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Caelestinus, probably a presbyter in Italy, is demoted and excommunicated for a year for being an accessory to the murder of his bishop and relative; he is to be given the lay communion after a year. Gelasius I, Letter 38, Rome, AD 492/496.
Letter 38
 
Gelasius Philippo et Cassiodoro.
Coelestini causa talis est, quam vos quoque non arbitror ignorare. Siquidem hic conscius convictus in caede parentis et episcopi, quemadmodum gestorum tenore monstratur, cunctorum judicio nullatenus aestimatus est officio dignus altaris, eique pro tam detestando facinore unius anni interdicta communio est, quatenus poenitudine competenti tanti facinori curaret abruptum. Quod etiamsi a nobis minime juberetur, ipse magis cogitans divini corporis sacramentum, debuit ad hoc menter purgatiori remeare. Quod tempus tamen aut expletum aut prope jam putamus exactum. Post quod ei communione facultatem patere non dubium est, ut et sententia synodalis possit abrumpi, et ut illi magis prosit, valeat majori satisfactione mundari.
 
(ed. Thiel 1868: 452)
 
Letter 38
 
Gelasius to Philip and Cassiodorus.
The case of Caelestinus is such that I do not reckon you do not know about it too. If indeed he has been found guilty of being accessory to the murder of his relative and bishop, as far as is shown by the contents of the proceedings, by the judgement of all he is in no way considered worthy of his office of the altar, and communion is forbidden to him for one year because of such a hateful crime, insofar as, by performing appropriate penance, he attends to the steep descent pertaining to a crime of such magnitude. But even if he were not ordered in the least to do so by us, with greater consideration for the sacrament of the divine body he should have come back to it with greater consideration for the sacrament of the divine body he should have come back to it with a mind that has been cleansed. We now think, however, that the period of penance is either complete or almost concluded. After that, there is no doubt that the faculty of communion lies open to him, so that both the verdict of the synod can be left off and it be of more benefit to him, let him be able to be made clean by making greater amends.
 
(trans. Neil – Allen 2014: 189-190, slightly altered)

Discussion:

Caelestinus is described as a presbyter by Thiel. It is not stated explicitly in the text of the letter, but it is the most probable interpretation of the "office of the altar" mentioned in it.
The events may have taken place somewhere in Central Italy, because Philip, one of the bishops charged by Gelasius with the case, was the bishop of Numana in Picenum, near Ancona (see PCBE Italie 2: Philippus 3).
The case is unrelated to another Caelestinus [917], mentioned in [2011].

Place of event:

Region
  • Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia

About the source:

Author: Gelasius I
Title: Epistulae, Letters
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Gelasius I was the bishop of Rome between AD 492 and 496.
Edition:
Thiel A. ed., Epistulae Romanorum pontificum genuinae et quae ad eos scriptae sunt a S. Hilario usque ad Pelagium II, 1, Braunsberg 1868, 287-510.
 
Translation:
B. Neil, P. Allen edd.,  The Letters of Gelasius I (492-496): Pastor and Micro-Manager of the Church of Rome, Turnhout 2014.
Bibliography:
B. Neil, P. Allen edd.,  The Letters of Gelasius I (492-496): Pastor and Micro-Manager of the Church of Rome, Turnhout 2014.

Categories:

Social origin or status - Clerical family
Public law - Ecclesiastical
Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
Further ecclesiastical career - Lay status
Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical
Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema
Administration of justice - Demotion
Conflict - Violence
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2010, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2010
Record by: Stanisław Adamiak
last edited: 2019-03-26 15:42:11
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