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crowned as Celestinc V. But he lived in Naples, and there Charles proved his master. The Saint was not able to shoulder the responsi- bilities of the Papacy. Hounded by his enemies and soon also by his friends, driven most by his own conscience, he abdicated after a few months and went back to the lonely spot from which he had come. But the Pope who followed him had reason to fear a schism. He therefore sent emissaries in pursuit of the fleeing monk, but Celesrine had already traversed the woods of Apulia and come to the Sea. There he tried to reach Dalmatia in a skiff, but a storm threw him back upon the shore and he was imprisoned in a tower by the new Pope. The quarrel about whether this unparalleled abdication was lawful or unlawful continued to excite people long after the poor Papa Angelica was dead. Dante pictures him suffering in Purgatory, be- cause he had not possessed the energy and the determination which even the holiest of men must have if he is to rule as Pope.
CATASTROPHE
