CELESTINE IV, POPE

Pontificate: Oct. 25, 1241 to Nov. 10, 1241; b. Goffredo Castiglioni. A Milanese, he was the nephew of urban iii. For a time archpriest and chancellor of Milan, he entered the cistercians of hautecombe in 1187. In 1227 he became cardinal priest of S. Marco; in 1239, cardinal bishop of Sabina. When gregory ix died (August 1241), the Roman Senator Matteo Rosso orsini, in order to forestall frederick ii's influence and secure a quick papal election, at once enclosed in the Septizonium, a run-down palace, the ten cardinals then in Rome, including, however, John colonna, Frederick's ally. On Oct. 25, 1241, this divided "first conclave" finally elected Colonna's candidate, the aged, infirm Goffredo, as Celestine IV. He died within the month, possibly before he was crowned.

Bibliography: a. potthast, Regesta pontificum romanorum inde ab a. 1198 ad a. 1304 (Graz 1957) 1:940–941. h. k. mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages from 590 to 1304 (London 1902–32) 13:440–450. k. wenck, "Das erste Konklave der Papstgeschichte, Rom, August bis Oktober 1241, " Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken 18 (1926) 101–170. e. kantorowicz, Frederick the Second, 1194–1250, tr. e. o. lorimer (New York 1957). r. mols, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 12:77–79. f. x. seppelt, Geschichte der Päpste von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des 20. Jh. (Munich 1954–59) 3:449–451, 616, g. schwaiger, Lexicon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65):1255. m. clelia ferrari, "1243: L'operato di Gregorio da Montelongo a Vercelli," Studi di storia medioevale e di diplomatica 17 (1998) 109–118. j. n. d. kelly, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 191–192.

[w. h. principe]