Pope St. Celestine I

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

Nothing isknown of his early history except that he was a Roman and that hisfather's name was Priscus. He is said to have lived for a time atMilan withSt. Ambrose; the first notice, however, concerning him that is known is in a document of St. Innocent I, in the year 416, where he is spoken of as Celestine the Deacon. In 418St. Augustine wrote to him (Epist., lxii) in very reverential language. He succeeded St. Boniface I aspope, 10 Sept., 422 (according toTillemont, though theBollandists say 3 Nov.), and died 26 July, 432, having reigned nine years, ten months, and sixteen days. In spite of the troublous times atRome, he was elected without any opposition, as is learned from a letter ofSt. Augustine (Epist., cclxi), written to him shortly after his elevation, in which the great doctor begs his assistance in composing his difficulties with Antonius,Bishop of Fessula inAfrica. A strong friendship seems to have existed between Celestine andAugustine, and after the death of the latter in 430, Celestine wrote a long letter to thebishops of Gaul on thesanctity, learning andzeal 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. Though his lot was cast in stormy times, for theManichæans,Donatists, Noviatians, andPelagians were troubling the peace of theChurch, while the barbarian hordes were beginning their inroads into the heart of the empire, Celestine's firm but gentle character enabled him to meet successfully all the exigencies of his position. We see him everywhere upholding therights of theChurch and the dignity of his office. In this he was aided by Placidia, who, in the name of her youthful son,Valentinian III, banished fromRome theManichæans and otherheretics who were disturbing the peace. Celestine not only excluded Coelestius, the companion and chief disciple ofPelagius, fromItaly, but procured the further condemnation of thesect from the Council of Ephesus, while through his instrumentalitySt. Germanus of Auxerre and St. Lupus ofTroyes, who had been sent to Britain in 429, the native land ofPelagius, by the Gallicbishops, succeeded in extirpating theerror from its native soil.

A firm upholder of the ancient canons, we find Celestine writing to thebishops ofIllyria, bidding them observe the canons and their old allegiance to theBishop ofThessalonica, thepapal vicar, without whom they are not toconsecrate anybishop or hold any council. He also writes to the Bishops of Vienne and Narbonne, whom he warns to keep the ancient canons, and, in accordance with the warning of his predecessor, to resist the pretensions of the See of Arles. Moreover they must not refuse to admit to penance those who desire it at the moment of death;bishops, too, must not dress asmonks, and severe action is to be taken against a certain Daniel, amonk from the Orient who had been the cause of serious disorders in theChurch of Gaul. To the Bishops of Apulia and Calabria he writes that theclergy must not remainignorant of the canons, neither are thelaity to be advanced to the episcopate over the heads of theclergy, nor is the popular will, no matter how strong, to be humoured in this matter —populus docendus non sequendus. Moreover he threatens severe penalties for future transgressors. In upholding therights of theRoman Church to hear and decide appeals from all quarters, he came for a time into conflict with the great Church of Africa (see Apiarius). The Africanbishops, however, through manifesting some warmth, never called into question the Divine supremacy of theHoly See, their very language and actions expressed its fullest recognition; their complaints were directed rather against the sometimes indiscreet use of thepapal prerogative. The last years of the pontificate of Celestine were taken up with the struggle in the East over theheresy of Nestorius (see Nestorius;Cyril of Alexandria; Ephesus, Council of). Nestorius who had becomeBishop of Constantinople in 428 at first gave great satisfaction, as we learn from a letter addressed to him by Celestine. He soon aroused suspicions of hisorthodoxy by receiving kindly thePelagians banished fromRome by thepope, and shortly after, rumours of hisheretical teaching concerning the twofoldpersonality of Christ reachingRome, Celestine commissioned Cyril,Bishop of Alexandria, to investigate and make a report. Cyril having found Nestorius openly professing hisheresy sent a full account to Celestine, who in a Roman synod (430), having solemnly condemned theerrors of Nestorius, now ordered Cyril in his name to proceed against Nestorius, who was to beexcommunicated and deposed unless within ten days he should have made in writing a solemn retractation of hiserrors. In letters written the same day to Nestorius, to theclergy and people of Constantinople, and toJohn of Antioch, Juvenal ofJerusalem, Rufus ofThessalonica, and Flavian ofPhilippi, Celestine announces the sentence passed upon Nestorius and the commission given to Cyril to execute it. At the same time he restored all who had beenexcommunicated or deprived by Nestorius. Cyril forwarded thepapal sentence and his ownanathema to Nestorius. The emperor now summoned ageneral council to meet at Ephesus. To this council Celestine sent aslegates, Arcadius, and Projectus,bishops, and Philippus, apriest, who were to act in conjunction with Cyril. However, they were not to mix in discussion but were to judge the opinions of the others. Celestine in all his letters assumes his own decision as final, Cyril and the council, "compelled by the sacred canons and the letters of Our Most Holy Father, Celestine,Bishop of theRoman Church."

The last official act of Celestine, the sending ofSt. Patrick toIreland, perhaps surpasses all the rest in its far-reaching consequences for good. He had already sent (431)Palladius asbishop to the "Scots [i.e.Irish]believing in Christ." ButPalladius son abandonedIreland and died the year following in Britain.St. Patrick, who had previously been refused, now received the long-coveted commission only a few days before the death of Celestine, who thus becomes a sharer in the conversion of the race that in the next few centuries was to accomplish such vast works by its countless missionaries and scholars in the conversion and civilization of the barbarian world. In the local affairs of theRoman Church, Celestine manifested greatzeal. He restored and embellished the church ofSanta Maria in Trastevere, which had suffered from the Gothic pillage ofRome, also the church ofSt. Sabina, besides decorating the Cemetery of St. Priscilla withpaintings of the Council Ephesus. The precisedate of his death is uncertain. Hisfeast is kept in theLatin Church on 6 April, the day on which his body was placed in theCatacombs of St. Priscilla whence it was transferred in 820 by Pope St. Paschal I to the church of Sta Prassede, though thecathedral ofMantua likewise claims hisrelics. In theGreek Church where he is highlyhonoured for his condemnation of Nestorius, his feast falls on 8 April.

The extant writings of St. Celestine consist of sixteen letters, the contents of many of which have been indicated above, and a fragment of a discourse onNestorianism delivered in the Roman Synod of 430. The "Capitula Coelestini", the ten decisions on the subject of grace which have played such a part in the history ofAugustinianism, are no longer attributed to his authorship. For centuries they were affixed as an integral part to his letter to the Bishops of Gaul, but at present are considered as most probably the work ofSt. Prosper of Aquitaine. Anastasius Bibliothecarius attributes to him several other constitutions but with little authority. Doubtful also is the statement of the"Liber Pontificalis" that Celestine added theIntroit to the Mass.

CONTACT US |ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT