Teobaldo Boccapecci

Teobaldo Boccapecci or Boccapeconai, Latin: Thebaldus Buccapecuc) was elected pope after the death of Pope Callixtus II on 13 December 1124 and took the name Celestine II , but factional violence broke out during the investment ceremony and he resigned before being consecrated or enthroned in order to avoid schism.

Not to be confused with Pope Celestine II.

Life

Boccapecci was made a Cardinal Deacon by Paschal II. At the consistory of 1122, Callixtus named him Cardinal Priest of S. Anastasia.[1]

"The history of the papacy in the early Middle Ages was marked by constantly contested papal elections wherein the various claimants were often proxies for struggles between factions of the nobility"[2] At the time of the death of Callixtus on 13 December 1124, the city of Rome was divided between the Frangipani, who supported the German Holy Roman Emperor, and the Pierleoni, who led the Roman nobility. Each faction promoted their own candidate for pope. The conclave was held three days later on 16 December. The Cardinals assembled, under the protection of the Pierleoni, in the chapel of the monastery of S. Pancrazio al Laterano attached to the south of the Lateran basilica.[3] Initially, most of the cardinals held for Cardinal Saxo de Anagni (Sasso), Cardinal-Priest of San Stefano in Celiomonte, who was backed by the Pierleoni family. However, support shifted to Cardinal Boccapecci at the suggestion of Jonathas, the Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano, a Pierleoni partisan. Boccapecci was then elected, and chose the name Celestine II.

Boccapecci had only just been proclaimed pope, the investment ceremony started and the singing of the Te Deum begun when, Roberto Frangipani and a body of armed men broke into the church. Leo Frangipani and the papal chancellor Cardinal Aymeric de Bourgogne proclaimed Lamberto Cardinal Scannabecchi (a man of considerable learning) pope. During the ensuing melee, Cardinal Boccapecci was wounded. Since he had not yet been formally consecrated pope, Boccapecci declared himself willing to resign, which he formally did the next day in order to avoid a schism. The Pierleoni were paid a substantial bribe to concede.[2] Cardinal Scannabecchi was unwilling to accept the throne in such a manner, and he too resigned his position before all of the assembled Cardinals, but was immediately and unanimously re-elected and consecrated on 21 December 1124 under the name Honorius II.

It is not clear why someone else assumed Boccapecci's titular seat in 1126.

According to historian Salvador Miranda, as Boccapecci was duly elected, he should not be considered an antipope;[1] but as he resigned before being consecrated and enthroned, neither is he listed among the popes.

See also

• Papal selection before 1059
• Papal conclave (since 1274)

References

1. Miranda, Salvador. "Boccapecora, Teobaldo", Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, Florida International University
2. Pham, John-Peter. Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession, Oxford University Press, 2004 ISBN 9780199334827
3. Mann, Horace K. (1925) The Lives of the Popes in the Middle Ages, Vol 8, p. 232