View source for Pope Celestine V

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church in 1294}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[Pope Saint]]
| name = Celestine V
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| image = Celestine V Castel Nuovo Napoli n02.jpg
| caption = Portrait by [[Niccolò di Tommaso]], [[Castel Nuovo]]
| birth_name = Pietro Angelerio
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start = 5 July 1294
| term_end = 13 December 1294
| predecessor = [[Pope Nicholas IV|Nicholas IV]]
| successor = [[Boniface VIII]]
| consecration = 19 August 1294
| consecrated_by = [[Hugh Aycelin]]
| birth_date = 1209/1210 or 1215
| birth_place = [[Sant’Angelo Limosano]], Near [[Campobasso]], [[Kingdom of Sicily]]
| death_date = 19 May 1296 (aged 80-87)
| death_place = [[Ferentino]], [[Papal States]]
| previous_post = Superior-General of the [[Celestines]] (1274–1294)
| coat_of_arms = C o a Celestinus V.svg
| feast_day = 19 May
| venerated = [[Catholic Church]]
| saint_title = [[Confessor]]
| canonized_date = 5 May 1313
| canonized_place = [[Avignon]], Papal States
| canonized_by = [[Pope Clement V]]
| attributes = [[Papal regalia and insignia|Papal vestments]], [[Papal tiara]], [[Religious habit|Benedictine habit]]
| patronage = [[Bookbinder]]s, [[papal resignation]]s, [[L'Aquila|Aquila]], [[Urbino]], [[Molise]], [[Sant'Angelo Limosano]], [[Celestines]]
| other = Celestine
}}

'''Pope Celestine V''' ({{langx|la|Caelestinus V}}; 1209/1210 or 1215 – 19 May 1296), born '''Pietro Angelerio''' (according to some sources ''Angelario'', ''Angelieri'', ''Angelliero'', or ''Angeleri''), also known as '''Pietro da Morrone''', '''Peter of Morrone''', and '''Peter Celestine''', was head of the [[Catholic Church]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] for five months from 5 July to 13 December 1294, when he resigned. He was also a [[monk]] and [[hermit]] who founded the order of the [[Celestines]] as a branch of the [[Benedictine order]].

He was elected [[pope]] in the Catholic Church's [[1292–1294 papal election|last non-conclave papal election]], ending a two-year impasse. Among the few edicts of his to remain in force is the confirmation of the right of the pope to resign; nearly all of his other official acts were annulled by his successor, [[Boniface VIII]]. On 13 December 1294, a week after issuing the decree, Celestine resigned, stating his desire to return to his humble, pre-papal life. He was subsequently imprisoned by Boniface in the castle of [[Fumone]] in the [[Lazio]] region, in order to prevent his potential installation as [[antipope]]. He died in prison on 19 May 1296.

Celestine was [[canonized]] on 5 May 1313 by [[Pope Clement V]]. No subsequent pope has taken the name Celestine.

==Early life==
Pietro Angelerio was born to Angelo Angelerio and Maria Leone in the rural region of [[Molise]], in the [[Kingdom of Sicily]]. The exact village is believed to be [[Sant'Angelo Limosano]], now part of the [[province of Campobasso]] in [[Italy]]. His father died when Pietro was five or six, leaving him the second-youngest of seven sons to have survived infancy, of twelve total born to Maria.<ref name=Ferzoco>{{cite book | last=Ferzoco | first=George | editor-last=Head | editor-first=Thomas F. | title=Medieval Hagiography | publisher=Routledge | publication-place=New York | date=2001 | isbn=978-0-415-93753-5 | chapter=Peter of the Morrone (Pope Celestine V), Autobiography | pages=729–732}}</ref>

Maria was particularly fond of Pietro and encouraged his spiritual development, imagining a different future for her son than becoming just a farmer or shepherd as were the local occupations. She sold some family property to hire a tutor for him, which engendered resentment and hostility from his brothers. Despite this, Pietro took to education well and quickly learned to read the [[psalter]].<ref name=Sweeney>{{cite book | last=Sweeney | first=Jon M. | title=The Pope Who Quit | publisher=Image Books | publication-place=New York | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-385-53189-4 | oclc=713834638 }}</ref>

He became a [[Benedictine]] [[monk]] at the {{Interlanguage link|Abbey of Santa Maria di Faifoli|it|Abbazia di Santa Maria di Faifoli}} in the [[Diocese of Benevento]] when he was 17. He showed an extraordinary disposition toward [[asceticism]] and solitude, and in the early 1230s retired to a solitary cavern on the [[Montagne del Morrone]], hence his name (Peter of Morrone). He began attracting followers of his eremitic lifestyle, and gained a reputation as a miracle worker.<ref name=KeyFigures>{{cite encyclopedia | last=Ferzoco | first=George | title=Celestine V, Pope | encyclopedia=Key Figures in Medieval Europe: an encyclopedia | publisher=Routledge | location=New York | date=2006 | isbn=978-0-415-97385-4 | oclc=ocm63816510 }}</ref> In 1244, after a brief visit to [[Rome]] for his [[ordination]], he left this retreat, and went with two companions to a similar cave on the even more remote [[Maiella]] mountain in the [[Abruzzi]] region of central Italy, where he continued to live as a strict ascetic according to the example of [[John the Baptist]].<ref name=Loughlin1908>{{cite book|last=Loughlin|first=JF|title=The Catholic Encyclopedia|volume=3|chapter=Pope St. Celestine V|publisher=Robert Appleton Company|location=New York|year=1908|chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03479b.htm|title-link=s:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Volume 3}}</ref><ref name="Dictionary">{{cite book | last=Kelly | first=J. N. D. | last2=Walsh | first2=Michael J. | title=The Oxford Dictionary of Popes | publisher=Oxford University Press | publication-place=New York, NY | date=2010 | edition=2nd | url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199295814.001.0001/acref-9780199295814 | isbn=978-0-19-929581-4 | oclc=557310520 | pages=206–208}}</ref>

==Founding of the Celestines==
While following an ascetic path in 1244, he founded the order subsequently named after him, the [[Celestines]]. A new religious community was formed, and in 1254 Pietro formally issued a rule formulated in accordance with his own practices, influenced by the writings of [[Peter Damian]], a renowned reformist monk.<ref name=Sweeney/> While fundamentally Benedictine, the order also had ties to radical [[Franciscans]], who were dismayed by the Church's increasing worldliness and political entanglements.<ref name="Duffy">{{cite book | last=Duffy | first=Eamon | title=Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes | publisher=Yale University Press | publication-place=New Haven, Conn. | date=2006 | isbn=978-0-300-11597-0 | edition=3rd | page=159}}</ref> A church was built at the foot of Morrone in 1259, and in June 1263 the new institution was formally approved by [[Pope Urban IV]].<ref name=Dictionary/>

Having heard that it was probable that [[Pope Gregory X]], then holding [[Second Council of Lyon|a council at Lyon]], would suppress all such new orders as had been founded since the [[Lateran Council]] had commanded that such institutions should not be further multiplied, Pietro went to Lyon. There, in 1274, he succeeded in persuading Gregory to approve his new order, making it a branch of the Benedictines and following the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]], but adding to it additional severities and privations. Gregory took it under papal protection, assured to it the possession of all property it might acquire, and endowed it with exemption from the authority of the ordinary. Nothing more was needed to ensure the rapid spread of the new association and Pietro lived to see himself as "superior-general" to thirty-six monasteries and more than six hundred monks.<ref>{{cite book|last=Morris|first=Colin|title=The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church From 1050 to 1250 |series=Oxford History of The Christian Church |date=1989|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/495964817/Colin-Morris-The-Papal-Monarchy-the-Western-Church-From-1050-to-1250-Oxford-History-of-the-Christian-Church-1989-Libgen#|via=Scribd|access-date=1 June 2023 | isbn = 9780198269076 | place=Oxford | publisher= Clarendon Press}}</ref><ref name=Dictionary/>

In a chapter of the order held in 1293, the original monastery at Maiella being judged to be too desolate and exposed to too rigorous a climate, it was decided that the [[Abbey of the Holy Spirit at Monte Morrone, Sulmona|Abbey of the Holy Spirit]] in the plains near [[Sulmona]] should be the headquarters of the order and the residence of the general-superior, as it continued to be until the order was extinguished in the 18th century.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16019a.htm Brookfield, Paul. "Celestine Order." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 16 (Index). New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1914 {{PD-notice}}</ref> Pietro took up residence in a cliffside hermitage overlooking the new monastery, but he would not remain undisturbed there for long.<ref name=Ferzoco/>

==Election as pope==
{{Main article|Papal election, 1292–1294}}
The cardinals assembled at [[Perugia]] after the death of [[Pope Nicholas IV]] in April 1292. After more than two years, a consensus had still not been reached. Pietro, well known to the cardinals as a Benedictine hermit, sent the cardinals a letter warning them that divine vengeance would fall upon them if they did not quickly elect a pope. [[Latino Malabranca Orsini|Latino Malabranca]], the aged and ill [[Dean of the College of Cardinals|Dean]] of the [[College of Cardinals]] cried out, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I elect brother Pietro di Morrone!" The cardinals promptly ratified Malabranca's desperate decision. When sent for, Pietro obstinately refused to accept the papacy, and even, as [[Petrarch]] says, tried to flee, until he was finally persuaded by a deputation of cardinals accompanied by the king of [[Charles II of Naples|Naples]] and the [[Charles Martel of Anjou|pretender to the throne of Hungary]]. Elected on 5 July 1294,<ref>Jeffrey H. Denton (2002). ''Robert Winchelsey and the Crown 1294–1313'', Vol. 14, Cambridge University Press, p. 66.</ref> he was crowned at [[Santa Maria di Collemaggio]] in the city of [[L'Aquila|Aquila]] in the [[Abruzzo]] on 29 August, taking the name Celestine V.<ref name=Loughlin1908/>

==Papacy==
Shortly after assuming office, Celestine issued a [[papal bull]] granting a rare [[plenary indulgence]] to all pilgrims visiting [[Santa Maria di Collemaggio]] through its holy door on the anniversary of his papal coronation.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2001/august/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20010823_perdonanza_en.html | title = Address of John Paul II to the Jury Members of the 'Premio Internazionale Perdonanza' | author = Pope John Paul II | date = 23 August 2001 | access-date =19 May 2011}}</ref> The [[Celestinian forgiveness]] (''Perdonanza Celestiniana'') festival is celebrated in L'Aquila every 28–29 August in commemoration of this event.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abruzzoheritage.com/magazine/2002_05/f.htm|title=The Perdonanza|author=Abruzzo World Club|work=Abruzzo Heritage|date=Summer 2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090826124003/http://www.abruzzoheritage.com/magazine/2002_05/f.htm|archive-date=26 August 2009}}</ref>

With no political experience, Celestine proved to be an especially weak and ineffectual pope.<ref>Clement V's bull of canonization noted his "marvelous simplicity and inexperience[] in everything belonging to the rule of the Church" Wood, Charles T. ''Joan of Arc and Richard III: Sex, Saints, and Government in the Middle Ages''. Oxford University Press, 1991, 100.
</ref> He held his office in the [[Kingdom of Naples]], out of contact with the [[Roman Curia]] and under the complete power of King [[Charles II of Naples|Charles II]]. He appointed the king's favorites to Church offices, sometimes several to the same office. One of these was [[Louis of Toulouse]], whom Celestine ordered given [[clerical tonsure]] and [[minor orders]], although this was not carried out. He renewed a decree of [[Pope Gregory X]] that had established stringent rules for [[papal conclave]]s after a similarly prolonged election. In one decree, he appointed three cardinals to govern the Church during [[Advent]] while he fasted, which was again refused.<ref name="mcbrien">McBrien, Richard P. (2000). ''Lives of the Popes''</ref>

Realizing his lack of authority and personal incompatibility with papal duties, he consulted with Cardinal [[Pope Boniface VIII|Benedetto Caetani]] (his eventual successor) about the possibility of resignation.<ref name="mcbrien"/> This resulted in one final decree declaring the right of resignation. He promptly exercised this right, resigning on 13 December 1294, after five months and eight days as pope.<ref>"Papal Resignations"', [[Olivier Guyotjeannin]], ''The Papacy: An Encyclopedia'', Vol. 3, ed. Philippe Levillain, (Taylor & Francis, 2002), 1305.</ref> In the formal instrument of renunciation, he cited as the causes moving him to the step: "The desire for humility, for a purer life, for a stainless conscience, the deficiencies of his own physical strength, his ignorance, the perverseness of the people, his longing for the tranquility of his former life".<ref>[[Jesse Walker|Walker, Jesse]] (11 February 2013) [http://reason.com/blog/2013/02/11/the-ones-who-walk-away-from-the-holy-see The Ones Who Walk Away From the Holy See], ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]''</ref> Having divested himself of every outward symbol of papal dignity, he slipped away from Naples and attempted to retire to his old life of solitude.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The next pope to resign of his own accord was [[Pope Gregory XII|Gregory XII]] in 1415 (to help end the [[Western Schism]]), followed by [[Pope Benedict XVI|Benedict XVI]] in 2013, 719 years later.<ref>{{cite news|last = Alpert|first = Emily|title = Scandal, speculation surround past popes who resigned|url = https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2013-feb-11-la-fg-wn-scandal-speculation-past-popes-resign-20130211-story.html|date = 11 February 2013|newspaper = [[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date = 1 April 2019}}</ref><ref name=DeSouza>{{cite web|title = The Holy Father takes his leave|first = Raymond J.|last = de Souza|author-link = Raymond J. de Souza|url = https://nationalpost.com/opinion/father-raymond-j-de-souza-on-the-pope-the-holy-father-takes-his-leave|work = [[National Post]]|date = 12 February 2013|url-status = live|archive-url = https://archive.today/20130411105316/http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/02/12/father-raymond-j-de-souza-on-the-pope-the-holy-father-takes-his-leave/|archive-date = 11 April 2013}}</ref>

==Retirement, death, and canonization==
[[File:Papa Celestino V 01.jpg|thumb|left|Tomb of Celestine V]]
The former Celestine, now reverted to Pietro Angelerio, was not allowed to become a hermit once again. Various parties had opposed his resignation and the new [[Pope Boniface VIII]] had reason to worry that one of them might install him as an [[antipope]]. To prevent this, he ordered Pietro to accompany him to Rome. Pietro escaped and hid in the woods before attempting to return to Sulmona to resume monastic life. This proved impossible, and Pietro was captured after an attempt to flee to [[Dalmatia]] was thwarted when a tempest forced his ship to return to port. Boniface imprisoned him in the castle of Fumone near [[Ferentino]] in [[Lazio]], attended by two monks of his order, where Pietro died after 10 months at about the age of 81. His supporters spread the allegation that Boniface had treated him harshly and ultimately executed Pietro, but there is no clear historical evidence of this.<ref>Gregorovius, Ferdinand (1906). ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'' vol. 5 part 2</ref> Pietro was buried at Ferentino, but his body was subsequently moved to the Basilica of [[Santa Maria di Collemaggio]] in [[L'Aquila]].<ref>[https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252083/saint-celestine-v-and-the-catholic-churchs-first-jubilee Brockhaus, Hannah. "Saint Celestine V and the Catholic Church's first jubilee", CNA, Aug 21, 2022]</ref>

[[Philip IV of France]], who had supported Celestine and bitterly opposed Boniface, nominated Celestine for sainthood following the election of [[Pope Clement V]]. The latter signed a decree of dispensation on 13 May 1306 to investigate the nomination.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isernianews.it/cultura-spettacoli/38214-nolite-timere-il-film-su-san-pietro-celestino-all-auditorium.html|title=Nolite timere', il film su San Pietro Celestino all'auditorium|date=2 July 2015|publisher=Isernia News|access-date=3 July 2015|archive-date=13 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713135329/http://www.isernianews.it/cultura-spettacoli/38214-nolite-timere-il-film-su-san-pietro-celestino-all-auditorium.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was canonized on 5 May 1313 after a [[papal consistory|consistory]] in which Boniface's [[Caetani]] family was outvoted by members of the rival [[Colonna family|Colonna]] family.<ref>Ronald C. Finucane (2011). ''Contested Canonizations: The Last Medieval Saints, 1482–1523''. Catholic University of America Press, p. 19.</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:San Pedro Celestino, papa, de Bartolomé Román (Museo del Prado).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Celestine by Bartolomé Román]]

Most modern interest in Celestine V has focused on his resignation.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3350359/Cardinal-hints-that-ailing-Pope-may-resign.html | title = Cardinal hints that ailing Pope may resign | first = Bruce | last = Johnston | author2 = Jonathan Petre | work = The Telegraph|location=London | date = 8 February 2005}}</ref> He was the first pope to formalize the resignation process and is often said to have been the first to resign; in fact he was preceded in this by [[Pope Pontian|Pontian]] (235), [[John XVIII]] (1009), [[Benedict IX]] (1045), and [[Pope Gregory VI|Gregory VI]] (1046).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/news/a-history-of-papal-resignations |title=A History of Papal Resignations |publisher=History.com |date=2013-02-11 |access-date=2013-06-25}}</ref> As noted above, Celestine's own decision was brought about by mild pressure from the Church establishment. His reinstitution of Gregory X's conclave system established by the papal bull ''[[Ubi periculum]]'' has been respected ever since.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

A 1966 visit by [[Pope Paul VI]] to Celestine's place of death in Ferentino along with his speech in homage of Celestine prompted speculation that the Pontiff was considering retirement.<ref>Cf. [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/speeches/1966/documents/hf_p-vi_spe_19660901_s-celestino-v_it.html Pope Paul VI's speech of 1 September 1966]</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,836464,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080220090842/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,836464,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 20 February 2008 | title = Roman Catholicism: Retirement for 200 Bishops | work = Time Magazine | date = 30 September 1966 | access-date =19 May 2011}}</ref>

Celestine's remains survived the [[2009 L'Aquila earthquake]] with one Italian spokesman saying it was "another great miracle by the pope".<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/09/Popes-bones-survive-earthquake/UPI-18401239303447/ | date = 9 April 2009 | access-date =19 May 2011 | publisher = United Press International | title = Pope's bones survive earthquake}}</ref> They were then recovered from the basilica shortly after the earthquake.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/14/italian-earthquake-damage | title = Italy earthquake focus shifts to saving Abruzzo's heritage | first = Tom | last = Kington | work = The Guardian | date = 14 April 2009 | access-date =19 May 2011}}</ref> While inspecting the earthquake damage during a 28 April 2009 visit to the L'Aquila, [[Pope Benedict XVI]] visited Celestine's remains in the badly damaged Santa Maria di Collemaggio and left the woolen [[pallium]] he wore during his papal inauguration in April 2005 on his glass casket as a gift.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6184757.ece | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110604182918/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6184757.ece | url-status = dead | archive-date = 4 June 2011 | title = Pope Benedict XVI visits Abruzzo earthquake zone to pray for victims | first=Richard | last = Owen | work = The Times | date = 28 April 2009 | access-date =19 May 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/world/europe/29pope.html| title = Pope visits devastated earthquake zone | first=Rachel | last = Donadio | work = The New York Times | date = 28 April 2009 | access-date =25 February 2013}}</ref> 

To mark the 800th anniversary of Celestine's birth, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the Celestine year from 28 August 2009 through 29 August 2010.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/card-bertone/2009/documents/rc_seg-st_20090828_anno-celestiniano_it.html | title = Homily of Card. Tarcisio Bertone for the opening of the Holy Door on the occasion of the Feast of Celestinian Forgiveness and the beginning of the Celestinian Year | publisher = The Roman Curia | language = it | date = 28 August 2009 | access-date =19 May 2011}}</ref> Benedict XVI visited the [[Sulmona Cathedral]], near Aquila, on 4 July 2010<ref>{{cite news| url = http://www.romereports.com/palio/benedict-xvi-praised-courage-of-celestine-v-another-pope-who-resigned-english-9014.html| title = Benedict Praised courage of Celestine V, another Pope who resigned| publisher = Rome Reports| date = 12 February 2013| access-date = 25 February 2013| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130217232130/http://www.romereports.com/palio/benedict-xvi-praised-courage-of-celestine-v-another-pope-who-resigned-english-9014.html| archive-date = 17 February 2013}}</ref> as part of his observance of the Celestine year and prayed before the altar consecrated by Celestine containing his relics on 10 October 1294.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/travels/2010/documents/trav_ben-xvi_sulmona_20100704_en.html | title = Pastoral Visit to Sulmona | publisher = The Roman Curia | date = 4 July 2010 | access-date = 15 February 2013}}</ref>

His entry in the ''[[Martyrologium Romanum]]'' for 19 May reads as follows:

{{blockquote|''Ad Castrum Fumorense prope Alatrium in Latio, natalis sancti Petri Caelestini, qui, cum vitam eremeticam in Aprutio ageret, fama sanctitatis et miraculorum clarus, octogenarius Romanus Pontifex electus est, assumpto nomine Caelestini Quinti, sed eodem anno munere se abdicavit et solitudinem recedere maluit.''}}

{{blockquote|At ''Castrum Fumorense'' near [[Alatri]] in [[Lazio]], the birth of Saint Peter Celestine, who, when leading the life of a hermit in Abruzzo, being famous for his sanctity and miracles, was elected Roman Pontiff as an octogenarian, assumed the name Celestine V, but abandoned his office that same year and preferred to return to solitude.}}

==In literature==
[[File:Caelestinus V - Opuscula omnia, 1640 - BEIC 9744840.tiff|thumb|''Opuscula omnia'', 1640]]

A persistent tradition identifies Celestine V as the nameless figure [[Dante Alighieri]] sees among those in the antechamber of Hell, in the enigmatic verses:

{{Poemquote|''vidi e conobbi l'ombra di colui''
''che fece per viltade il gran rifiuto.''
("I saw and recognized the shade of him
who due to cowardice made the [[great refusal]].")|''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'' III, 59–60|}}

The first commentators to make this identification included Dante's son [[Jacopo Alighieri]],<ref>{{cite book | last= Alighieri | first = Jacopo | title = Chiose alla cantica dell'Inferno | location = Florence | publisher = Tipografica di Tommaso Baracchi | year = 1848 | url = https://archive.org/details/chioseallacanti00aliggoog | page = [https://archive.org/details/chioseallacanti00aliggoog/page/n31 12] | language = it}}</ref> followed by Graziolo Bambaglioli in 1324. The identification is also considered probable by recent scholars (e.g., Hollander, [[Barbara Reynolds]], Simonelli, Padoan). [[Petrarch]] was moved to defend Celestine vigorously against the accusation of cowardice and some modern scholars (e.g., Mark Musa) have suggested Dante may have meant someone else ([[Esau]], [[Diocletian]] and [[Pontius Pilate]] have been variously suggested).

In 1346, Petrarch declared in his ''De vita solitaria'' that Celestine's refusal was a virtuous example of solitary life.<ref>{{Cite book | last= Petrarca | first = Francesco | title = De vita Solitaria | location = Bologna | publisher = Gaetano Romagnoli | year = 1879 | url = https://archive.org/details/lavitasolitaria01petr | quote= De vita Solitaria petrarch. | language = it}}</ref>

Pope Celestine V is referenced in Chapter 88 of [[Dan Brown]]'s ''[[Angels & Demons]]'', where he is controversially referenced as an example of a [[List of murdered Popes|murdered pope]]. Brown writes that an X-ray of his tomb "revealed a ten-inch nail driven into the Pope's skull."<ref>Brown, Dan. ''Angels & Demons''. Pocket Star Books, 2000, p. 352.</ref> While the reference to the X-ray is fictitious (no X-ray has ever been conducted on Celestine's tomb), it has been indeed alleged that Celestine was murdered, possibly by order of his successor, [[Pope Boniface VIII]]; however, there is no historical evidence of this.<ref>[[Ferdinand Gregorovius]] (1906) ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'', vol. 5 part 2.</ref> A 2013 examination of the half-inch hole in Celestine's skull found it to have occurred post-mortem, when the remains were already skeletonized, likely during a reburial.<ref>{{cite web | title=Medieval hermit pope not murdered after all | website=NBC News | date=8 May 2013 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/medieval-hermit-pope-not-murdered-after-all-flna1c9847402 | access-date=31 August 2024}}</ref>

The life of Pope Celestine V is dramatised in the plays {{lang|it|L'avventura di un povero cristiano}} (''[[Story of a Humble Christian]]'') by [[Ignazio Silone]] in 1968 and ''Sunsets and Glories'' by [[Peter Barnes (playwright)|Peter Barnes]] in 1990.

His life is the subject of the short story "Brother of the Holy Ghost" in [[Brendan Connell]]'s short story collection ''The Life of Polycrates and Other Stories for Antiquated Children''.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Life of Polycrates and Other Stories for Antiquated Children |last=Connell |first=Brendan |publisher=Chomu Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1907681042 }}</ref>

He is the subject of a popular history by author [[Jon M. Sweeney]], ''The Pope Who Quit: A True Medieval Tale of Mystery, Death, and Salvation'', published by Image Books/Random House in 2012.<ref name=Sweeney/> In 2013, HBO optioned the film rights.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/predicting-the-pope-would_b_2689615 | title=Predicting the Pope Would Quit | first=Jon M. | last=Sweeney| work=[[HuffPost]] | date=15 February 2013}}</ref>

Celestine V is the subject of the poem {{lang|it|Che Fece...Il Gran Rifiuto}} by the modern Greek poet [[Constantine P. Cavafy]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Che Fece ... Il Gran Rifiuto|url=https://allpoetry.com/Che-Fece-...-Il-Gran-Rifiuto|website=All Poetry|access-date=June 12, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=C. P. Cavafy|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/c-p-cavafy|website=Poetry Foundation|access-date=June 12, 2023}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Cardinals created by Celestine V]]
* [[List of Catholic saints]]
* [[List of popes]]
{{Portal bar|Biography|Christianity|History}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Celestine (popes)}}
*{{commons category-inline|Caelestinus V|Pope Celestine V}}
*{{CathEncy|wstitle=Pope St. Celestine V|short=yes}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Nicholas IV|Nicholas IV]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=5 July&nbsp;– 13 December 1294}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Boniface VIII]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Celestine 5}}
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:1296 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Molise]]
[[Category:Italian Benedictines]]
[[Category:Italian hermits]]
[[Category:Benedictine popes]]
[[Category:Non-cardinals elected pope]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Founders of Catholic religious communities]]
[[Category:Popes who abdicated]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:13th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:13th-century popes]]
[[Category:Celestine Order]]
[[Category:Christian miracle workers]]