Pope Saint Celestine V

Pietro Angelerio, known as Peter of Morrone, was born around 1210 in the Molise region of Italy, the eleventh of twelve children of a farming family. He became a Benedictine monk and then a hermit on Mount Morrone and in the Majella mountains of Abruzzo. Disciples gathered around him, and he founded a congregation of hermits, later called the Celestines.

In 1294, after the papacy had been vacant for more than two years, the cardinals unexpectedly elected the elderly hermit, then about 84. He took the name Celestine V and was crowned in L'Aquila. Inexperienced and easily manipulated by powerful men, he soon realized he could not govern the Church well. On December 13, 1294, after only five months, he resigned, declaring it was lawful for a pope to do so. His successor, Boniface VIII, kept him confined in the castle of Fumone, where he died on May 19, 1296. He was canonized in 1313.

Before his resignation Celestine granted a plenary indulgence to all who, having confessed, visit the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L'Aquila between the evenings of August 28 and 29; the Perdonanza Celestiniana is still celebrated there each year, and his relics rest in the basilica. In 2009 Pope Benedict XVI left his pallium on Celestine's tomb.