Pope Celestine I

Pope Saint Celestine I
Papacy began	10 September 422
Papacy ended	26 July 432
Predecessor	Boniface I
Successor	Sixtus III
Personal details
Birth name	Celestine
Born	Rome, Western Roman Empire
Died	26 July 432
Sainthood
Feast day	6 April (Roman Catholic) 8 April (Greek Orthodox)
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Greek Orthodox Church Coptic Orthodox Church
Attributes	Dove Dragon Flame
Other popes named Celestine

Papal styles of Pope Celestine I
Reference style	Our Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Pope Celestine I (Latin: Caelestinus I; died 26 July 432) was Pope from 10 September 422 to his death in 432.^[1] According to the Liber Pontificalis, the start of his papacy was 3 November.^[2] However, Tillemont places the date at 10 September.^[3]

Biography

Celestine I was a Roman from the region of Campania.^[2] Nothing is known of his early history except that his father's name was Priscus. He is said to have lived for a time at Milan with St. Ambrose. The first known record of him is in a document of Pope Innocent I from the year 416, where he is spoken of as "Celestine the Deacon".^[1]

Various portions of the liturgy are attributed to him, but without any certainty on the subject. Though he did not attend personally, he sent delegates to the First Council of Ephesus of 431, in which the Nestorians were condemned. Four letters written by him on that occasion, all dated 15 March 431, together with a few others, to the African bishops, to those of Illyria, of Thessalonica, and of Narbonne, are extant in re-translations from the Greek; the Latin originals having been lost.

St. Celestine actively condemned the Pelagians and was zealous for Roman orthodoxy. He sent Palladius to Ireland to serve as a bishop in 431. Bishop Patricius (Saint Patrick) continued this missionary work. Pope Celestine strongly opposed the Novatians in Rome; as Socrates Scholasticus writes, "this Celestinus took away the churches from the Novatians at Rome also, and obliged Rusticula their bishop to hold his meetings secretly in private houses."^[4] He was zealous in refusing to tolerate the smallest innovation on the constitutions of his predecessors. As St. Vincent of Lerins reported in 434:

Holy Pope Celestine also expresses himself in like manner and to the same effect. For in the Epistle which he wrote to the priests of Gaul, charging them with connivance with error, in that by their silence they failed in their duty to the ancient faith, and allowed profane novelties to spring up, he says: "We are deservedly to blame if we encourage error by silence. Therefore rebuke these people. Restrain their liberty of preaching."^[5]

St. Celestine died on 26 July 432. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Priscilla in the Via Salaria, but his body, subsequently moved, now lies in the Basilica di Santa Prassede.

In art, Saint Celestine is portrayed as a Pope with a dove, dragon, and flame, and is recognized by the Church as a saint.

See also

• List of popes
• List of Catholic saints

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Coelestinus I.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Celestine (popes).

• Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes
• Saint Celestine I

Popes of the Catholic Church
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1st–4th centuries During the Roman Empire (until 493) including under Constantine (312–337)	Peter Linus Anacletus Clement I Evaristus Alexander I Sixtus I Telesphorus Hyginus Pius I Anicetus Soter Eleuterus Victor I Zephyrinus Callixtus I Urban I Pontian Anterus Fabian Cornelius Lucius I Stephen I Sixtus II Dionysius Felix I Eutychian Caius Marcellinus Marcellus I Eusebius Miltiades Sylvester I Mark Julius I Liberius Damasus I Siricius Anastasius I
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13th–16th centuries Viterbo (1257–1281) Orvieto (1262–1297) Perugia (1228–1304) Avignon Papacy (1309–1378) Western Schism (1378–1417) Renaissance Papacy (1417–1534) Reformation Papacy (1534–1585) Baroque Papacy (1585–1689)	Honorius III Gregory IX Celestine IV Innocent IV Alexander IV Urban IV Clement IV Gregory X Innocent V Adrian V John XXI Nicholas III Martin IV Honorius IV Nicholas IV Celestine V Boniface VIII Benedict XI Clement V John XXII Benedict XII Clement VI Innocent VI Urban V Gregory XI Urban VI Boniface IX Innocent VII Gregory XII Martin V Eugene IV Nicholas V Callixtus III Pius II Paul II Sixtus IV Innocent VIII Alexander VI Pius III Julius II Leo X Adrian VI Clement VII Paul III Julius III Marcellus II Paul IV Pius IV Pius V Gregory XIII Sixtus V Urban VII Gregory XIV Innocent IX Clement VIII
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21st century	Benedict XVI Francis
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