URBAN V, Pope, Blessed. - Guillaume de Grimoard, b. in 1310 in the castle of Grisac (Lozère) to the lord of the place, d. 19 Dec. 1370 at Avignon. He began his studies at Montpellier, continued them at Toulouse in jurisprudence, then became a Benedictine monk in the priory of Chirac, dependent on the monastery of St. Victor of Marseilles, continuing his studies of theology and canon law, and he was at the Universities of Paris and Avignon.
A doctor on 31 Oct. 1342, he taught canon law. Administrator of the diocese of Clermont, then of that of Trés, he was made prior of Notre-Dame du Pré. On 13 Feb. 1352 Clement VI named him abbot of St-Germain d'Auxerre, and a few months later sent him to Lombardy on an important diplomatic mission, which Guillaume carried out successfully; he induced Archbishop Giovanni Visconti to restore certain papal lands and put 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 with Card. Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz, papal legate in Italy, and with Bernabò Visconti, who was in conflict with the legate. On 2 Aug. 1361 Innocent VI named him abbot of St. Victor of 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. Guillaume was in fact in the peninsula when he learned that, Innocent having died on 12 Sept. 1362, the cardinals, being unable to agree on the name of a member of the Sacred College, had elected him pope on 28 Sept. He was consecrated on 6 Nov.
The king of France, John II, and the king of Cyprus, Peter of Lusignan, gathered with him at Avignon, and with them an expedition to the East was resolved, without U. abandoning the purpose, to which King John was opposed, of continuing in Italy an energetic political-military action: the powers conferred by Innocent VI on Albornoz were extended, 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: U. was attempting with Bernabò a policy of peace. In the following years his purposes became more precise: while he collaborated with the new king of France, Charles V, for the pacification of that Kingdom, he negotiated with the emperor Charles IV, with Louis I of Hungary and with John V Palaiologos to promote the war against the Turks, seeking to have the Great Companies of mercenaries that were devastating the West take part in it, and he prepared the return to Rome, despite the opposition of the court of France and of the College of Cardinals. He left Avignon on 30 Apr. 1367, embarked at Marseilles on 19 May, escorted by a fleet largely Italian, and on 3 June disembarked at Corneto. He stayed during the summer at Viterbo, but the first incidents did not take long to break out, in Viterbo itself. In Oct. U. entered Rome, welcomed by the population with rejoicing. He sought to improve the administration of the city and to attend to its reconstruction, but the distrust of the Romans did not take long to manifest itself, when, in 1368, six French cardinals were created, one English and only one Roman: U., despite the transfer of the Curia to Italy and the good relations with the emperor Charles IV, who was in Rome in that same year, remained substantially faithful to the Avignon tradition. The coming to Rome of John V Palaiologos, in 1369, underlined the Pontiff's purpose of making the Holy See the effective center of the entire Christian world. When the conflict between the kingdoms of France and England reopened, while in Italy the Visconti power was again becoming threatening and the stay of the Curia appeared progressively less secure, U. left Rome on 17 Apr. 1370, and during a brief stay at Viterbo announced the resolution to return to Avignon; he embarked on 5 Sept. at Corneto, disembarked at Marseilles and on the 24th was acclaimed at Avignon. Three months later he died.
As lively and vast as his political action was U.'s activity as a reformer of morals. Scrupulous in his private life and orderly in his occupations, he was lavish in promoting the embellishments of the apostolic Palace of Avignon, the enrichment of the abbey of St. Victor of Marseilles, the foundation and restoration of colleges and churches in the places dearest to him. He was always consistent in his love of study and in the generous protection of schools and scholars. He left behind great regret in Provence, where he was venerated as a saint. His cult also spread in the neighboring regions, on both sides of the Alps; on 5 March 1870 Pius IX confirmed his cult.
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