URBAN V, POPE, Blessed. – Guglielmo di Grimoard, born in 1310 at the castle of Grisac (Lozère) to the lord of the place, died on 19 December 1370 at Avignon. He began his studies in Montpellier, continued them in Toulouse in jurisprudence, then became a Benedictine monk at the priory of Chirac, dependent on the monastery of St Victor in Marseilles, continuing his studies in theology and canon law, and attended the Universities of Paris and Avignon.
He earned his doctorate on 31 October 1342, and taught canon law. Administrator of the diocese of Clermont, then of Uzès, he was made prior of Notre-Dame du Pré. On 13 February 1352, Clement VI appointed him abbot of St-Germain d’Auxerre, and a few months later sent him to Lombardy on an important diplomatic mission, which Guglielmo carried out successfully; he induced the archbishop Giovanni Visconti to restore some papal lands and placed him in possession of the vicariate of Bologna. In 1354 he was sent by Innocent VI to Rome, and in 1360 to Lombardy, where he met Cardinal Egidio d’Albornoz, the papal legate in Italy, and Bernabò Visconti, who was in conflict with the legate. On 2 August 1361 Innocent VI appointed him abbot of St Victor in Marseilles, and the following year, concerned about the death of Louis of Taranto, second husband of Queen Joanna, sent him to the court of Naples. Guglielmo was indeed on the peninsula when he learned that, after Innocent’s death on 12 September 1362, the cardinals, unable to agree on the name of a member of the Sacred College, had elected him pope on 28 September. He was consecrated on 6 November.
To him came to Avignon King John II of France and King Peter of Cyprus of the House of Lusignan, and with them a crusade to the East was resolved, without Urban abandoning the plan, which King John opposed, to pursue energetic political-military action in Italy: the powers granted by Innocent VI to Albornoz were extended, and a new crusade was proclaimed against the Visconti. Suddenly, in the autumn of 1363, Albornoz was relieved of his duties in Lombardy and invited to Naples: Urban was attempting a policy of peace with Bernabò. In the following years his plans took shape: while collaborating with the new King of France, Charles V, for the pacification of that kingdom, he negotiated with Emperor Charles IV, Louis I of Hungary and John V Palaeologus to promote war against the Turks, seeking to involve the Great Companies of mercenaries that were devastating the West, and prepared the return to Rome, despite the opposition of the French court and the College of Cardinals. He left Avignon on 30 April 1367, embarked at Marseilles on 19 May, escorted by a fleet largely Italian, and on 3 June landed at Corneto. He stayed during the summer in Viterbo, but soon the first incidents broke out.
URBAN IV, POPE – Urban V shows the Corporal to the people of Orvieto. Sixth panel of the frescoes by Ugolino di Ilario (c. 1357). The frescoes were poorly restored in the 19th century – Orvieto, Duomo, Corporal Chapel.
In October Urban entered Rome, welcomed by the people with exultation. He sought to improve the administration of the city and to oversee its reconstruction, but the distrust of the Romans soon manifested itself when, in 1368, six Frenchmen, one Englishman and only one Roman were created cardinals: Urban, despite the transfer of the Curia to Italy and good relations with Emperor Charles IV, who was in Rome that same year, remained substantially faithful to the Avignonese tradition. The arrival in Rome of John V Palaeologus in 1369 underscored the Pope’s intention to make the Holy See the effective centre of the entire Christian world. When the conflict between the kingdoms of France and England reopened, while in Italy the power of the Visconti was becoming threatening and the residence of the Curia seemed increasingly unsafe, Urban left Rome on 17 April 1370, and during a brief stay in Viterbo announced his decision to return to Avignon; he embarked on 5 September at Corneto, landed at Marseilles and on the 24th was acclaimed at Avignon. Three months later he died.
As lively and extensive as his political activity was Urban’s work as a reformer of morals. Scrupulous in his private life and orderly in his duties, he was generous in promoting the embellishment of the Apostolic Palace in Avignon, the enrichment of the abbey of St Victor in Marseilles, the founding and restoration of colleges and churches in places dear to him. He was always consistent in his love of study and in his generous protection of schools and scholars. He left behind him great sorrow in Provence, where he was venerated as a saint. His cult spread to the neighbouring regions, on both sides of the Alps; on 5 March 1370, Pius IX confirmed his cult.
URBAN VIII, POPE – Oil portrait by an unknown artist (c. 1585), reworked after his election as Pope (1590). – Vatican, Sala dei Poveri.