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.

After five months, Celestine realized that he was not good at his job, and he resigned. There are precedents for it (Pope Celestine V had established the ability of popes to resign, then did so himself a few months later in 1294; and Gregory XII also resigned, in 1415, in order to end the decades-long Great Western Schism). Popular Quizzes Today. … “Epistle to Pope Celestine V” 16.

The subject of the book is Peter Morrone who became Pope Celestine V in August of 1294 at age 84 and resigned in December of the same year. He had no political affiliations and was respected as a spiritual leader.

He was imprisoned by his successor, Boniface VIII, who promptly annulled the few actions Celestine had taken. He then asked a friend who did agree that a Pope could resign for a suitable cause, and was of opinion that to resume one’s former mode of life was reason enough. Eleven days later, the college of cardinals assembled in Naples and elected Benedetto Gaetani the new pope. After living as a self-flagellating hermit in Italy, he served as pontiff for only five months before resigning at the end of the 13th century. Pope Celestine V was an elderly, possibly frail man. On this day one of the few instances in history when a pope willingly resigned occured. Two years and three months had elapsed since the death of Nicholas IV on April 4, 1292 without much prospect that the conclave at Perugia would unite upon a candidate. Namely, after the death of the last pope, the cardinals could not decide who to choose as the new head of the Catholic Church for over two years. A strong friendship seems to have existed between Celestine and Augustine, and after the death of the latter in 430, Celestine wrote a long letter to the bishops of Gaul on the sanctity, learning and zeal of the holy doctor, and forbade all attacks upon his memory on the part of the Semipelagians, who under the leadership of the famous ascetic, John Cassian, were then beginning to gain influence. He would resign. I, PETER CELESTINE, AM GOING AWAY.

Seventeen years after his death, he was declared a saint. Pope Celestine V(Latin: Coelestinus Quintus; 1215 – 19 May 1296), born Pietro Angelerio di Morrone, was an Italian cleric of the Roman Catholic Church and the 193rd Pope for less than six months in 1294. The riveting story of Pope St. Celestine V, the pope who retired from the papacy.At the close of the tumultuous Middle Ages, there lived a man who seemed destined from birth to save the world.