 Despite the banning in 391 of all non-Christian cults and festivals, Lupercalia was celebrated by the nominally Christian populace on a regular basis into the reign of the emperor Anastasius.Pope Gelasius I (494–96) claimed that only the "vile rabble" were involved in the festival and sought its forceful abolition; the Senate protested that the Lupercalia was essential to Rome's safety and well-being.This prompted Gelasius' scornful suggestion that "If you assert that this rite has salutary force, celebrate it yourselves in the ancestral fashion; run nude yourselves that you may properly carry out the mockery".