IN TODAY’S LIVES OF THE SAINTS AND MARYTRS AN AVIGNON POPE

Winchester, VA – Born  Guillaume de Grimoard in 1310 in the region of Languedoc, France, Pope Urban V was the sixth Pope to reign from Avignon and the only one of those to be beatified. He became a Benedictine monk and was ordained a priest in 1334. Guillaume studied literature and law at Montpellier, then focused on canon law at the University of Toulouse, earning his doctorate. He would teach canon law at Montpellier, Paris, and Avignon. He was named abbot of the monastery of St.-Germain en Auterre in 1352 by Pope Clement VI and would be sent on three important missions to Italy to act as a mediator for important situations. He was the Apostolic Nuncio in Italy in 1362 when Pope Innocent VI died, and was summoned back to Avignon, where the conclave was being held, supposedly to consult with the Conclave. Upon his arrival he actually discovered he had been elected Pope and took the name Urban because, in his words, “All the popes who have borne this name were saints.” He continued, as pope, to wear his monastic habit and follow the Benedictine Rule. He was a pope who focused on reform, the spread of monasteries and churches, and the reunification of the Eastern and Western Churches. Above all he wished to successfully launch a crusade against the Turks, but the challenges were too great. He returned to Rome, and while there, gave St. Bridget of Sweden permission to start her order, the Bridgettines. She predicted to Urban that if he left Rome, he would die, and as predicted, he fell ill within days of reaching Avignon and died in 1370. Blessed Urban V, pray for us!

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