As all you Catholics know Pope Benedict has resigned and will be leaving the Vatican tomorrow at 9:55am central time, according to the article I found at abcnews. Here is a link that shows the article with several very good videos that I would recommend from today's audience
I pray in thanksgiving for Pope Benedict serving as our Holy Father and I continue to pray for the selection of a new one.
Here is a picture of Pope Benedict I took when I was blessed to go to Italy in 2007.
For your Enjoyment:
The last couple of weeks we've all heard that the last time a pope resigned was over 600 years ago. Well I've been inspired to do a little bit of research...inspired from a dream I had a couple of nights ago about wanting to use that pope's name, Celestine, for my 2nd son's middle name (no we are not expecting at this time). I only knew of Pope Celestine from the priest's homily I mentioned in a previous blog, otherwise I wouldn't have had any idea of who was the last to resign. The priest pronounced the name Sell-es-teen.
I found an article on Catholic.org about this Pope...who, did I mention actually became a Saint!?! I was going to paraphrase but found I wanted to share the article in it's entirety, so I've gone a head and posted it all here. However the article says that Pope Celestine was locked up for his own safety after his resignation in 1294 by the new Pope Boniface VIII but everything else I have read states that Boniface was afraid that Celestine would rally troublemakers against him so he had Celestine locked up, treated badly, and some rumors say that he actually had him killed. I can only assume this is why Celestine became a saint because nothing I've found explains much about the canonization except that it happened in 1313 by Pope Clement V (found here.)
The article below is a very easy and very interesting read. If you'd like, click on his name to go to the webpage where I found this story.
When the father of this Italian saint died, his good mother brought up her twelve children
well, even though they were very poor. "Oh, if I could only have the
joy of seeing one of you become a saint!" she use to say. Once when she
asked as usual, "which one of you is going to become a saint?" little
Peter (who was to become Pope Celestine) answered with all his heart,
"Me, mama! I'll become a saint!" And he did.
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 so that the devil would not find him doing nothing, and tempt him. 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. It
came about in a very unusual way. For two years, there had been no Pope,
because the Cardinals could not decide whom to choose. St Peter sent them a message to decide quickly, for God was not pleased at the long delay. Then and there, they chose the holy
old hermit himself! 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 threw
himself at the feet of the Cardinals for not having been capable of
governing the Church. What an impression his humility made on all of them!
St.
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 saint was put in a cell and died there.
Yet he was cheerful and close to God. "You wanted a cell, Peter," he
would repeat to himself, "and a cell you have." His feast day is May 19th.
