Celestine II, Pope, Elected

CELESTINE II, POPE, ELECTED. – Teobaldo Buccapeus or Buccapecorini, from a Roman family that had risen to some prominence toward the end of the 11th century, was cardinal priest of S. Anastasia when, on 16 December 1124, the see being vacant through the death of Callistus II, he took part in the election of his successor. Amid the sharp division of opinions, intensified by the threats of the Frangipani, the candidate of the majority, Cardinal Sasso d'Anagni, was rejected because he was disliked by them, and the votes turned to Teobaldo. The elected candidate was already being robed in the red cape and the Te Deum was being sung when Roberto Frangipane burst into the chapel of S. Pancrazio at the Lateran, where the election was being held, and had his supporters acclaim Lamberto, cardinal of Ostia, as pope. Party struggles and violence were to be feared, but the aged and already reluctant Teobaldo, who had already assumed the name of C., wished, by resigning, to avert the schism that was already taking shape and that would later erupt in all its violence upon the death of Honorius. Teobaldo died, in all probability, at the very beginning of his rival's pontificate.