Pope Urban V

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Urban V

Birth name	Guillaume Grimoard
Papacy began	September 28, 1362
Papacy ended	December 19, 1370
Predecessor	Innocent VI
Successor	Gregory XI
Born	1310 Grizac, Languedoc, France
Died	December 19, 1370 Avignon, France
Other Popes named Urban

Styles of Pope Urban V
Image:Emblem of the Papacy.svg
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Blessed

Pope Urban V (1310 – December 19, 1370), born Guillaume Grimoard, was Pope from 1362 to 1370.

[edit] Biography

He was a native of Grizac in Languedoc (today part of the commune of Le Pont-de-Montvert, département of Lozère). He became a Benedictine and a doctor in Canon Law, teaching at Montpellier and Avignon. He held the office of abbot of Saint-Victor in Marseille; and at Avignon, on his way back from Naples, whither he had been sent as papal legate, he was elected Pope Urban V (September 28, 1362) in succession to Pope Innocent VI (1352–62).

As Pope he was a severe disciplinarian, discountenanced the pomp and luxury of the cardinals, introduced considerable reforms in the administration of justice, and liberally patronised learning. He founded the University of Hungary. In Toulouse, he saved the university of music. In Montpellier, he restored the school of medicine and founded the college of Saint Benoit whose church became a cathedral decorated with numerous works of art. He founded a college in Quézac and Bédouès, and a church and library in Ispagnac. He supported more than 1,000 students of all classes with food and lodging. Even during war they were nourished well. He provided them with books and the best professors.

His pontificate witnessed one of the last flickers of crusading zeal in the expedition of Peter I of Cyprus (1358–69), who took Alexandria on (October 11, 1365), but soon afterwards abandoned it. He enforced a crusade against the Turks to take back Alexandria. He also sent many missions to Bosnia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and China.

The great feature of Urban V's reign was the effort to restore the Papacy to Italy, and to suppress its powerful rivals for the temporal sovereignty there. In 1363 he excommunicated Bernabò Visconti, and ordered a crusade to be preached throughout Italy against him and his kindred, the robbers of the church's estate; but in the following year he found it necessary to purchase peace by removing his ban and making other humiliating concessions. Around Rome, he also planted vine-yards.

Continued troubles in Italy caused Urban V to set out for Rome, which he reached on October 16, 1367; but, though he was greeted by the clergy and people with joy, and had the satisfaction of being attended by the Emperor in St. Peter's, and of placing the crown upon the head of the Empress, it soon became clear that by changing the seat of his government he had not increased its power. Unable any longer to resist the urgency of the French cardinals, he took ship again at Corneto on September 5, 1370, and, arriving at Avignon on the 24th of the same month, died on December 19, 1370. He was succeeded by Pope Gregory XI (1370–78). His canonization was demanded by Valdemar IV of Denmark and promised by Pope Gregory XI as early as in 1375, but did not take place owing to the disorders of the time. Urban V's cultus was approved by Pope Pius IX (1846–78) in 1870.