This Day in History: Dec 13

What happened this day in history? Well, the first thing Wikipedia alerted me to was the abdication of the papacy by Celestine V in 1294. This is actually a pretty cool story that I read up on in my pope books. After the previous pope died, there was a two-year stalemate in deciding upon a new pope. There was this guy, Peter, who was out living like a hermit in an order known for its very strict lifestyle. He wrote a letter to the electors and said, hey, please settle this thing for the good of the Catholic church. The electors, needing a compromise candidate, said, hey, about this hermit Peter? And so hermit Peter became Celestine V.

Celestine V wasn't too thrilled about becoming Pope, because he would have rather kept up his hermit lifestyle, punishing himself in penance to God. And no one in church leadership, once they got a good look at Celestine, was too excited either -- one book talks about how the man was basically illiterate and how every other word he said was something ridiculous and slightly vulgar. Perhaps to give him something to perform penance for later, I presume. But the election of Celestine V got all these little factions of hermits excited, because they wanted him to reform the church so that everyone was a penitential hermit.

Celestine V decided to keep living the life of a hermit, even within the public office of the papacy, so he lived in a little cell and gave day-to-day responsibility to a few cardinals. Despite his self-induced solitude, Celestine V did manage to pass a couple of rules, one of which was that a pope had the right to abdicate the office of Pope. Very convenient, Celestine V. After that rule was put into place, Celestine V decided to take advantage of it himself, and he gave this big speech where he announced his resignation; as he talked, he stripped off his papal clothing. Then, legend has it, or as I am making up right now, he ran naked to the woods to continue being a hermit.

Now, while he may not have run naked back to his hermit lifestyle, that was Priority Numero Uno for Celestine. Unfortunately, the next pope, Boniface VIII, was a little worried about an ex-Pope living like a hermit out in the wilderness. He figured that everyone who was inspired by Celestine V's brief reign would seek him out and make him a cult figure of sorts, which could represent real problems for the legitimacy of Boniface VIII. So Bonny 8 sent some goons out to get Celestine, and he kept him imprisoned for the rest of his natural life. Now, Celestine was up in years, about 90 or so, so it's reasonable to assume that Celestine died of natural causes. But rumors persist that Boniface actually starved him to death, or even shot him. It is a mystery for the ages. But because Boniface had such a rocky reign, with many conflicts with the French king, people think it could be possible.

Dante sent Boniface to hell in The Divine Comedy, and unfortunately, Celestine, despite his pious hermetical ways, is depicted as standing right outside hell, because Dante figured if that Celestine had not abdicated (which, as a reminder, happened on this day in history in 1294), then Boniface VIII would never have become pope. Perhaps the lesson here is never quit your job, because the person who gets it next might imprison you and possibly kill you, and despite whatever good you tried to do while as a hermit, you're still going to be forever remembered in literature as standing near hell. Remember that the next time you're about to quit something.