CELESTINO
IV, PAPA. - Goffredo
Castiglioni, a Milanese, son of Giovanni and Cassandra Crivelli, sister of Urbano III (d. in 1187). A disciple of S. Galdino, he was a canon and chancellor of Milan, and a monk in the Cistercian monastery of Altacomba, where he wrote the history of the kingdom of Scotland. In 1227 Gregory IX created him cardinal of S. Marco; he subsequently became bishop of Sabina. At the death of Gregory IX (21 Aug. 1241), the ten cardinals present in Rome, under the pressure of the political difficulties of the moment, were unable to agree on the choice of a successor; to compel them to decide, the people of Rome shut them up in the Septizonium. Castiglioni was elected pope, by then old and infirm (25 Oct. 1241), and died only 17 days later (10 Nov. 1241). He was buried in the Vatican basilica.