Saint Gelasius I

Saint Gelasius I , d. 496, pope (492-96); successor of St. Felix III (also known as Felix II). He was a firm upholder of the papal supremacy in a dispute with Anastasius, the Byzantine emperor. This contest was an opening wedge in the struggle between Constantinople and Rome. In a letter to Anastasius, Gelasius argued that priestly authority ( auctoritas ) was weightier than royal power ( potestas ) because priests will be held accountable even for kings at the Last Judgment. This argument was used frequently by both sides in the church-state controversies of the Middle Ages. Although both the Gelasian Sacramentary and the Decretum Gelasianum have been erroneously attributed to him, he was a prolific writer. He left hundreds of letters, 6 theological treatises, and 18 mass formularies in the Leonine Sacramentary. Feast Day: Nov. 21. He was succeeded by Anastasius II.

Gelasius, St (d. 496), Pope from 492. He upheld the primacy of the Roman see against Constantinople during the Acacian Schism. To rebut the Manichaean abhorrence of wine, he insisted on the Eucharist being received in both kinds. He also laid down that Ordinations should be at what later came to be called the Ember seasons. He wrote a treatise on the Two Natures in Christ. Although the Gelasian Sacramentary and the Decretum Gelasianum have been wrongly attributed to him, some of his work may be traced in the Leonine Sacramentary. Feast day, 21 Nov.