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Pope Who Quit: A True Medieval Tale Of Mystery, Death, And Salvation (2013)

by Jon M. Sweeney(Favorite Author)

3.23 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1299164390 (ISBN13: 9781299164390)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Image

review 1: Well-written, engaging portrait of the fascinating figure of Pope St. Celestine V, but it is disappointing that a Catholic author, in writing the biography of a saint, would not do so in accord with the mind of the Church. While there was no outright heterodoxy, at times the editorializing felt like the work of a dissenter.Also, the author devoted an entire chapter to speculating that St. Celestine V was murdered by poison by his successor Boniface VIII, and that's all it is: speculation and conjecture. Not a single bit of hard evidence to back up such an explosive charge. Unworthy of a serious historian.All in all, well-worth a read, but take Jon Sweeney's historical analysis with a hefty grain of salt.
review 2: This book mystified me--why write a popular pap... moreal history and not tie it to the abdication of a recent pope (well within the timeframe of the paperback)? Sweeney has a great subject, Peter Morrone, Italian mountain hermit and later, 85 year old pope for fifteen weeks, but he writes a paint by number biography from dated sources, ignores the huge number of studies of the fascinating 13th century context in favor of a handful of easy ones and spends way too much time backing up and explaining basic medieval concepts to the audience he names over and over again--readers of Dan Brown who suddenly have a burning desire to learn the truth about Pope Celestine V (all 17 of them). Celestine V is an important piece of the deteriorating Vatican situation that led to the Avignon papacy, as a gifted reformer, fund raiser and order builder who then was completely out of his depth running the vast institution of the medieval church, especially from under the thumb of Charles II of Naples. There's a lot more that could be done with this, and by a better writer. less

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