View source for Pope Gelasius I

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 492 to 496}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[Pope Saint]]
|image=Augustiniánský klášter, Staré Brno, Gelasius I.jpg
|caption=A portrait of Gelasius I in [[St Thomas's Abbey, Brno]]
| name = Gelasius I
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start = 1 March 492
| term_end = 19 November 496
| predecessor = [[Pope Felix III|Felix III]]
| successor = [[Pope Anastasius II|Anastasius II]]
| birth_place = [[Africa (Roman province)|Africa]] or [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Western Roman Empire]]<ref name=Browne1998>{{cite journal
 | author = Browne, M.
 | year = 1998
 | title = The Three African Popes.
 | journal = The Western Journal of Black Studies
 | volume = 22
 | issue = 1
 | pages = 57–8
 }}</ref>
| death_date = 21 November 496
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]]
| feast_day = 21 November<ref name="ce-gelasius">{{CathEncy|wstitle=Pope St. Gelasius I}}</ref>
| other = Gelasius
}}

'''Pope Gelasius I''' was the [[bishop of Rome]] from 1 March 492 to his death on 21 November 496.<ref name="VaticanGelasius">{{Cite web| title = Gelasius I| access-date = 10 May 2025| url = https://www.vatican.va/content/vatican/en/holy-father/gelasio-i.html |website=Vatican}}</ref> Gelasius was a prolific author whose style placed him on the cusp between [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]].<ref name="Ullman">The title of his biography by Walter Ullmann expresses this:''Gelasius I. (492–496): Das Papsttum an der Wende der Spätantike zum Mittelalter'' (Stuttgart) 1981.</ref> Some scholars have argued that his predecessor [[Felix III]] may have employed him to draft papal documents,<ref>{{Cite book |author=Ullmann, Walter |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/781406544 |title=Gelasius I. (492-496) : das Papsttum an der Wende der Spätantike zum Mittelalter |date=1981 |publisher=Hiersemann |isbn=3-7772-8135-2 |pages=135–141 |oclc=781406544}}</ref> although this is not certain.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Salzman |first=Michele Renee |date=2019 |title=Lay Aristocrats and Ecclesiastical Politics: A New View of the Papacy of Felix III (483–492 C.E.) and the Acacian Schism |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/734252 |journal=Journal of Early Christian Studies |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=482, n. 73 |doi=10.1353/earl.2019.0040 |s2cid=204419785 |issn=1086-3184|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Samuel |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1114273480 |title=Heirs of Roman persecution: studies on a Christian and para-Christian discourse in late antiquity |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-8153-7512-8 |editor-last=Fournier |editor-first=Éric |pages=176, n. 16 |chapter="You have made common cause with their persecutors": Gelasius, the language of persecution, and the Acacian Schism |oclc=1114273480 |editor-last2=Mayer |editor-first2=Wendy}}</ref>

During his pontificate he called for strict [[Catholic orthodoxy]], more assertively demanded obedience to papal authority, and, consequently, increased the tension between the Western and Eastern Churches. Surprisingly, he also had cordial relations with the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom|Ostrogoths]], who were [[Arianism|Arians]] (i.e., [[Nontrinitarianism|Non-trinitarian Christians]]), and therefore perceived as [[Heresy in Christianity|heretics]] from the perspective of [[Nicene Christianity|Nicene Christians]].<ref name=":0" />

== Place of birth ==
There is some confusion regarding where Gelasius was born: according to the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'' he was born in the [[Africa (Roman province)|Roman province of Africa]] (present-day [[Tunisia]]), referred to as "''natione Afer''", while in a letter addressed to the [[Roman Emperor]] [[Anastasius I Dicorus|Anastasius]] he stated that he was "born a [[Rome|Roman]]" ("''Romanus natus''").<ref>J. Chapin, "Gelasius I, Pope, St.", pp. 121-3, in ''[[New Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', Second Edition, Volume 6, Gale, 2002.</ref> J. Conant opined that the latter assertion probably merely denotes that he was born in [[Diocese of Africa|Roman Africa]] before the [[Vandals]] invaded it.<ref>J.Conant, ''Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, 439–700'', CUP, 2012, p. 83.</ref><ref name="Ramsgate">{{Cite web|date=2013-06-23|title=Book of Saints – Pope Gelasius|url=https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-pope-gelasius/|access-date=2020-08-20|website=CatholicSaints.Info|language=en-US}}</ref>

== Acacian schism ==
{{Integralism |expanded=people}}
{{see| Acacian schism}}
The papal election of Gelasius on 1 March 492 was a gesture of continuity: Gelasius inherited the conflicts of [[Pope Felix III]] with [[Eastern Roman Emperor]] Anastasius and the [[patriarch of Constantinople]] and exacerbated them by insisting on the obliteration of the name of the deceased [[Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople]] from the [[diptych]]s,<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Gelasius|display=Gelasius s.v. Gelasius II.|volume=11|page=554|first=Louis Marie Olivier|last=Duchesne|author-link=Louis Duchesne}}</ref> in spite of every ecumenical gesture offered by the contemporaneous Patriarch [[Euphemius of Constantinople|Euphemius]].

The split with the Emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople was inevitable, from the Western view, because they considered the [[Monophysite]] view of [[Jesus Christ]] having only a Divine nature a [[heresy]]. Gelasius authored the book ''De duabus in Christo naturis'' (''On the dual nature of Christ''), which described [[Catholic theology|Catholic doctrine]] in the matter. Thus Gelasius, for all the conservative Latinity of his style of writing, was on the cusp of [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]].<ref name="Ullman"/>

During the Acacian schism, Gelasius advocated the primacy of the [[See of Rome]] over the universal Church, both East and West, and he presented this doctrine in terms that became the model for successive popes, who also claimed [[papal supremacy]] because of their succession to the [[Supreme Pontiff|papacy]] from the first supreme pontiff, [[Peter the Apostle]].<ref name="ce-gelasius"/>

In 494, Gelasius authored the very influential letter ''[[Duo sunt]]'' to Anastasius on the subject of the relation of Church and state, which letter had political impact for more than a millennium:<ref name="Fordham">{{Cite web|title=Internet History Sourcebooks Project|url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/gelasius1.asp|access-date=2020-08-20|website=sourcebooks.fordham.edu}}</ref> [[Pope Gregory XVI]] quoted from it in his letter to the [[Catholic Church in Switzerland|Swiss]] clergy, ''[[Commissum divinitus]]'' (17 May 1835), responding to the {{ill|Baden articles|de|Badener Artikel}}, which gave some of the [[Swiss cantons]] authority over church matters including the sacraments.<ref>Pope Gregory XVI, [https://www.papalencyclicals.net/greg16/g16commi.htm Commissum divinitus], paragraph 8, ''Papal Encyclicals Online'', accessed on 8 March 2025</ref>

== Suppression of the Lupercalia ==
{{see| Lupercalia#History}}
Closer to home, after a long contest Gelasius finally suppressed the [[ancient Roman]] festival of the [[Lupercalia]],<ref name=Ramsgate/> which had persisted for several generations among a nominally Christian population. Gelasius' letter to the senator Andromachus treated the primary contentions of the controversy and incidentally provided some details of the festival, which combined [[fertility]] and [[Ritual purification|purification]], that might have been lost otherwise. 

Although the Lupercalia was a festival of purification, which had given its name "''dies februatus''", from "''februare''" ("to purify"), to the month of February, it was unrelated to the Feast of the Purification of the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]], also commonly denominated "[[Candlemas]]", which latter feast commemorates the fulfillment of the [[Holy Family]]'s ceremonial obligations pursuant to Mosaic law 40 days after the birth of the first son. In the instance of the [[Holy Family]], that occurred 40 days after [[Christmas]], on 2 February.

== Death ==
After a brief yet dynamic ministry, Gelasius died on 21 November 496. His feast day is 21 November.<ref name="VaticanGelasius"/>

== Works ==
[[File:Couronnement d'un prince - Sacramentaire de Charles le Chauve Lat1141 f2v.jpg|thumb|300px|A circa 870 image featuring the coronation of [[Charles the Bald]], flanked by Gelasius I and [[Gregory the Great]]. Gelasius' writings gave him a high status with posterity.]] 
Gelasius was one of the most prolific authors of the early [[bishops of Rome]]. Over 100 Gelasian letters survive, although 49 of these are fragmentary, some as short as several lines.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gelasius I |title=The letters of Gelasius I (492-496): pastor and micro-manager of the Church of Rome |date=2014 |isbn=978-2-503-55299-6 |editor-last=Neil |editor-first=Bronwen |location=Turnhout, Belgium |publisher=Brepols |pages=8–9 |oclc=893407493 |editor-last2=Allen |editor-first2=Pauline}}</ref> 6 treatises are extant that bear the name of Gelasius. According to [[Cassiodorus]], the reputation of Gelasius attracted to his name other works not by him. Although his dogmatic letters connected to the Acacian Schism were widely circulated in late antiquity, and have been the focus of much scholarly interest, the majority of Gelasius' letters were in fact concerned with the administration of the church of [[Suburbicarian_diocese|suburbicarian Italy]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Samuel |date=2022 |title=Gelasius and the Ostrogoths: jurisdiction and religious community in late fifth-century Italy |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/emed.12519 |journal=Early Medieval Europe |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=22–23 |doi=10.1111/emed.12519 |s2cid=247674196 |issn=0963-9462|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===''Decretum Gelasianum''===
{{main|Decretum Gelasianum}}
The most famous of pseudo-Gelasian works is the list ''De libris recipiendis et non recipiendis'' ("On books to be received and not to be received"), also denominated the ''[[Decretum Gelasianum]]'', which is believed to be connected to the pressure for orthodoxy during his pontificate and intended to be read as a decretal by Gelasius on the canonical and apocryphal books, which internal evidence reveals to be of later date. Thus the determination of the [[Biblical_canon|canon of Sacred Scripture]] has traditionally been attributed to Gelasius.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tertullian : F.C.Burkitt, Review of The decretum Gelasianum, Journal of Theological Studies 14 (1913) pp. 469-471|url=https://www.tertullian.org/articles/burkitt_gelasianum.htm|access-date=2022-01-20|website=www.tertullian.org}}</ref>

===''Gelasian Sacramentary''===
{{Main|Gelasian Sacramentary}}
In the [[Latin Catholic]] tradition, the pseudo ''Gelasian Sacramentary'' is in fact a liturgical book that was derived from Roman sources and transcribed, with inclusion of native Gallican liturgical elements, near [[Paris]] in the middle of the 8th century. While including the texts of some prayers that Gelasius composed, he was not a principal author or compiler of the book. The manuscript (Vatican, Vatican Library, Reg. lat. 316 + Paris, National Library, ms. lat. 7193, fol. 41–56) is actually titled the ''Liber sacramentorum Romanae ecclesiae'' (''Book of Sacraments of the Roman Church'').<ref>Translation is based on Louise Ropes Loomis, ''The Book of the Popes (''Liber pontificalis'') I'', New York, New York, USA, Columbia University Press, 1916, pp. 110-4</ref>

The attribution to Gelasius is premised in part at least on the chronicle of the [[Supreme Pontiff]]s that is denominated the ''Liber Pontificalis'', which states of Gelasius that he "''fecit etiam et sacramentorum praefationes et orationes cauto sermone et epistulas fidei delimato sermone multas''" ("he also made prefaces to the sacraments and prayers in careful language and many epistles in polished language regarding the faith").<ref>Translation is based on Louise Ropes Loomis, ''The Book of the Popes (''Liber pontificalis'') I'', New York, New York, USA, Columbia University Press, 1916, pp. 110-4</ref> An old tradition linked the book to Gelasius, apparently based on the ascription of [[Walafrid Strabo]] to him of what evidently is this book.

== Legacy ==
[[File:Figurengruppe Schloss Stainz Hl Gelasius.jpg|thumb|upright|A statue of Gelasius I, at [[Schloss Stainz]]]]
Cardinal [[Giuseppe Maria Tomasi]] quoted a portion of a missal that was attributed to Gelasius in the Mass that was entitled 'Contra obloquentes' and published it. The section read: <blockquote>Grant, We beseech Thee, O Lord, that we do not trouble ourselves about the contradiction of spurious minds, but once that very wickedness has been spurned let us pray that you suffer us neither to be frightened by the unjust criticisms, nor to be attracted to the insidious flatteries, but rather to love that which Thou dost command ....</blockquote> In 1751, [[Pope Benedict XIV]] published this quotation within his Apostolic Constitution ''Providas'' that attacked freemasonry.<ref>Quo Graviora, Leo XII, 1826</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}

*[[List of popes]]
*[[Famuli vestrae pietatis]]
*[[Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/November 21|Pope Saint Gelasius I, patron saint archive]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Literature ==
The primary source for the biography of Pope Saint Gelasius I, beside the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'', is a ''[[Biography|vita]]'' written by Cassiodorus' pupil [[Dionysius Exiguus]].
*Cohen, Samuel (2022). "Gelasius and the Ostrogoths: jurisdiction and religious community in late fifth‐century Italy". ''Early Medieval Europe''. '''30''' (1): 20–44. [[doi:10.1111/emed.12519]]. {{ISSN|0963-9462}}
*Norman F. Cantor, ''Civilization of the Middle Ages''.
*Neil, Bronwen, and Allen, Pauline (eds. and trans.). ''The letters of Gelasius I (492-496) : pastor and micro-manager of the Church of Rome.'' Turnhout, Belgium. pp.&nbsp;8–9. {{ISBN|978-2-503-55299-6}} {{OCLC|893407493}}
*''Catholic Encyclopedia'', 1908.
* [[Rudolf Schieffer]], ''Gelasius I'', in ''[[Lexikon des Mittelalters]]'', Bd. 4 (1989), Sp. 1197.
* {{BBKL|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070606092959/http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/g/gelasius_i.shtml |band=2|spalten=197-199|autor=Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz|artikel=Gelasius I}}
* Ullmann, W., ''Gelasius I. (492–496): Das Päpsttum an der Wende der Spätantike zum Mittelalter,'' Stuttgart, 1981.
* {{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Pope St. Gelasius I}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Gelasius I}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051201235640/http://societaschristiana.com/Encyclopedia/D/DuoSunt.html ''Duo sunt'']: introduction and text in English
* [http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01_01_0492-0496-_Gelasius_I,_Sanctus.html Collected Works (Opera Omnia) in Migne's ''Patrologia Latina'']
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/liberpontificalis.html Fontes Latinae de papis usque ad annum 530] ([[Pope Felix IV]])
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/liberpontificalis1.html#XLIII. ''Liber Pontificalis'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080820012613/http://www.christiantruth.com/gelasiusdecretum.html ''Decretum Gelasianum: De Libris Recipiendis et Non Recipiendis'']
* {{Hl-Lex|b|Gelasius_I.html|Gelasius I}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Felix III]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=1 March 492 – 19 November 496}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Anastasius II|Anastasius II]]}}
{{s-end}}

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