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St. Gelasius I

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Saints and feasts

St. Gelasius I

Pope, Confessor

Gelasius I governed the Church of Rome from 492 to 496. Butler emphasizes his learning, defence of doctrine and generous provision for the poor.

Sources

The life below remains the existing Butler-based reading, with its edition citation. The profile preserves the feast date and source title already listed in the library. Additional personal dates and historical details are shown only when separately documented.

Pastoral office: Pope
Butler describes his government of the Roman Church and generosity to the poor.

Butler sourceAlban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XI (November), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; November 21, “St Gelasius, Pope, Confessor,” pp. 447-451.

Butler’s Lives of the Saints (1846)Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XI (November), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; November 21, “St Gelasius, Pope, Confessor,” pp. 447-451.

The reading

ⓘ Butler source

Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XI (November), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; November 21, “St Gelasius, Pope, Confessor,” pp. 447-451.

Gelasius became bishop of Rome in 492. Butler describes him as a Roman of African family, learned in the Church’s customs and discipline. His account joins the demands of that office to a personal life marked by restraint and generosity. He gave so freely to the poor that he remained poor himself.

His pontificate continued the difficult disputes involving Rome, Constantinople and the legacy of Acacius. Butler follows his defence of the Roman see and his concern for sound doctrine. The account also describes his opposition to simony and to the attempted revival of the pagan Lupercalia at Rome.

Among the practical rules Butler records is the division of church revenues between the bishop, clergy, poor and maintenance of the church buildings. Care for worship and care for those in need belonged together in the administration of the Church. Gelasius died in 496. This short reading does not settle the authorship of every later text associated with his name.

Historical note

An original Novena Regina reading adapted and summarized from the cited pre-1962 sources. This is not a transcription of Butler’s words.

The reading does not attribute the complete later Gelasian Sacramentary or every text bearing his name directly to the pope.

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