Holy Man of the Abruzzi and the Limitations of Papal Power

Celestino V (Pietro Del Morrone) 1294: Il Papa Angelico. By Peter Herde, edited by Quirino Salomone, translated by Anna Maria Voci. (L'Aquila: Edizioni Celestiniane. 2004. Pp. vii, 373, with color photographs 16 pp.)

The translator, Anna Maria Voci, presents us with a precise and very readable Italian text of Peter Herde's biography of Peter of Morrone.¹ The footnotes are expanded where necessary, in order to provide the reader with the latest scholarly information,² while the insertion of new data into the text is minimal and infrequent. The brief introduction has been rewritten with the same intent in mind. Since this edition focuses on the Italian reader, the Latin index and the Latin Vita or Texte remanié of the Bollandists of the German edition are not included.³

This biography is essential reading for the uninitiated. Although the author's picture of Celestine V seems to submerge him at times in ideas and politics, the pope's reaction to this world, namely, his hesitancy to assume the papal office and his persistence in continuing his hermit ways while in office, points to the singularity of his character. Since the author deals in great detail with Peter's election and pontificate, I shall conclude with these matters and refer the reader especially to two reviews for further commentary on ideas and politics.⁴

Peter of Morrone, the second youngest child of humble peasants in the village of S. Angelo Limosano in the Molise region, entered the Benedictine order at S. Maria di Faifula in 1230. As the final battle between Pope Gregory IX and Emperor Frederick II was taking shape in the years 1235–1240, Monte Morrone became his refuge from the world. Shortly thereafter he founded a hermitage on a neighboring mountain at S. Spirito a Maiella. In a document of 1268, Pope Clement IV urged the faithful of the dioceses of Valva-Sulmona, Chieti, and (S. Benedetto dei Marsi) to support the construction of a church at S. Maria del Morrone and granted them an indulgence of one hundred days for three years if they did so.

Peter's adherence to poverty and his contact with several Spiritual Franciscans, dating sometime after 1270, should not lead us astray about the nature of his growing hermit community. It did not burst the bounds of solid orthodoxy; thus, the founding of S. Spirito a Maiella and of the chief monastery, S. Spirito at Sulmona, should be seen primarily as expressions of contemporary religious ideals.

In 1264 his band of hermits was incorporated into the Benedictine order, but legal uncertainties about its status led Peter to go on foot with two companions to the Second Council of Lyons, in order to eliminate them.⁵ In 1289 he obtained a church in Rome, S. Eusebio, not far from S. Maria Maggiore. Peter took over the abbey of S. Maria di Faifula in 1276, and an inscription there indicates work on its church under Peter as abbot. In 1291 he was general prior of his congregation. The Celestines adopted the term pater abbas for their general abbot or general prior, an office known since 1287, from the Cistercians with one difference: the pater abbas served a three-year term with re-election possible, whereas the Cistercian general abbot served for life.

Peter's energy and commitment to his congregation knew no bounds. He was the guiding spirit in shaping its constitution and liturgy, and in implementing discipline. Donations accrued, the first in 1252, and powerful patrons such as Charles I of Anjou and his son Charles II gave as well.⁶ Thus, Peter laid the foundation for the longevity of the Celestines which would survive into the early Napoleonic era.⁷

Upon his election as pope (July 5, 1294), which was a genuine election of inspiration, the question arose whether he should go to Rome. The Angevin king Charles...