Illiterate popes explained

Several popes are regarded by historians as illiterate, including:

• Pope Zephyrinus (199–217) — The Refutation of All Heresies^[1] includes the observation that "Pope Zephyrinus was illiterate."^[2]
• Pope Adrian IV (1154–1159) — George Washington Dean writes: "Adrian IV., the only English Pope, had been an illiterate servant in a monastery at Avignon."^[3]
• Pope Celestine V (1294) — The Lanercost Chronicle records: "On the commemoration day of S. Paul [June 30], Celestinus the Fifth was created Pope, who, albeit illiterate, was the priest and confessor of his predecessor."^[4]

Wrongly regarded as illiterate

Ludwig von Pastor has shown that Pope Julius II (1503–1513) was not illiterate, although he is poetically referred to as such by Desiderius Erasmus.^{[5] [6]}

Notes and References

1. Refutation of All Heresies, collected in Book: . Origenis Philosophumena . 1851 . 284 .
2. Book: Christopher Wordsworth . Church History . 1 . 1887 . 290.
3. Book: George Washington Dean . Lectures on the Evidences of Revealed Religion . James Pott & Co. . New York . 1890 . 459 .
4. Book: . The Chronicle of Lanercost, 1272–1346: Translated, with Notes . University Press . Glasgow . 1913 . 107 .
5. Association Amici Thomae Mori. 1971. Moreana. p. 103.
6. Philip C. Dust. 1987. Three Renaissance Pacifists: Essays in the Theories of Erasmus. p. 129.