celibacy, clerical 163same time he printed the Confessio amantisby John
GOWER.MALORY’S Morte d’Arthur was issued by his
press in 1485. King Henry VII (r. 1485–1509) asked
Caxton to translate the Faits d’armes et de chevalrieof
CHRISTINEde PISAN, which he printed in 1489. His pro-
logues and epilogues were important for the comments
or his choice of texts to print and language standardiza-
tion. Many of Caxton’s other books were religious. One
of the most important of these was THEGOLDENLEG-
END,an enormous collection of legends of the saints.
He died in 1491 or 1492, leaving perhaps one child,
Elizabeth.
Further reading: Richard Deacon, A Biography of
William Caxton: The First English Editor, Printer, Merchant,
and Translator(London: Muller, 1976); N. F. Blake, Cax-
ton and His World(London: Deustch, 1969); N. F. Blake,
William Caxton and English Literary Culture (London:
Hambledon Press, 1991); Lotte Hellinga, Caxton in Focus:
The Beginning of Printing in England (London: British
Library, 1982).
Celestine V, Pope, Saint(Pietro da Merone, Morrone)
(ca. 1209/10–1296)and the Celestine order founder
of the Celestine order
Pietro da Morrone was born at Isernia in the Kingdom of
NAPLES in about 1209/10. He became a BENEDICTINE
monk in 1232 and chose to live as a HERMITon Monte
Morrone in the Abruzzi in central Italy. Small communi-
ties formed around him and were officially recognized in
1274 by Pope Gregory X (r. 1272–76) at the Second
Council of Lyon congregation. Called by some “the
angelic pope and pastor,” he was linked by some in
medieval apocalyptic literature as the person who would
inaugurate a new church and a world of perfect sanctity.
Elected as a compromise and elderly pope, Celestine V, he
held the papal office between July 5 and December 13,
1294, when he resigned and tried to live as a hermit. A
new pope, BONIFACEVIII, however, had him imprisoned.
He died on May 5, 1296, near Ferentino and was canon-
ized in 1313.
THE MYTHThese ideas about a saintly pope who would transform
the world appeared in the writings of JOACHIMof Fiore.
In his Book of the Harmony of the Old and New Testaments,
Joachim declares that, before the coming of ANTICHRIST,
preaching of a “universal pontiff of the new JERUSALEM”
would announce the coming of a new Christianity. Roger
BACONwrote of a pope whose holiness would unite all
the peoples of the world.
The election of the naive Celestine V in 1294, fol-
lowed by his strange abdication and the election of Boni-
face VIII, triggered polemics on him, Boniface, and the
subject of an angelic pope. Unlike Boniface, Celestine
was held to be holy and austere. The figure of such an
angelic pope contrasted with that of a pope whom some
called the Antichrist.THE ORDER
The name of the Order of Celestines is from its founder,
Saint Peter da Morrone, who, as Celestine V, established
the constitution of the Celestines. They followed the Rule
of Saint Benedict, to which they added periods of prayer,
fasting, and harsh mortifications. The ordinary habit was
a white tunic and a black cowl and scapular. The abbot
general, elected every three years by a general chapter, sat
at Morrone.
The order expanded throughout ITA LYand was intro-
duced into FRANCEin 1300 by PHILIPIV THEFAIR, who
obtained canonization of its founder from Pope CLEMENT
V, the first AVIGNONPope. At the start of the 15th cen-
tury, the orders numbered almost 120 houses in Italy and
France.
See alsoSPIRITUALFRANCISCANS.
Further reading:Peter Herde, “Celestine V” in The
Papacy: An Encyclopedia,ed Philippe Levallain (London,
Routledge, 2002), 1. 279–83; André Vauchez, Sainthood
in the Latter Middle Ages,trans. Jean Birrell (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997).celibacy, clerical The Eastern and Western Churches
have often been divided about the absolute need for the
clergy to live a celibate life. The rules for both traditions
evolved over the course of the Middle Ages. There has,
however, been a strong ascetic streak in Christianity that
expected abstinence from hetero- and homosexual activ-
ity, for both priests and the laity. Families and dynasties
of clerics threatened the institutional fabric of the church
by confusing ownership of and succession to property.
However, in the early church there was minimal concern
about the marriage of priest and bishops. The earliest
councils did not forbid links with women, and many
bishops and priests had a wife who was recognized and
accepted by the community. With the rise and spread
of MONASTICISM in the sixth century, however, those
choosing the ascetic life were to be celibate. In Judaism
marriage was a commandment and celibacy deplored. No
known medieval rabbi was unmarried.EASTERN CHURCH
In 528 the Emperor JUSTINIANI ruled that bishops could
not be married, because he thought that their property
should be kept by the church rather than be inherited by
their families. One hundred fifty years later, a council in
692 legislated that bishops were obligated to be celibate
and that widowers were eligible for the episcopacy. A
married priest, if elected a bishop, had to send his wife
away permanently to accept the position. Married men
could be ordained priests or deacons, but they could not
marry after ordination. If widowed, a priest could not