19th May - S PETER CELESTINE (1215-1296)

 When the father of this Italian saint died, his good mother brought up her twelve children well, even though they were very poor. She wanted one of her sons to be a saint. 

    When he was twenty, Peter became a hermit and spent his days praying and reading the Holy Bible. If he was not praying or reading, he would copy books or do some hard work. 

    Because other hermits kept coming to him and begging him to guide them, he started a new Order. Peter was an old monk, eighty-four years of age when he was made Pope. 

    Poor Peter wept when he heard the news, but he sorrowfully accepted and took the name Celestine V. He was Pope only about five months. Because he was so humble and simple, 

    everyone took advantage of him. He could not say "no" to anyone, and soon matters were in great confusion. At last, the Saint decided that he had better give up his position as Pope. 

    He did so and then throw himself at the feet of the Cardinals for not having been capable of governing the Church. Celestine hoped to live in one of his monasteries in peace. 

    But the new Pope thought it would be safer to keep him where wicked people could not take advantage of him. The next Pope to resign of his own accord was Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.




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