Pope Celestine V (Latin: Caelestinus V; 1209/1210 or 1215 – 19 May 1296), born Pietro Angelerio (according to some sources Angelario, Angelieri, Angelliero, or Angeleri), also known as Pietro da Morrone, Peter of Morrone, and Peter Celestine, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States for five months from 5 July to 13 December 1294, when he resigned.

Among the few edicts of his to remain in force is the confirmation of the right of the pope to resign; nearly all of his other official acts were annulled by his successor, Boniface VIII.

[1] Maria was particularly fond of Pietro and encouraged his spiritual development, imagining a different future for her son than becoming just a farmer or shepherd as were the local occupations.

[3] In 1244, after a brief visit to Rome for his ordination, he left this retreat, and went with two companions to a similar cave on the even more remote Maiella mountain in the Abruzzi region of central Italy, where he continued to live as a strict ascetic according to the example of John the Baptist.

A new religious community was formed, and in 1254 Pietro formally issued a rule formulated in accordance with his own practices, influenced by the writings of Peter Damian, a renowned reformist monk.

There, in 1274, he succeeded in persuading Gregory to approve his new order, making it a branch of the Benedictines and following the Rule of Saint Benedict, but adding to it additional severities and privations.

Nothing more was needed to ensure the rapid spread of the new association and Pietro lived to see himself as "superior-general" to thirty-six monasteries and more than six hundred monks.

Latino Malabranca, the aged and ill Dean of the College of Cardinals cried out, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I elect brother Pietro di Morrone!"

When sent for, Pietro obstinately refused to accept the papacy, and even, as Petrarch says, tried to flee, until he was finally persuaded by a deputation of cardinals accompanied by the king of Naples and the pretender to the throne of Hungary.

Elected on 5 July 1294,[9] he was crowned at Santa Maria di Collemaggio in the city of Aquila in the Abruzzo on 29 August, taking the name Celestine V.[4] Shortly after assuming office, Celestine issued a papal bull granting a rare plenary indulgence to all pilgrims visiting Santa Maria di Collemaggio through its holy door on the anniversary of his papal coronation.

[13] Realizing his lack of authority and personal incompatibility with papal duties, he consulted with Cardinal Benedetto Caetani (his eventual successor) about the possibility of resignation.

[citation needed] The next pope to resign of his own accord was Gregory XII in 1415 (to help end the Western Schism), followed by Benedict XVI in 2013, 719 years later.

This proved impossible, and Pietro was captured after an attempt to flee to Dalmatia was thwarted when a tempest forced his ship to return to port.

Boniface imprisoned him in the castle of Fumone near Ferentino in Lazio, attended by two monks of his order, where Pietro died after 10 months at about the age of 81.

[32] His entry in the Martyrologium Romanum for 19 May reads as follows: Ad Castrum Fumorense prop Alatrium in Latio, natalis sancti Petri Caelestini, qui, cum vitam eremeticam in Aprutio ageret, fama sanctitatis et miraculorum clarus, octogenarius Romanus Pontifex electus est, assumpto nomine Caelestini Quinti, sed eodem anno munere se abdicavit et solitudinem recedere maluit.At Castrum Fumorense near Alatri in Lazio, the birth of Saint Peter Celestine, who, when leading the life of a hermit in Abruzzo, being famous for his sanctity and miracles, was elected Roman Pontiff as an octogenarian, assumed the name Celestine V, but abandoned his office that same year and preferred to return to solitude.A persistent tradition identifies Celestine V as the nameless figure Dante Alighieri sees among those in the antechamber of Hell, in the enigmatic verses: vidi e conobbi l'ombra di colui che fece per viltade il gran rifiuto.

[37] The life of Pope Celestine V is dramatised in the plays L'avventura di un povero cristiano (Story of a Humble Christian) by Ignazio Silone in 1968 and Sunsets and Glories by Peter Barnes in 1990.

[38] He is the subject of a popular history by author Jon M. Sweeney, The Pope Who Quit: A True Medieval Tale of Mystery, Death, and Salvation, published by Image Books/Random House in 2012.