Thursday, May 19, 2011

A Saint you may not know



Today is the feast of Pope St. Peter Celestine V, who was elected Pope on July 5, 1296 but abdicated five months later, the only Pope to do so.  Celestine V is believed to be the nameless figure in the antechamber of Hell referenced by Dante in these lines from "Inferno:"

I saw and recognized the shade of him
Who by his cowardice made the great refusal.
Inferno III, 59–60
Pope St. Peter Celestine V's full story here.

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