Pope Gelasius I
| Pope Saint Gelasius I | |
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| 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 Rome, Ostrogothic Kingdom |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 21 November[2] |
| Papal styles of Pope Gelasius I |
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| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | Saint |
Pope Gelasius I (Latin: Gelasius PP. I, Italian: Gelasio I; died 19 November 496) was pope from 1 March 492 to 19 November 496.[2] He was the third and last Bishop of Rome of Berber North African origin[3] in the Catholic Church. Gelasius was a prolific writer whose style placed him on the cusp between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.[4] 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.
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Acacian schism [edit]
Gelasius' election on 1 March 492 was a gesture for continuity: Gelasius inherited Felix's struggles with Eastern Roman Emperor Anastasius I 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. 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.[4]
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.[citation needed]
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.[5]
Suppression of pagan rites and heretics [edit]
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]
Natione Afer [edit]
Some have asserted that Gelasius was a black African by descent, because the Liber Pontificalis plainly states that he was natione Afer ('African by birth'). This however makes it unlikely that he was black, because Africa in Latin is only the northern part of the continent, and is contrasted with "black Africa", then called Aethiopia. Consequently, black Africans were generally referred to in Latin as Aethiopes. Gelasius' own statement in a letter that he is Romanus natus (Roman-born) is certainly not inconsistent; however anthropologist like Shomarka Keita believe that the North African population was just as indigenous to Africa as those from Sub-Saharan Africa and the two groups show genetic links, so to separate North Africans from Sub-Saharan Africans is misleading.[6]
Writings [edit]
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. There are extant besides 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 [edit]
The most famous of pseudo-Gelasian works is the list de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis ("books to be received and not to be 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] and a non-historical Roman synod of 494 has been invented as the supposed occasion.
Gelasian Sacramentary [edit]
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 [edit]
- ^ Browne, M. (1998). "The Three African Popes.". The Western Journal of Black Studies 22 (1): 57–58. Retrieved 2008-04-10.
- ^ a b c
"Pope St. Gelasius I". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. - ^ "According to the Liber Pontificalis, three popes—Pope St Victor I (ca186-198), Pope St Miltiades (311-14), and Pope St Gelasius (492-496)—were Africans. The Liber Pontificalis is composed of a series of biographical entries, which record the dates and important facts for each pope. It is the oldest and most detailed chronicle dating from the Early Church. The Liber Pontificalis is dated from the sixth century. The record of names begins with St Peter. As the work progressed the entries became longer and more detailed. The Liber Pontificalis continued to be written until 1431.
"The African popes in question are said to have come from the North African area that is present-day Algeria, Mauretania, Numidia, and Tunisia. Historians name this area the maghreb. Today it is mostly Muslim. The indigenous people of North Africa are Berbers, brown skinned as among the Tuaregs and Algerians." http://www.nbccongress.org/black-catholics/african-popes.asp - ^ 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.
- ^ Medieval Sourcebook: Gelasius I on Spiritual and Temporal Power
- ^ USAfricaonline.com | The Papacy and Africa | Chido
- ^ Rev. Philip V. Bagan, The Syntax of the Letters of Pope Gelasius I (Catholic University Press) 1945.
- ^ F.C.Burkitt, Review of The decretum Gelasianum", Journal of Theological Studies, 14 (1913) pp. 469–471 (Online copy at Tertullian.com)
References [edit]
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 [edit]
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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 | ||
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| Preceded by Felix III |
Pope 1 March 492 – 19 November 496 |
Succeeded by Anastasius II |
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