Jump to content

Pope Gelasius I: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
moving the statue image back to Legacy, where I think it makes more sense
excessive capitalization (MOS:JOBTITLES) and unnecessary pipes (MOS:NOPIPE)
Line 8: Line 8:
|term_start=1 March AD 492
|term_start=1 March AD 492
|term_end=19 November AD 496
|term_end=19 November AD 496
|predecessor=[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
|predecessor=[[Felix III]]
|successor=[[Pope Anastasius II|Anastasius II]]
|successor=[[Pope Anastasius II|Anastasius II]]
|birth_place=[[Africa (Roman province)|Roman Africa]] or [[Rome]]<ref name=Browne1998>{{cite journal
|birth_place=[[Africa (Roman province)|Roman Africa]] or [[Rome]]<ref name=Browne1998>{{cite journal
Line 26: Line 26:
|other=Gelasius
|other=Gelasius
}}
}}
'''Pope Gelasius I''' was the [[bishop of Rome]] from 1 March 492 to his death on 19 November 496.<ref name="ce-gelasius">{{CathEncy|wstitle=Pope St. Gelasius I}}</ref> Gelasius was a prolific author whose style placed him on the cusp between [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]].<ref name="Ullman">The title of his biography by Walter Ullmann expresses this:''Gelasius I. (492–496): Das Papsttum an der Wende der Spätantike zum Mittelalter'' (Stuttgart) 1981.</ref> Some scholars have argued that his predecessor [[Pope Felix III|Felix III]] may have employed him to draft papal documents,<ref>{{Cite book |author=Ullmann, Walter |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/781406544 |title=Gelasius I. (492-496) : das Papsttum an der Wende der Spätantike zum Mittelalter |date=1981 |publisher=Hiersemann |isbn=3-7772-8135-2 |pages=135–141 |oclc=781406544}}</ref> although this is not certain.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Salzman |first=Michele Renee |date=2019 |title=Lay Aristocrats and Ecclesiastical Politics: A New View of the Papacy of Felix III (483–492 C.E.) and the Acacian Schism |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/734252 |journal=Journal of Early Christian Studies |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=482, n. 73 |doi=10.1353/earl.2019.0040 |issn=1086-3184}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Samuel |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1114273480 |title=Heirs of Roman persecution: studies on a Christian and para-Christian discourse in late antiquity |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-8153-7512-8 |editor-last=Fournier |editor-first=Éric |pages=176, n. 16 |chapter=“You have made common cause with their persecutors”: Gelasius, the language of persecution, and the Acacian Schism |oclc=1114273480 |editor-last2=Mayer |editor-first2=Wendy}}</ref> During his pontificate he called for strict [[Catholic]] orthodoxy, more assertively demanded obedience to papal authority, and, consequently, increased the tension between the Western and Eastern Churches. Surprisingly, he also had cordial relations with the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom|Ostrogoths]], who were non-[[First Council of Nicaea|Nicene]] ('[[Arianism|Arian]]') heretics, from the perceptive of the Roman church.<ref name=":0" />
'''Pope Gelasius I''' was the [[bishop of Rome]] from 1 March 492 to his death on 19 November 496.<ref name="ce-gelasius">{{CathEncy|wstitle=Pope St. Gelasius I}}</ref> Gelasius was a prolific author whose style placed him on the cusp between [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]].<ref name="Ullman">The title of his biography by Walter Ullmann expresses this:''Gelasius I. (492–496): Das Papsttum an der Wende der Spätantike zum Mittelalter'' (Stuttgart) 1981.</ref> Some scholars have argued that his predecessor [[Felix III]] may have employed him to draft papal documents,<ref>{{Cite book |author=Ullmann, Walter |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/781406544 |title=Gelasius I. (492-496) : das Papsttum an der Wende der Spätantike zum Mittelalter |date=1981 |publisher=Hiersemann |isbn=3-7772-8135-2 |pages=135–141 |oclc=781406544}}</ref> although this is not certain.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Salzman |first=Michele Renee |date=2019 |title=Lay Aristocrats and Ecclesiastical Politics: A New View of the Papacy of Felix III (483–492 C.E.) and the Acacian Schism |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/734252 |journal=Journal of Early Christian Studies |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=482, n. 73 |doi=10.1353/earl.2019.0040 |issn=1086-3184}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Samuel |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1114273480 |title=Heirs of Roman persecution: studies on a Christian and para-Christian discourse in late antiquity |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-8153-7512-8 |editor-last=Fournier |editor-first=Éric |pages=176, n. 16 |chapter=“You have made common cause with their persecutors”: Gelasius, the language of persecution, and the Acacian Schism |oclc=1114273480 |editor-last2=Mayer |editor-first2=Wendy}}</ref> During his pontificate he called for strict [[Catholic]] orthodoxy, more assertively demanded obedience to papal authority, and, consequently, increased the tension between the Western and Eastern Churches. Surprisingly, he also had cordial relations with the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom|Ostrogoths]], who were non-[[First Council of Nicaea|Nicene]] ('[[Arianism|Arian]]') heretics, from the perceptive of the Roman church.<ref name=":0" />


The feast of [[Saint Valentine]] of February 14 was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius, who included Valentine among all those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God."
The feast of [[Saint Valentine]] of February 14 was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius, who included Valentine among all those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God."
Line 36: Line 36:


{{see| Acacian schism}}
{{see| Acacian schism}}
The Papal election of Gelasius on 1 March 492 was a gesture of continuity: Gelasius inherited the conflicts of [[Pope Felix III]] with [[List of Byzantine emperors|Eastern Roman Emperor]] Anastasius and the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarch of Constantinople]] and exacerbated them by insisting on the obliteration of the name of the late [[Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople|Acacius]], Patriarch of Constantinople, from the [[diptych]]s, in spite of every ecumenical gesture by the contemporaneous Patriarch [[Euphemius of Constantinople|Euphemius]] (''q. v.'' for details of the [[Acacian schism]]).
The papal election of Gelasius on 1 March 492 was a gesture of continuity: Gelasius inherited the conflicts of [[Pope Felix III]] with [[Eastern Roman Emperor]] Anastasius and the [[patriarch of Constantinople]] and exacerbated them by insisting on the obliteration of the name of the deceased [[Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople]] from the [[diptych]]s, in spite of every ecumenical gesture by the contemporaneous Patriarch [[Euphemius of Constantinople|Euphemius]] (''q. v.'' for details of the [[Acacian schism]]).


The split with the Emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople was inevitable, from the Western view, because they adopted the [[Monophysite]] [[heresy]] of [[Jesus Christ]] having only a Divine nature. Gelasius authored the book ''De duabus in Christo naturis'' (''On the dual nature of Christ''), which described [[Catholic theology|Catholic doctrine]] in the matter. Thus Gelasius, for all the conservative Latinity of his style of writing, was on the cusp of [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]].<ref name="Ullman"/>
The split with the Emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople was inevitable, from the Western view, because they adopted the [[Monophysite]] [[heresy]] of [[Jesus Christ]] having only a Divine nature. Gelasius authored the book ''De duabus in Christo naturis'' (''On the dual nature of Christ''), which described [[Catholic theology|Catholic doctrine]] in the matter. Thus Gelasius, for all the conservative Latinity of his style of writing, was on the cusp of [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]].<ref name="Ullman"/>


During the Acacian schism, Gelasius advocated the primacy of the [[See of Rome]] over the universal Church, both East and West, and he presented this doctrine in terms that became the model for successive Popes, who also claimed [[Papal supremacy]] because of their succession to the [[Supreme Pontiff|Papacy]] from the first Supreme Pontiff, [[Saint Peter|Peter the Apostle]].{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}
During the Acacian schism, Gelasius advocated the primacy of the [[See of Rome]] over the universal Church, both East and West, and he presented this doctrine in terms that became the model for successive popes, who also claimed [[papal supremacy]] because of their succession to the [[Supreme Pontiff|papacy]] from the first supreme pontiff, [[Peter the Apostle]].{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}


In 494, Gelasius authored the very influential letter ''[[Duo sunt]]'' to Anastasius on the subject of the relation of Church and state, which letter had political impact for almost a millennium after.<ref name="Fordham">{{Cite web|title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project|url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/gelasius1.asp|access-date=2020-08-20|website=sourcebooks.fordham.edu}}</ref>
In 494, Gelasius authored the very influential letter ''[[Duo sunt]]'' to Anastasius on the subject of the relation of Church and state, which letter had political impact for almost a millennium after.<ref name="Fordham">{{Cite web|title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project|url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/gelasius1.asp|access-date=2020-08-20|website=sourcebooks.fordham.edu}}</ref>
Line 46: Line 46:
== Suppression of the Lupercalia ==
== Suppression of the Lupercalia ==
{{see| Lupercalia#History}}
{{see| Lupercalia#History}}
Closer to home, after a long contest Gelasius finally suppressed the [[Ancient Rome|ancient Roman]] festival of the [[Lupercalia]],<ref name=Ramsgate/> which had persisted for several generations among a nominally Christian population. Gelasius' letter to the Senator Andromachus treated the primary contentions of the controversy and incidentally provided some details of the festival, which combined [[fertility]] and [[Ritual purification|purification]], that might have been lost otherwise. Although the Lupercalia was a festival of purification, which had given its name "''dies februatus''", from "''februare''" ("to purify"), to the month of February, it was unrelated to the Feast of the Purification of the [[Mary, the mother of Jesus|Blessed Virgin Mary]], also commonly denominated "[[Candlemas]]", which latter feast commemorates the fulfillment of the [[Holy Family|Holy Family's]] ceremonial obligations pursuant to Mosaic law 40 days after the birth of the first son. In the instance of the [[Holy Family]], that occurred 40 days after [[Christmas]], ''scire licet'', on 2 February.
Closer to home, after a long contest Gelasius finally suppressed the [[ancient Roman]] festival of the [[Lupercalia]],<ref name=Ramsgate/> which had persisted for several generations among a nominally Christian population. Gelasius' letter to the Senator Andromachus treated the primary contentions of the controversy and incidentally provided some details of the festival, which combined [[fertility]] and [[Ritual purification|purification]], that might have been lost otherwise. Although the Lupercalia was a festival of purification, which had given its name "''dies februatus''", from "''februare''" ("to purify"), to the month of February, it was unrelated to the Feast of the Purification of the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]], also commonly denominated "[[Candlemas]]", which latter feast commemorates the fulfillment of the [[Holy Famil]]'s ceremonial obligations pursuant to Mosaic law 40 days after the birth of the first son. In the instance of the [[Holy Family]], that occurred 40 days after [[Christmas]], ''scire licet'', on 2 February.


==Death==
==Death==
Line 71: Line 71:
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[List of Catholic saints]]
*[[List of Catholic saints]]
*[[List of Popes]]
*[[List of popes]]
*[[Famuli vestrae pietatis]]
*[[Famuli vestrae pietatis]]
*[[Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/November 21|Pope Saint Gelasius I, patron saint archive]]
*[[Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/November 21|Pope Saint Gelasius I, patron saint archive]]
Line 100: Line 100:
{{s-start}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Felix III]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=1 March 492 – 19 November 496}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=1 March 492 – 19 November 496}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Anastasius II|Anastasius II]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Anastasius II|Anastasius II]]}}

Revision as of 06:19, 21 September 2022

Pope Saint

Gelasius I
Bishop of Rome
ChurchCatholic Church
Papacy began1 March AD 492
Papacy ended19 November AD 496
PredecessorFelix III
SuccessorAnastasius II
Personal details
Born
Roman Africa or Rome[1]
Died(496-11-19)19 November 496
Rome, Ostrogothic Kingdom
Sainthood
Feast day21 November[2]
Other popes named Gelasius

Pope Gelasius I was the bishop of Rome from 1 March 492 to his death on 19 November 496.[2] Gelasius was a prolific author whose style placed him on the cusp between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.[3] Some scholars have argued that his predecessor Felix III may have employed him to draft papal documents,[4] although this is not certain.[5][6] During his pontificate he called for strict Catholic orthodoxy, more assertively demanded obedience to papal authority, and, consequently, increased the tension between the Western and Eastern Churches. Surprisingly, he also had cordial relations with the Ostrogoths, who were non-Nicene ('Arian') heretics, from the perceptive of the Roman church.[7]

The feast of Saint Valentine of February 14 was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius, who included Valentine among all those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God."

Place of birth

There is some confusion regarding where Gelasius was born: according to the Liber Pontificalis he was born in Africa ("natione Afer"), while in a letter addressed to the Roman Emperor Anastasius he stated that he was "born a Roman" ("Romanus natus").[8] J. Conant opined that the latter assertion probably merely denotes that he was born in Roman Africa before the Vandals invaded it.[9][10]

Acacian schism

Further information: Acacian schism

The papal election of Gelasius on 1 March 492 was a gesture of continuity: Gelasius inherited the conflicts of Pope Felix III with Eastern Roman Emperor Anastasius and the patriarch of Constantinople and exacerbated them by insisting on the obliteration of the name of the deceased Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople from the diptychs, in spite of every ecumenical gesture by the contemporaneous Patriarch Euphemius (q. v. for details of the Acacian schism).

The split with the Emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople was inevitable, from the Western view, because they adopted the Monophysite heresy of Jesus Christ having only a Divine nature. Gelasius authored the book De duabus in Christo naturis (On the dual nature of Christ), which described Catholic doctrine in the matter. Thus Gelasius, for all the conservative Latinity of his style of writing, was on the cusp of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.[3]

During the Acacian schism, Gelasius advocated the primacy of the See of Rome over the universal Church, both East and West, and he presented this doctrine in terms that became the model for successive popes, who also claimed papal supremacy because of their succession to the papacy from the first supreme pontiff, Peter the Apostle.[citation needed]

In 494, Gelasius authored the very influential letter Duo sunt to Anastasius on the subject of the relation of Church and state, which letter had political impact for almost a millennium after.[11]

Suppression of the Lupercalia

Further information: Lupercalia § History

Closer to home, after a long contest Gelasius finally suppressed the ancient Roman festival of the Lupercalia,[10] which had persisted for several generations among a nominally Christian population. Gelasius' letter to the Senator Andromachus treated the primary contentions of the controversy and incidentally provided some details of the festival, which combined fertility and purification, that might have been lost otherwise. Although the Lupercalia was a festival of purification, which had given its name "dies februatus", from "februare" ("to purify"), to the month of February, it was unrelated to the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also commonly denominated "Candlemas", which latter feast commemorates the fulfillment of the Holy Famil's ceremonial obligations pursuant to Mosaic law 40 days after the birth of the first son. In the instance of the Holy Family, that occurred 40 days after Christmas, scire licet, on 2 February.

Death

After a brief yet dynamic ministry, Gelasius died on 19 November AD 496. His feast day is 21 November, the anniversary of his interment, not his death.[2]

Works

Image of c. AD 870 featuring the coronation of Charles the Bald, flanked by Gelasius I and Gregory the Great. Gelasius' writings gave him a high status with posterity.

Gelasius was one of the most prolific author of the early bishops of Rome. Over 100 Gelasian letters survive, although 49 of these are fragmentary, some as short as several lines.[12] Additionally, 6 treatises are extant that bear the name of Gelasius. According to Cassiodorus, the reputation of Gelasius attracted to his name other works not by him. Although his dogmatic letters connected to the Acacian Schism were widely circulated in late antiquity (and have been the focus of much scholarly interest), the majority of Gelasius' letters were in fact concerned with the administration of the church of suburbicarian Italy.[7]

Decretum Gelasianum

Main article: Decretum Gelasianum

The most famous of pseudo-Gelasian works is the list De libris recipiendis et non recipiendis ("On books to be received and not to be received"), also denominated the Decretum Gelasianum, which is believed to be connected to the pressure for orthodoxy during his pontificate and intended to be read as a decretal by Gelasius on the canonical and apocryphal books, which internal evidence reveals to be of later date. Thus the determination of the canon of Sacred Scripture has traditionally been attributed to Gelasius.[13]

Gelasian Sacramentary

Main article: Gelasian Sacramentary

In the Latin Catholic tradition, the pseudo Gelasian Sacramentary is in fact a liturgical book that was derived from Roman sources and transcribed, with inclusion of native Gallican liturgical elements, near Paris in the middle of the 8th century AD. While including the texts of some prayers that Gelasius composed, he was not a principal author or compiler of the book. The manuscript (Vatican, Vatican Library, Reg. lat. 316 + Paris, National Library, ms. lat. 7193, fol. 41–56) is actually titled the Liber sacramentorum Romanae ecclesiae (Book of Sacraments of the Roman Church). The attribution to Gelasius is premised in part at least on the chronicle of the Supreme Pontiffs that is denominated the Liber Pontificalis, which states of Gelasius that he "fecit etiam et sacramentorum praefationes et orationes cauto sermone et epistulas fidei delimato sermone multas" ("he also made prefaces to the sacraments and prayers in careful language and many epistles in polished language regarding the faith").[14] An old tradition linked the book to Gelasius, apparently based on the ascription of Walafrid Strabo to him of what evidently is this book.

Legacy

Statue of Gelasius I, Schloss Stainz

Cardinal Giuseppe Maria Tomasi quoted a portion of a missal that was attributed to Gelasius in the Mass that was entitled 'Contra obloquentes' and published it. The section read: "Grant, We beseech Thee, O Lord, that we do not trouble ourselves about the contradiction of spurious minds, but once that very wickedness has been spurned let us pray that you suffer us neither to be frightened by the unjust criticisms, nor to be attracted to the insidious flatteries, but rather to love that which Thou dost command ...". In 1751, Pope Benedict XIV published this quotation within his Apostolic Constitution "Providas" that attacked freemasonry.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ Browne, M. (1998). "The Three African Popes". The Western Journal of Black Studies. 22 (1): 57–8. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
  2. ^ a b c Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope St. Gelasius I" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  3. ^ a b The title of his biography by Walter Ullmann expresses this:Gelasius I. (492–496): Das Papsttum an der Wende der Spätantike zum Mittelalter (Stuttgart) 1981.
  4. ^ Ullmann, Walter (1981). Gelasius I. (492-496) : das Papsttum an der Wende der Spätantike zum Mittelalter. Hiersemann. pp. 135–141. ISBN 3-7772-8135-2. OCLC 781406544.
  5. ^ Salzman, Michele Renee (2019). "Lay Aristocrats and Ecclesiastical Politics: A New View of the Papacy of Felix III (483–492 C.E.) and the Acacian Schism". Journal of Early Christian Studies. 27 (3): 482, n. 73. doi:10.1353/earl.2019.0040. ISSN 1086-3184.
  6. ^ Cohen, Samuel (2019). ""You have made common cause with their persecutors": Gelasius, the language of persecution, and the Acacian Schism". In Fournier, Éric; Mayer, Wendy (eds.). Heirs of Roman persecution: studies on a Christian and para-Christian discourse in late antiquity. Routledge. pp. 176, n. 16. ISBN 978-0-8153-7512-8. OCLC 1114273480.
  7. ^ a b Cohen, Samuel (2022). "Gelasius and the Ostrogoths: jurisdiction and religious community in late fifth‐century Italy". Early Medieval Europe. 30 (1): 22–23. doi:10.1111/emed.12519. ISSN 0963-9462.
  8. ^ J. Chapin, "Gelasius I, Pope, St.", pp. 121-3, in New Catholic Encyclopedia, Second Edition, Volume 6, Gale, 2002.
  9. ^ J.Conant, Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, 439–700, CUP, 2012, p. 83.
  10. ^ a b "Book of Saints – Pope Gelasius". CatholicSaints.Info. 2013-06-23. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  11. ^ "Internet History Sourcebooks Project". sourcebooks.fordham.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  12. ^ Gelasius I (2014). Neil, Bronwen; Allen, Pauline (eds.). The letters of Gelasius I (492-496) : pastor and micro-manager of the Church of Rome. Turnhout, Belgium. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-2-503-55299-6. OCLC 893407493.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ "Tertullian : F.C.Burkitt, Review of The decretum Gelasianum, Journal of Theological Studies 14 (1913) pp. 469-471". www.tertullian.org. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
  14. ^ Translation is based on Louise Ropes Loomis, The Book of the Popes (Liber pontificalis) I, New York, New York, USA, Columbia University Press, 1916, pp. 110-4
  15. ^ Quo Graviora, Leo XII, 1826

Literature

The primary source for the biography of Pope Saint Gelasius I, beside the Liber Pontificalis, is a vita that Cassiodorus' pupil Dionysius Exiguus authored.

  • Cohen, Samuel (2022). "Gelasius and the Ostrogoths: jurisdiction and religious community in late fifth‐century Italy". Early Medieval Europe. 30 (1): 20–44. doi:10.1111/emed.12519. ISSN 0963-9462.
  • Norman F. Cantor, Civilization of the Middle Ages.
  • Neil, Bronwen, and Allen, Pauline (eds. and trans.). The letters of Gelasius I (492-496) : pastor and micro-manager of the Church of Rome. Turnhout, Belgium. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-2-503-55299-6. OCLC 893407493.
  • Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908.
  • Rudolf Schieffer, Gelasius I, in Lexikon des Mittelalters, Bd. 4 (1989), Sp. 1197.
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1990). "Gelasius I". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 2. Hamm: Bautz. cols. 197–199. ISBN 3-88309-032-8.
  • Ullmann, W., Gelasius I. (492–496): Das Päpsttum an der Wende der Spätantike zum Mittelalter, Stuttgart, 1981.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: John F. X. Murphy (1909). "Pope St. Gelasius I". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gelasius I.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Pope
1 March 492 – 19 November 496 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pope_Gelasius_I&oldid=1111484037"