GEISEL, JOHANNES von. - Cardinal, born 1 February 1796 at Gimmeldingen (Palatinate), died 18 September 1864 at Cologne. He studied at the seminary in Mainz, then under L. B. Liebermann. Ordained priest in 1818, he taught at the royal lyceum in Speyer and was canon of the cathedral, until King Ludwig I of Bavaria proposed him as bishop of Speyer, and he was preconised by Gregory XVI on 20 May 1837.
With his administrative ability he won the goodwill of both the sovereign and the diocesan clergy and the respect of the Catholic population. Following the imprisonment of the archbishop of Cologne, Droste-Vischering, it became necessary to
recall, king of the Ostrogoths, who, after his victory over Odovacar, acquired dominion over the peninsula.
Of the years of peace (494-95) two synods celebrated by G. in Rome are known, the first for a series of disciplinary decrees aimed at settling disputes among the clergy, the second for having put an end to the last consequences of the schism that had raged within the Church of Rome.
Among the letters of G. which A. Thiel counted at 43 and 49 fragments (later another 22 were discovered), some, because of their subject matter, had a wider scope than the region to which they referred, being in fact treatises, such as that on the controversy of Acacius and, in particular, on the patristic tradition.
Among the acts of G. is also reckoned, probably wrongly, the famous Decretum Gelasianum, in five parts: "De Spiritu Sancto; De Canone Scripturae sacrae; De Sedibus patriarchibus; De synodis oecumenicis; De libris recipiendis et non recipiendis". The last part, by far the most important, is the first attempt at an index of forbidden books (cf. E. von Dobschütz, Das Decretum Gelasianum de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis, Leipzig 1921). The whole work was probably compiled in the 6th century with earlier elements going back to Damasus and Hormisdas. As for the so-called Sacramentarium Gelasianum, a recension of the Roman Missal, existing only in a Gallican recension, the opinions of scholars up to now are divided (v. SACRAMENTARIO). The homilies and hymns of G. have been lost. His feast is noted in the Roman Martyrology on 21 November.
The Gelasian Decree. - A Latin dogmatic writing presented as drawn up at a Roman synod of 494. It is known by the title of that part, De libris recipiendis et non recipiendis, which is of special importance for the history of the biblical canon, contained in ch. 2, where no distinction is made between protocanonical and deuterocanonical books (but the 2nd and 3rd Epistles of John are attributed to John the Presbyter). It is divided into 5 chapters. Ch. 1 speaks of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and the various names of Christ; ch. 2 contains the biblical canon; ch. 3 treats of the authority of the Church and the primacy of the Roman Church; ch. 4 of the authority of councils and the Fathers; ch. 5 of the books of heretics and schismatics, which the Church rejects.
About 36 manuscripts of the Gelasian Decree are known, which can be divided into two classes. The first attributes all or part of it to Pope Damasus (366-84), the second to Pope G. (493-96); some later manuscripts to Pope Hormisdas (514-23). According to the testimony of the manuscripts, the Gelasian Decree comprises two independent parts, which are not attested before the 7th century, but which may have existed earlier.
Recent studies, though only as a hypothesis, authorize the following conclusions regarding the origin of the Gelasian Decree: 1) the final writing resulted from the joining of two documents of different origin and value; 2) the first document, comprising chs. 1-3, may go back to the end of the 4th century, and, according to the title, could be the work of the Roman Council of 382 under the pontificate of Damasus I; 3) the second document (chs. 3-5) is the work of a private individual, from the end of the 5th to the beginning of the 6th century, who had great veneration for St. Jerome and was most faithful to the doctrines of the Roman Church; 4) the two documents were soon joined either in northern Italy or in southern France; 5) the Gelasian Decree thus composed remained for some time unknown and was not considered an official document. This explains why the testimonies are very late, i.e., from the 7th century (Bardy, col. 589).
Gelasius I, pope, sent. - Decretum Gelasianum: list of apocryphal books - Vatican Library, cod. Vat. lat. 8842, f. 281r (10th century).