Pope Urban I

Pope Saint Urban I
Bishop of Rome
Saint Urban between Iustitia and Charitas, by Raphael, c. 1520–24, Sala di Costantino
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	222
Papacy ended	23 May 230
Predecessor	Callixtus I
Successor	Pontian
Personal details
Born	175? Rome, Italy, Roman Empire
Died	23 May 230 Rome, Italy, Roman Empire
Sainthood
Feast day	25 May
Patronage	Family doctors, Cieszowa
Other popes named Urban

Pope Urban I (Latin: Urbanus I), also known as Saint Urban (175?–230), was the bishop of Rome from 222 to 23 May 230. He was born in Rome and succeeded Callixtus I, who had been martyred. It was believed for centuries that Urban I was also martyred. However, recent historical discoveries now lead scholars to believe that he died of natural causes.

Pontificate

Much of Urban's life is shrouded in mystery, leading to many myths and misconceptions. Despite the lack of sources, he is the first pope whose reign can be definitely dated. Two prominent sources exist for Urban's pontificate: Eusebius's history of the early Church and an inscription in the Coemeterium Callisti that names the Pope. Urban ascended to the papacy in 222, the year of Emperor Elagabalus's assassination, and served during the reign of Alexander Severus. It is believed that Urban's pontificate took place during a peaceful time for Christians in the Empire since Severus did not promote the persecution of Christianity.

It is believed that the schismatic Hippolytus was still leading a rival Christian congregation in Rome and that he published the Philosophumena, an attack on Urban's predecessor, Callixtus I. Urban is said to have maintained the hostile policy of Callixtus when dealing with the schismatic party.

Due to the relative freedoms the Christian community had during Severus's reign, the Church in Rome grew, which led to the belief that Urban was a skilled converter. A papal decree concerning the donations of the faithful at Mass is attributed to Pope Urban:

The gifts of the faithful that are offered to the Lord can only be used for ecclesiastical purposes, for the common good of the Christian community, and for the poor; for they are the consecrated gifts of the faithful, the atonement offering of sinners, and the patrimony of the needy.

Tomb

It was believed that Urban was buried in the Coemetarium Praetextati where a tomb was inscribed with his name. However, when excavating the Catacomb of Callixtus Italian archaeologist Giovanni de Rossi uncovered the lid of a sarcophagus which suggested that Urban was in fact buried there. De Rossi also found a list of martyrs and confessors who were buried at St. Callistus's, which contained Urban's name. De Rossi therefore concluded that the Urban buried in the Coemetarium Praetextati was another bishop and Pope Urban was located in Catacomb of St. Callistus. While many historians accept this opinion, doubt remains since Pope Sixtus III's list of saints buried in St. Callistus's Catacomb does not include Urban in the succession of popes but rather in a list of foreign bishops. Therefore, it is possible that Pope Urban is indeed buried in the Coemetarium Praetextati.

Urban is a saint of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. A relic from his body is located in Hungary in the Monok Roman Catholic Church. In 1773, Pope Clement XIV donated it to the Andrássy family.

Legends and myths

As no contemporary accounts of Urban's pontificate exist there have been many legends and acts attributed to him which are fictitious or difficult to ascertain the factual nature of. The legendary Acts of St. Cecilia and the Liber Pontificalis contain information on Urban although their reliability is doubtful. Chaucer made him a character in "The Second Nun's Tale" of The Canterbury Tales.

A story that was once included in the Catholic Church's Breviary states that Urban had many converts among whom were Tiburtius and his brother Valerianus, the husband of Cecilia. Tradition credits Urban with the miracle of toppling an idol through prayer. This event is believed to have led to Urban being beaten and tortured before being sentenced to death by beheading.

A further belief, now known as an invention from the 6th century, was that Urban had ordered the making of silver liturgical vessels and the patens for twenty-five titular churches of his own time.

Art

Urban is found in various pieces of artwork usually in one of two forms. He is often found sitting wearing the papal tiara, papal robes and holding a sword pointed towards the ground. Otherwise, he may be portrayed wearing papal garb and a bishop's mitre while he holds a Bible and a bunch of grapes. An image of Urban is on a 12th-century fresco at Chalivoy-Milon in the Berry Art Gallery.

Other less common depictions of Pope Urban are:

• after his beheading, with the papal tiara near him.
• as idols fall from a column while he is beheaded;
• scourged at the stake;
• seated in a landscape as a young man (Saint Valerian) kneels before him and a priest holds a book.

See also

• List of Catholic saints
• List of popes

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Pope Urban I — Reigned 222-30, date of birth unknown; died 23 May, 230. According to the "Liber Pontificalis," Urban was a Roman and his father's name was Pontianus. After the death of Callistus I (14 October, 222) Urban was elected Bishop of Rome, of which Church he was the head for eight years, according to Eusebius (Hist. eccl., VI, 23). The document called the Liberian catalogue of popes puts the beginning of his pontificate in the year 223 and its close in the year 230. The dissension produced in the Roman Church by Hippolytus (q.v.) continued to exist during Urban's pontificate. Hippolytus and his adherents persisted in schism; it was probably during the reign of Urban that Hippolytus wrote his "Philosophumena", in which he attacked Pope Callistus severely. Urban maintained the same attitude towards the schismatical party and its leader that his predecessor had adopted. The historical authorities say nothing of any other factious troubles in the life of the Roman Church during this era. In 222 Alexander Severus became Roman emperor. He favoured a religious eclecticism and also protected Christianity. His mother, Julia Mammaea, was a friend of the Alexandrine teacher Origen, whom she summonded to Antioch. Hippolytus dedicated his work on the Resurrection to her. The result of the favourable opinion of Christianity held by the emperor and his mother was that Christians enjoyed complete peace in essentials, although their legal status was not changed. The historian Lampridius (Alex. Sever., c. xxii) says emphatically that Alexander Severus made no trouble for the Christians: "Christianos esse passus est." Undoubtedly the Roman Church experienced the happy results of these kindly intentions and was unmolested during this emperor's reign (222-235). The emperor even protected Roman Christians in a legal dispute over the ownership of a piece of land. When they wished to build a church on a piece of land in Rome which was also claimed by tavern-keepers, the matter was brought before the imperial court, and Severus decided in favour of the Christians, declaring it was better that God should be worshipped on that spot (Lampridius, "Alex. Sever.", c. xlix).

Nothing is known concerning the personal labours of Pope Urban. The increase in extent of various Roman Catacombs in the first half of the third century proves that Christians grew largely in numbers during this period. The legendary Acts of St. Cecilia connect the saint, as well as her husband and brother-in-law, with Urban, who is said to have baptized her husband and her brother-in-law. This narrative, however, is purely legendary, and has no historical value whatever; the same is true of the Acts of the martyrdom of Urban himself, which are of still later date than the legend of St. Cecilia. The statement of the "Liber Pontificalis" that Urban converted many by his sermons, rests on the Acts of St. Cecilia. Another statement on the same authority, that Urban had ordered the making of silver liturgical vessels, is only an invention of the later editor of the biography early in the sixth century, who arbitrarily attributed to Urban the making of certain vessels, including the patens for twenty-five titular churches of his own time. The particulars of the death of Urban are unknown, but, judging from the peace of his era, he must have died a natural death. The "Liber Pontificalis" states that he became a confessor in the reign of Diocletian; the date added is without authority. His name does not appear in the "Depositio Episcopoirum" of the fourth century in the "Kalendarium Philocalianum".

Two different statements are made in the early authorities as to the grave of Urban, of which, however, only one refers to the pope of this name. In the Acts of St. Cecilia and the "Liber Pontificalis" it is said that Pope Urban was buried in the Catacomb of Praetextatus on the Via Appia. The Itineraries of the seventh century to the graves of the Roman martyrs all mention the grave of an Urban in connexion with the graves of several martyrs who are buried in the Catacomb of Praetextatus. One of the Itineraries gives this Urban the title "Bishop and Confessor." Consequently, from the fourth century, all Roman tradition has venerated the pope of this name in the Urban of the Catacomb of Praetextatus. In excavating a double chamber of the Catacomb of St. Callistus, De Rossi found, however, a fragment of the lid of a sarcophagus that bore the inscription ΟΥΡΒΑΝΟϹ E[πίσκοπος]. He also proved that in the list of martyrs and confessors buried in the Catacomb of St. Callistus, drawn up by Sixtus III (432-40), the name of an Urban is to be found. The great archaeologist De Rossi therefore came to the conclusion that the Urban buried in St. Callistus was the pope, while the saint of the same name buried in St. Praetextatus was the bishop of another see who died at Rome and was buried in this catacomb. Most historians agree with this opinion, which, however, chiefly founded on the Acts of St. Cecilia. The lettering of the above-mentioned epitaph of an Urban in St. Callistus indicates a later period, as a comparison with the lettering of the papal epitaphs in the papal crypt proves. In the list prepared by Sixtus III and mentioned above, Urban is not given in the succession of popes, but appears among the foreign bishops who died at Rome and were buried in St. Callistus.

Thus it seems necessary to accept the testimony that Pope Urban was buried in the Catacomb of Praetextatus, while the Urban lying in St. Callistus is a bishop of a later date from some other city. This view best reconciles the statements of the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum". Under date of 25 May (VIII kal. Jun.) is to be found the notice: "Via nomentana miliario VIII natale Urbani episcopi in cimiterio Praetextati" ("Martyr. Hieronym.", ed. De Rossi-Duchesne, 66). The catacomb on the Via Nomentana, however, is that which contains the grave of Pope Alexander, while the Catacomb of Praetextatus is on the Via Appia. Duchesne has proved (Lib. Pontif., I, xlvi-xlvii) that in the list of graves of the popes from which this notice is taken a line dropped out, and that it originally stated that the grave of Pope Alexander was on the Via Nomentana, and the grave of Pope Urban on the Via Appia in the Catacomb of Praetextatus. Consequently 25 May is the day of the burial of Urban in this catacomb. As the same martyrology contains under the date of 19 May (XIV kal. Jun.) a long list of martyrs headed by the two Roman martyrs Calocerus and Partenius, who are buried in the Catacomb of St. Callistus, and including an Urban, this Urban is apparently the foreign bishop of that name who lies buried in the same catacomb.

External links

• Media related to Pope Urban I at Wikimedia Commons