Pope St. Gelasius I

Pope St. Gelasius I governed the Roman Church from 492 to 496. Of African descent and a Roman by upbringing, he was a learned, forceful, and holy pope who reigned in the troubled years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, when Italy was ruled by the Ostrogoths and the Eastern emperor at Constantinople sought to impose his will on the Church. Against these pressures Gelasius vigorously defended the freedom and primacy of the see of Rome.

He is remembered above all for his famous letter to the Emperor Anastasius, in which he set forth the doctrine of the "two powers" or "two swords": that the world is governed by two authorities, the sacred power of priests and the royal power of kings, each supreme in its own sphere under God, with the spiritual power bearing the greater responsibility. This teaching profoundly shaped the Western understanding of the relation between Church and state for centuries. Zealous for orthodoxy, discipline, and the care of the poor, he died on 21 November 496, and his memory is kept on that day.