Pope Celestine III
Celestine III was
Pope from
1191 to
1198. He was born
Giacinto Bobone Orsini, of that noble family, and was elected Pope on
30th March 1191, being then only a
deacon. He received priest's orders on the
13th of April, ruled the church six years, nine months, and nine days (though believed to have been ninety when elected), died [[January 8|8th
January]] 1198, and was buried at the Lateran. He crowned the Emperor Henry VI on the day after his election with a ceremony symbolizing his absolute supremacy, as described by Roger Hoveden, who is believed (more reasonably as it would seem) by Baronius, but discredited by Natalis Alexander. He subsequently excommunicated the same Henry for wrongfully keeping
Richard the Lionhearted in prison. In
1192 he confirmed the statutes of the
Teutonic Order of Knights. He would have resigned the
Papacy, and recommended a successor shortly before his death, but was not suffered to do so by the cardinals.
initial text from the 9th edition (1876) of an old encyclopedia