GELASIUS II. (Giovanni da Gaeta) was of noble descent, and was born at Gaeta about 1050. He received his theological education in the abbey of Monte Casino, and afterwards held the office of chancellor under Urban IL, and of cardinal-deacon under Pascal II. On the death of Pascal II. he was elected pope by the cardinals, 18th January 1118, and when his person was seized by Cencius Frangipani, a partisan of the emperor Henry V., he was almost immediately set at liberty through the general uprising of the people in his behalf. The sudden appearance of the emperor, however, compelled bins to leave Rome for Gaeta, and the imperial party chose an anti-pope, Burdinus, archbishop of Braga, under the name of Gregory VIII. Gelasius, at a council held at Capua, fulminated bulls of excommunication against his ecclesiastical rival and the emperor ; and under the protection of the Norman princes Ile was able to return to Rome, where lie stayed for a time in partial concealment, but having barely escaped capture by the Frangipani while celebrating mass in the church of St Praxede, he left the city, and after wandering through various parts of Italy and France died in the abbey of Clugny, January 19, 1119.