of Saint Pudentiana (= the ‘Shy’), the foundress of the oldest church in Rome.
The spiritual desire of Peter Celestine, or the ‘Heavenly Rock’, came true only in the pontificate of the last successor of Saint Peter the Apostle, that is pope Benedict XVI. As a result of the earthquake, on 5/6 April 2009 (Palm Sunday / Monday of the Holy Week) the basilica at Collemaggio collapsed, including the Celestine’ V mausoleum, but his glass coffin did not suffer any damage. When pope Benedict XVI arrived on April 28, 2009 to L’Aquila and visited the basilica, he placed on Celestin’s sarcophagus his pallium, which he received on the inauguration of his own pontificate on April 24, 2005. It was a greek-type pallium with 5 crosses. From June 29, 2008, Benedict XVI began using the roman pallium with 6 crosses. Pallium is the attribute of a metropolitan archbishop that express his patriarchal right to administer the episcopal consecration. With this symbolic act (pallium’s giving) Benedict XVI has made a spiritual abdication to the unknown Patriarch, whom describes the names of both Pontiffs participating in this scene: one from heaven, Saint Celestine V, the other one from the earth, Benedict XVI, or Celestine ‘5’ and Benedict ’16’, or simple the ‘Blessed Heavenly’ ‘1’5’6′. After the abdication, Celestine V was Peter again (he was the ‘Rock’ by birth!) and the liturgical calendar mentions him as Saint Peter Celestine. Therefore, we can consistently say about that unknown Patriarch: the ‘Blessed Heavenly Rock CLVI’.
The ‘Blessed Heavenly Rock’ the Patriarch is the visible head of the Church on earth, vicar of Jesus Christ, coming out from the ruined Roman Catholic church (like the Collemaggio’ Basilica due to the earthquake). This is the Stone rejected by the builders, that is, by church’ freemasonry. They build a different community, not God’s but Satan’s one, humanistic, temporal. Why do they need a Heavenly Stone? He is a hindrance to them, the stumbling block. And yet, the Church of Christ continues and will be reborn on the earth thanks to this ‘Blessed Heavenly Rock’, identical with the Paraclete.
The confusion we see today in the Roman Catholic church is not a crisis but a breakthrough. The breakthrough of this rank, as the departure of Noah’s Ark, the exit of Israel from Egypt under Moses, the exit of the Christ Church from Judaism. What is this contemporary breakthrough about? Of the many called, the elect (chosen) ones [Matt. 22, 14] will be introduced by the Paraclete and the Apocalyptic Woman to the Kingdom of God here on earth! We experience the great tribulation right now [Matt. 24, 21]. The pressure will increase further to separate the wheat from the chaff, the elect from the many called.
The Lord Jesus is the foundation [1Corinthians 3, 11] of the building which is the Church, in particular the militant one, and the Paraclete (is) the crowning of this Divine enterprise – the head of the corner [Matt. 21, 42]. The Paraclete, as a monarch and priest like Melchizedek, will be the visible Head of the Church on earth and will remain with us until the end of the world [John 14, 16]. Therefore, the last word of the paragraph about Peter the Roman, identical with the Paraclete, in the Saint Malachi’s prophecy reads: FINIS.
You said a lot there. Blew my mind a little bit. Going to ponder.
Ah, you are back and I shall be reading. Sadly, I am hearing unsavory things about the condition of the archdiocese of St. Louis. But the faithful are not alone in their suffering.