Pope Gelasius I

Pope Saint Gelasius I
Papacy began	1 March 492
Papacy ended	19 November 496
Predecessor	Felix III
Successor	Anastasius II
Personal details
Birth name	Gelasius
Born	Unknown date Roman Africa or Rome[1]
Died	19 November 496(496-11-19) Rome, Ostrogothic Kingdom
Sainthood
Feast day	21 November[2]
Other popes named Gelasius

Papal styles of Pope Gelasius I
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Pope Gelasius I (died 19 November 496) was Pope from 1 March 492 to his death in 496.^[2] He was probably the third and last Bishop of Rome of North African origin in the Catholic Church. Gelasius was a prolific writer whose style placed him on the cusp between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.^[3] Gelasius had been closely employed by his predecessor Felix III, especially in drafting papal documents. His ministry was characterized by a call for strict orthodoxy, a more assertive push for papal authority, and increasing tension between the churches in the West and the East.

Place of birth

There is some dispute 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 called himself "born a Roman" (Romanus natus).^[4] The latter assertion probably just means that he was born in Roman Africa before it was overrun by the Vandals.^[5]

Acacian schism

Gelasius' election on 1 March 492 was a gesture for continuity: Gelasius inherited Felix's struggles with Eastern Roman Emperor Anastasius and the patriarch of Constantinople and exacerbated them by insisting on the removal of the name of the late Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, from the diptychs, in spite of every ecumenical gesture by the current, otherwise quite orthodox 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 point of view, because they had embraced a view of a single, Divine ("Monophysite") nature of Christ, which was a Christian heresy according to the Church of Rome. Gelasius' book De duabus in Christo naturis ("On the dual nature of Christ") delineated the Western view. Thus Gelasius, for all the conservative Latinity of his writing style, stood on the cusp of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.^[3]

During the Acacian schism, Gelasius affirmed the primacy of Rome over the entire Church, East and West, and he presented this doctrine in terms that set the model for subsequent popes asserting the claims of papal supremacy, due to the succession of the Roman Popes from the Apostle Peter.

In 494, Gelasius wrote a very influential letter, known as Duo sunt, to Anastasius on the topic of Church-State relations, whose political impact was felt for almost a millennium.^[6]

Suppression of pagan rites and heretics

Closer to home, Gelasius finally suppressed the ancient Roman festival of the Lupercalia after a long contest. Gelasius' letter to Andromachus, the senator, covers the main lines of the controversy and incidentally offers some details of this festival combining fertility and purification that might have been lost otherwise. Significantly, this festival of purification, which had given its name— dies februatus, from februare, "to purify"— to the month of February, was replaced with a Christian festival celebrating the purification of the Virgin Mary instead: Candlemas, observed forty days after Christmas, on 2 February.

After a brief but dynamic ministry, he died on 19 November 496. His feast day is kept on 21 November, the anniversary of his interment, not his death.^[2]

Writings

Gelasius was the most prolific writer of the early Roman bishops. A great mass of correspondence of Gelasius has survived: forty-two letters according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, thirty-seven according to Father Bagan^[7] and fragments of forty-nine others, carefully archived in the Vatican, expounding to Eastern bishops the primacy of the see of Rome. Additionally, there are extant six treatises that carry the name of Gelasius. According to Cassiodorus, the reputation of Gelasius attracted to his name other works not by him.

Decretum Gelasianum

The most famous of pseudo-Gelasian works is the list de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis (lit., "of books received and not received"), the so-called Decretum Gelasianum, which is believed to be connected to the pressures 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 fixing of the canon of scripture has traditionally been attributed to Gelasius.^[8]

Gelasian Sacramentary

In the Catholic tradition, the so-called Gelasian Sacramentary, actually the Liber sacramentorum Romanae ecclesiae ("Book of Sacraments of the Church of Rome") is a book of liturgy that was actually composed in Merovingian times. An old tradition linked the book to Pope Gelasius, apparently based on Walafrid Strabo's ascription to him of what is evidently this book. Most of its liturgy reflects the mix of Roman and Gallican practice inherited from the Merovingian church.

Notes

References

The main source for the life of Gelasius, aside from Liber Pontificalis, is a vita written by Cassiodorus' pupil Dionysius Exiguus.

• Norman F. Cantor, Civilization of the Middle Ages.
• Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gelasius I.

• Duo sunt: introduction and text in English
• Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia latina with analytical indexes
• Fontes Latinae de papis usque ad annum 530 (Papa Felix IV)
• Liber pontificalis
• Decretum Gelasianum: De Libris Recipiendis et Non Recipiendis

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Felix III	Pope 1 March 492 – 19 November 496	Succeeded by Anastasius II

Popes of the Catholic Church List of popes canonised Tombs extant non-extant Antipope Pope emeritus Papal resignation Pope-elect 1st–4th centuries 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 5th–8th centuries Innocent I Zosimus Boniface I Celestine I Sixtus III Leo I Hilarius Simplicius Felix III Gelasius I Anastasius II Symmachus Hormisdas John I Felix IV Boniface II John II Agapetus I Silverius Vigilius Pelagius I John III Benedict I Pelagius II Gregory I Sabinian Boniface III Boniface IV Adeodatus I Boniface V Honorius I Severinus John IV Theodore I Martin I Eugene I Vitalian Adeodatus II Donus Agatho Leo II Benedict II John V Conon Sergius I John VI John VII Sisinnius Constantine Gregory II Gregory III Zachary Stephen II Paul I Stephen III Adrian I Leo III 9th–12th centuries Stephen IV Paschal I Eugene II Valentine Gregory IV Sergius II Leo IV Benedict III Nicholas I Adrian II John VIII Marinus I Adrian III Stephen V Formosus Boniface VI Stephen VI Romanus Theodore II John IX Benedict IV Leo V Sergius III Anastasius III Lando John X Leo VI Stephen VII John XI Leo VII Stephen VIII Marinus II Agapetus II John XII Benedict V Leo VIII John XIII Benedict VI Benedict VII John XIV John XV Gregory V Sylvester II John XVII John XVIII Sergius IV Benedict VIII John XIX Benedict IX Sylvester III Benedict IX Gregory VI Clement II Benedict IX Damasus II Leo IX Victor II Stephen IX Nicholas II Alexander II Gregory VII Victor III Urban II Paschal II Gelasius II Callixtus II Honorius II Innocent II Celestine II Lucius II Eugene III Anastasius IV Adrian IV Alexander III Lucius III Urban III Gregory VIII Clement III Celestine III Innocent III 13th–16th centuries 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 17th–20th centuries Leo XI Paul V Gregory XV Urban VIII Innocent X Alexander VII Clement IX Clement X Innocent XI Alexander VIII Innocent XII Clement XI Innocent XIII Benedict XIII Clement XII Benedict XIV Clement XIII Clement XIV Pius VI Pius VII Leo XII Pius VIII Gregory XVI Pius IX Leo XIII Pius X Benedict XV Pius XI Pius XII John XXIII Paul VI John Paul I John Paul II 21st century Benedict XVI Francis Book Category Pope portal Catholicism portal

Catholic Church Organizations, papacy, teachings and liturgical traditions History Jesus Twelve Apostles Early Christianity History of the papacy Ecumenical Councils Missions Great Schism of East Crusades Great Schism of West Protestant Reformation Counter-Reformation Catholic Church by country Vatican City index Hierarchy Pope Cardinals Patriarchs Major Archbishops Primates Metropolitans Archbishops Diocesan Bishops Coadjutor Bishops Auxiliary Bishops Titular Bishops Bishops Emeriti Theology Body and Soul Divine Grace Dogma One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church Original sin Salvation Sermon on the Mount The Ten Commandments Trinity Worship Sacraments Anointing of the Sick Baptism Confirmation Eucharist Holy Orders Matrimony Penance Mariology Roman Catholic Mariology Assumption History of Mariology Immaculate Conception Mariology of the popes Mariology of the saints Mother of God Perpetual Virginity Veneration Doctors of the Church Gregory the Great Ambrose Augustine of Hippo Jerome John Chrysostom Basil of Caesarea Gregory of Nazianzus Athanasius of Alexandria Cyril of Alexandria Cyril of Jerusalem John of Damascus Bede the Venerable Ephrem the Syrian Thomas Aquinas Bonaventure Anselm of Canterbury Isidore of Seville Peter Chrysologus Leo the Great Peter Damian Bernard of Clairvaux Hilary of Poitiers Alphonsus Liguori Francis de Sales Peter Canisius John of the Cross Robert Bellarmine Albertus Magnus Anthony of Padua Lawrence of Brindisi Teresa of Ávila Catherine of Siena Thérèse of Lisieux John of Ávila Hildegard of Bingen Gregory of Narek Pope Francis Conclave Inauguration Theology Canonizations Visits Preceding popes Pope Benedict XVI Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul I Pope Paul VI Pope John XXIII Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XI Pope Benedict XV Pope Pius X Pope Leo XIII Religious institutes and similar Assumptionists Augustinians Benedictines Capuchin Order Carmelites Carthusians Congregations of Holy Cross Dominican Order Franciscan orders Jesuits Oratory of Saint Philip Neri Vatican II Definition of the Church Dei verbum Gaudium et spes Lumen gentium Nostra aetate Sacrosanctum Concilium Particular Churches and liturgical rites Alexandrian Coptic Ethiopic Eritrean Ethiopian Antiochian Maronite Syriac Syro-Malankara Armenian Armenian Byzantine Albanian Belarusian Bulgarian Croatian Greek Hungarian Italo-Albanian Macedonian Melkite Romanian Russian Ruthenian Slovak Ukrainian East Syrian Chaldean Syro-Malabar Latin Roman Anglican Use Sarum Ambrosian Mozarabic Catholicism portal Pope portal

History of the Catholic Church General History of the Catholic Church History of Christianity History of the Papacy History of the Roman Curia Timeline of the Catholic Church Art in Roman Catholicism Catholic Ecumenical Councils Catholic religious institutes Christian monasticism Papal States Role of the Christian Church in civilization Church beginnings Jesus Twelve Apostles Saint Peter Paul the Apostle Saint Stephen John the Apostle Great Commission Council of Jerusalem Apostolic Age Apostolic Fathers Ignatius of Antioch Irenaeus Pope Victor I Tertullian Constantine to Pope Gregory I Constantine the Great and Christianity Arianism Archbasilica of St. John Lateran First Council of Nicaea Pope Sylvester I First Council of Constantinople Biblical canon Jerome Vulgate First Council of Ephesus Council of Chalcedon Benedict of Nursia Second Council of Constantinople Pope Gregory I Gregorian chant Early Middle Ages Third Council of Constantinople Saint Boniface Byzantine Iconoclasm Second Council of Nicaea Charlemagne Pope Leo III Fourth Council of Constantinople East–West Schism High Middle Ages Pope Urban II Investiture Controversy Crusades First Council of the Lateran Second Council of the Lateran Third Council of the Lateran Pope Innocent III Latin Empire Francis of Assisi Fourth Council of the Lateran Inquisition First Council of Lyon Second Council of Lyon Bernard of Clairvaux Thomas Aquinas Late Middle Ages Pope Boniface VIII Avignon Papacy Pope Clement V Council of Vienne Knights Templar Catherine of Siena Pope Alexander VI Protestant Reformation Counter-Reformation Protestant Reformation Counter-Reformation Thomas More Pope Leo X Society of Jesus Ignatius of Loyola Francis Xavier Dissolution of the Monasteries Council of Trent Pope Pius V Tridentine Mass Teresa of Ávila John of the Cross Philip Neri Robert Bellarmine Baroque Period to the French Revolution Pope Innocent XI Pope Benedict XIV Suppression of the Society of Jesus Anti-clericalism Pope Pius VI Shimabara Rebellion Edict of Nantes Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution 19th century Pope Pius VII Pope Pius IX Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary Our Lady of La Salette Our Lady of Lourdes First Vatican Council Papal infallibility Pope Leo XIII Mary of the Divine Heart Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart Rerum novarum 20th century Pope Pius X Our Lady of Fátima Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Lateran Treaty Pope John XXIII Second Vatican Council Pope Paul VI Pope John Paul I Pope John Paul II World Youth Day 1995 2000 21st century Catholic Church sexual abuse cases Pope Benedict XVI World Youth Day 2002 2005 2008 2011 2013 Pope Francis By country or region Brazil Cuba France Germany Hispano-America Ireland Italy Japan Mexico Portugal Spain United States Vatican City Venezuela Catholicism Portal Pope Portal

Authority control WorldCat VIAF: 97840099 LCCN: n82133707 GND: 118538292