RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Cecil
Celestine
Bibliography: A. Beugnet, Etude biographique et critique sur Dom Remi Ceillier, Bar-Ie-Duc, 1891.
CELE, JOHANNES: Teacher at Zwolle; b. at Zwolle, about the middle of the fourteenth century; d. there May 9, 1417. He received his early education in his native place, continued his studies in some unknown school, and, returning to Zwolle, in 1374 was entrusted with the school-management there. Having been awakened by the preaching of Gerard Groote, he thought of joining the order of Minorites, but was prevented from doing so by Groote, who advised him to complete his studies at Prague. Whether he went to Prague is not known. Depressed in mind, Cele spent some time in the monastery at Munnikhuizen and in company with Ruysbroeck. Through the influence of Groote, in spite of opposition, Cele was made rector of the school at Zwolle. He received much help from the Brethren of the Common Life and assisted them especially in the difficult task of securing houses at Zwolle for their adherents and those committed to their charge, but he did not join the brotherhood, remaining rector of the evergrowing school, which numbered 1,000 pupils. He taught Latin, grammar, and rhetoric, and expounded the Scriptures, admitting laymen to his lectures against the will of the city ministers. He founded a large library by buying and copying manuscripts. For more than forty years he stood at the head of the institution, highly esteemed for his learning and piety and his lasting influence on his pupils. The lazy and presumptuous were kept under rigid discipline. All wore the simple dress of the brethren. He had no method of his own, but labored in the spirit of his friend Groote, recognizing in a pious personality the source of all morality, and thus he gave to the growing humanism the right direction and true basis in the Christian faith and genuine piety. Many prominent men were his pupils, such as Heinrich von Herxen, Wessel Gansfort, Alexander Hegius, Rudolf Langen, Rudolf Agricola, Ludwig Dringenberg, Moritz von Spiegelberg, and Johannes Busch.
L. Schulze.
Bibliography: Besides the works mentioned in the article Common Life, Brethren of the, valuable sources for Cele are the personal reminiscences of Thomas a Kempis in the Chronicon monasterii S. Agnetis, ed. H. Rosweyde, p. 171, Antwerp, 1615, and of his scholar, Johannes Busch, in the Chronicon Windeshemense, ed. K. Grube, pp. 204- 222, Halle, 1887. Consult also ADB, iv. 79.
CELESTINE: The name of five popes.
Celestine I. : Pope 422-432. He was a Roman by birth, and only a deacon when, in Sept., 422, he was raised to the episcopate. The main endeavor of his pontificate was to extend the jurisdiction of his see. To this end he made use of a conflict which had been going on for years in the African Church in order to assert the right of the Roman pontiff to receive appeals thence. He restored to communion Apiarius, an African priest who had been deposed by his bishop and had appealed to Rome under Zosimus and Boniface I. The Africans, however, in a synod at Carthage in 424 or 425, denied his right to interfere. Celestine's part in the dogmatic controversies of his time was also
influenced by political considerations (see Semi- Pelagianism; Nestorius). He died at the end of July> 432. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne i 230 Paris, 1886; Jaffe\ Regesta, i. 55; Hefele, Conciiienacschichte, n. 159 sqq., Eng. transl., ii. 476 sqq.; Bower, Popes, i. 166-186; Milman, Latin Christianity, i. 200-238 '.
Celestine II. (Guido de Castellis): Pope 1143- 1144. He was a Tuscan of noble birth, reputed to be learned and pious. He occupied the papal throne only from Sept. 26 to Mar. 8, not long enough to fulfil the hopes which his elevation had raised. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Jaffe\ Regesta, ii. 1; Bower, Popes, ii. 475.
Celestine III. (Jacinto Bobo): Pope 1191-98. After being a cardinal forty-seven years, at eightyfive he was elected, Mar. 30 (?), 1191, the first pope of the house of Orsini. The times were troublous (see Clement III.), and the aged pope, a man of mild temper and inclined to half measures, was no match for his formidable opponent Henry VI., who appeared before Rome and demanded his coronation, which Celestine was obliged to perform on the day after Easter. Henry surrendered Tusculum to him, but later forced him, in compliance with the agreement of May 31, 1188, to give it up to the Romans for destruction. From 1194 he saw the Norman kingdom, with which his predecessors had invested Tancred, in the possession of the hated Hohenstaufen. Henry refused to take the oath of fealty or to pay tribute; he appointed bishops and judged them, and gave the lands of Countess Matilda to his brother Philip in fee. Celestine did not venture to excommunicate him,, but did break off relations with him, though he offered reconciliation when Henry took the cross (May 31, 1195). It soon became evident that Henry was a crusader only for political advantage, and the territory and rights of the Church were invaded in various quarters. Humiliations beset the aged pope. He was obliged to release Philip Augustus of France from his unperformed vow to free the Holy Sepulcher; and could not force the recognition of his legate in England, William of Longchamp (the bishop of Ely, Richard Cceur de Lion's chancellor), by Prince John and the barons; nor did Philip Augustus heed his admonitions against the arbitrary dissolution of his marriage with Ingeborg of Denmark and the contracting of a new one. His fear of the emperor prevented him from protesting against Richard's imprisonment; only after the English king had paid his ransom did he excommunicate Leopold of Austria. Celestine survived Henry VI. by only a few months, dying Jan. 8, 1198. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Jaffe, Regesta, ii. 577; J. M. Watterich,. Pontificum Romanorum vitce, ii. 708, Leipsic, 1862; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, iv. 591, Stuttgart, 1890, Eng. transl., iv. 626-630, 699, London, 1896; Bower, Popes, ii. 531-534; Hauck, KD, iv. 663-681.
Celestine IV. (Galfrido di Castiglione): Pope 1241. A Milanese by birth, he was elected pope in a conclave held by permission of Frederick II. on Oct. 25. He was old and feeble, and died, before he could be consecrated, on Nov. 10.
(A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Bower, Popes, ii. 559-560.
Celestine Celibacy