URBAN
218
URBAN
Urban VI in Hist. Zeitschr., XXVUI (1872); V\lois,L'eleclion
d'Urbain VI m Revue des questions hisior., XLVIII (1890), 353-
420; Erler, Dietrich von Nieheim (Leipzig, 1888); Scheuffoen,
Beitrage z, Gesch. des grossen Schismas (Freiburg, 1889) ; Hefele,
Conciliengesch., VI (Freiburg, 1890) ; SoncHON, Die Papstwahlen
in der Zeil des grossen Schismas (Brunswick, 1899) ; Salembier,
Le grand schisme d'OccideiU (English tr., London, 1908) ; Buemetz-
RIEDER, Das Generalkonzil im grossen ahendUindisch. Sckisma
(Paderborn, 1904); Mulder, Dietrich v. Nieheim, I (Amsterdam,
1907).
William Mulder. Urban VII, Pope (Giamb.^ttista Castagna), b. at Rome, 4 Aug., 1521; elected pope, 15 September, 1590; d. at Rome, 27 Sept., 1590. His father, Cosimo, was a Genoese nobleman; his mother, Cos- tanza Ricci, was a Roman and sister of Cardinal Jacovazzi. He studied civil and canon law at va- riou.s universities of Italy and graduated as doc- tor of both laws at Bologna. Soon after he became auditor of his uncle, Cardinal Girolamo Verallo, wliom he accom- panied as datary on a papal legation to France. On his return to Italy, .lulius III made him referendary of the Segnatura di Giustizia and on 1 March, 15.53, appointed him Archbishop of Rnss.ino. He w.as (inlained priest, 30 M;irch, and conse- crated bishop by Cardinal Verallo, 4 April. Julius III sent him as governor to Fano in 1555, and under Paul IV he was for a short time (jovernor of Perugia and Umbria. During the reign of Pius IV he set- tled satisfactorily a long-standing boundary dispute between the inhabitants of Terni and Spoleto. From 1562 to 1563 he assisted at the Council of Trent, where he was made president of various congrega- tions and manifested great prudence and learning. In 1565 he accompanied the cardinal-legate Buon- compagni (afterwards Gregory XIII) to Spain, where he remained seven years as papal nuncio at the Court of Philip II. On his return to Italy he voluntarily resigned the archiepiscopal See of P^ossano in Janu- ary, 1573, and was sent by Gregory XIII as nuncio to Venice, whence he was transferred as governor to Bologna in 1577. A year later he was sent as legate extraordinary to Cologne, to reiiresent Gregory XIII at the peace conference between Philip II and the United Provinces. Upon his return to Rome he was appointed Consultor of the Holy Office and the Eccle- siasl ical State. On 12 DeceiribiT, loS3, Gregory XIII created him cardinal priest with the titular Church of S. Marcelld, and on S October, l.JSl, appointed him legate of Bologna. During the reign of Sixtus V (1.5S5 90) he was highly influential. On 19 Novem- ber, 15S(), he became Inquisitor-General of the Holy Office.
Sixtus V having died 27 August, 1590, the cardi- nals, 54 in number (see Eubel, "Ilierarchia catholica medii fevi". III, 59), entered the conclaye at the Vatican on 7 September, and elected Cardinal Cas- tagna as pope on 15 September. The news of his elect ion was a cause of universal joy. The new pontiff was not only highly esteemed for his piety and learn-
ing, he had also, in the many important and difficult
positions which he filled as archbishop and cardinal,
manifested extraordinary prudence and administra-
tive ability. He chose the name Urban in order that
this name, which in Latin signifies "kind", might
be a continuous reminder for him to show kindness
towards all his subjects. One of his first acts was
to have a list made of all the poor in Rome that he
might alleviate their needs. He also gave liberal alms
to those cardinals whose income was insufficient, paid
the debts of all the monis-de-piele in the Ecclesiastical
State, and ordered the bakers of Rome to make larger
loaves of bread and sell them cheaper, indemnifying
their losses out of his own purse. Desirous of check-
ing the luxury of the rich, he forbade his chamberlains
to wear silk garments. In order to give occupation
to the poor, he ordered the completion of the public
works that had been commenced by his predecessor.
He appointed a committee of cardinals, consisting of
Paleotti, Fachinetti, Lancelotti, and Aldobrandini,
for the reform of the Apostohc Datary. Strongly
opposed to nepotism, he expressed his purpose never
to appoint any of his relatives to an office in the Curia
and forbade them to make use of the title "Excel-
lence", which it was customary to give to the nearest
relatives of the pope. A few days after his election
he became seriously ill. The faithful united in prayers
for his recovery; public processions, expositions of
the Blessed Sacrament, and other pious exercises
were conducted. The pope confessed and com-
municated every day of his illness. He once expressed
a desire to remove to the Quirinal, where the air was
purer and more wholesome, but, when told that it was
not customary for the pope to be seen in the city
before his coronation, he remained in the Vatican.
He died before the papal coronation could take place
and was buried in the Vatican BasiUca. On 22
September, 1606, his remains were transferred to the
Church of S. Maria sopra Minerva, where a magnifi-
cent monument was erected in his honour. His
temporal possessions, consisting of 30,000 scudi, he
bequeathed to the Archconfraternity of the Annun-
ciation to be used as dowries for poor girls.
Arrighi, Urbani Vll pontificis maiimi mta (Bologna, 1614) ; Cardell.a, Memorie storiche de' cardinali delta s. Romarta Chiesa, V (Rome, 1793). 178-81; Moroni. Dizionario di erudizione storico ecclesiastics. LXXXVI (Venice. 1837), 36-41 : De .Mo.vtor, Lives of the Popes, tr. Neuoan. I (New York, 1865), 872-74.
MiCH.AEL OtT.
Urban VIII, Pope (Mapfeo Barberini), b. at Florence in April, 156S; elected pope, 6 August, 1623; d. at Rome, 29 July, 1644. His father Antonio Bar- berini, a Florentine nobleman, having died when ^laffeo was only three years old, his mother, Camilla Barbadoro, brought him to Rome at an early age. He lived with his uncle, Francesco Barberini, who was then prothonotary Apostohc, and was educated at the Collegio Romano undw- the direction of the Jesuits. In 1,589 he gr.aduated from Pisa as Doctor of Laws, and returning to Rome he became abbreviator Apos- tolic and referendary of the Segnatura di Giustizia. In 1592 Clement VIII made him Governor of Fano, then prothonotary Apostolic, and in 1601 papal legate to France to present his felicitations to King Henry IV on the birth of the dauphin, the future King" Louis XIII. In 1604 he was appointed Arch- bishop of Nazareth and sent as nuncio to Paris, where he became very influential with Henry IV. In recognition of his .services in France, Paul V created him cardinal-priest, 11 September, 160t), with the titular Church of S. Pietro in Montorio, which he ex- changed for that of S. Onofrio, 5 September, 1610. On 17 October, 1608, he was transferred to the See of Spoleto, where he convened a synod, completed the seminary, and built two other dioce.^an seminaries, at Spello and Vis.so. In 1617 Paul V made him legate of Bologna and prefect of the Segnatura di Giustizm.
