Urban III, Pope

URBANO III, POPE. — Uberto Crivelli, formerly archbishop of Milan, was elected pope at Verona on 25 Nov. 1185 and consecrated on 1 Sept.; but he did not have a long pontificate, for he died on 20 Oct. 1187.

Political events did not allow him to set foot in Rome; the dispute with the emperor Frederick Barbarossa concerning the domains of the Roman Church, which he unjustly held, grew more acute. Veiled threats were added to the Supreme Pontiff’s increasing severity. Frederick, in retaliation, resorted to ill-advised measures: exit from Verona, where the papal court was located, was forbidden, and if any member of the Curia ventured outside the walls, he was seized by the imperial troops and subjected to cruel torture.

U. III was considering launching an excommunication against his persecutor; but the Veronese, fearing Frederick’s wrath, induced him to leave the city. He then decided to take refuge in more hospitable lands and reach Venice, where he would have found complete security against imperial machinations; but he got no farther than Ferrara, where his funerary monument still stands. During his pontificate, the centralization of the Church became notably more pronounced;

(courtesy of Mons. A. P. Frutar)
URBANO IV, PAPA — U. IV Shows the Corporal to the people of Orvieto. Sixth panel of the frescoes by Ugolino di Ilario (ca. 1357). The frescoes were badly restored in the 19th century — Orvieto, Cathedral, Chapel of the Corporal.

The collection of his letters bears witness to the multiplicity of his interventions in ecclesiastical affairs, and the Decretals contain a considerable number of decisions issued by him. His power over Christendom was also manifested through the activity of permanent legates.