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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Urban I</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15209a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Died 230. Very little is known about his life, and even his burial place was in doubt for some time"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="15209a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/u.htm">U</a> > Pope Urban I</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Pope Urban I</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>Reigned 222-30, <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">date</a> of birth unknown; died 23 May, 230. According to the "Liber Pontificalis," Urban was a Roman and his <a href="../cathen/11478c.htm">father's</a> name was Pontianus. After the death of <a href="../cathen/03183d.htm">Callistus I</a> (14 October, 222) Urban was elected <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">Bishop of Rome</a>, of which Church he was the head for eight years, according to <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> (<a href="../fathers/250106.htm"><em>Church History</em> VI.23</a>). The document called the Liberian catalogue of <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">popes</a> puts the beginning of his pontificate in the year 223 and its close in the year 230. The dissension produced in the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a> by <a href="../cathen/07360c.htm">Hippolytus</a> continued to exist during Urban's pontificate. <a href="../cathen/07360c.htm">Hippolytus</a> and his adherents persisted in <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a>; it was probably during the reign of Urban that <a href="../cathen/07360c.htm">Hippolytus</a> wrote his "Philosophumena", in which he attacked Pope Callistus severely. Urban maintained the same attitude towards the <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schismatical</a> party and its leader that his predecessor had adopted. The historical authorities say nothing of any other factious troubles in the life of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a> during this era. In 222 <a href="../cathen/13743a.htm">Alexander Severus</a> became Roman emperor. He favoured a religious eclecticism and also protected <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>. His mother, Julia Mammaea, was a friend of the Alexandrine teacher <a href="../cathen/11306b.htm">Origen</a>, whom she summonded to Antioch. <a href="../cathen/07360c.htm">Hippolytus</a> dedicated his work on the Resurrection to her. The result of the favourable opinion of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> held by the emperor and his mother was that <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> enjoyed complete peace in essentials, although their legal status was not changed. The historian Lampridius (Alex. Sever., c. xxii) says emphatically that <a href="../cathen/13743a.htm">Alexander Severus</a> made no trouble for the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>: "Christianos esse passus est." Undoubtedly the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a> experienced the <a href="../cathen/07131b.htm">happy</a> results of these kindly intentions and was unmolested during this emperor's reign (222-235). The emperor even protected Roman <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> 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 <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> which was also claimed by tavern-keepers, the matter was brought before the imperial court, and Severus decided in favour of the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>, declaring it was better that <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> should be worshipped on that spot (Lampridius, "Alex. Sever.", c. xlix).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Nothing is known concerning the personal labours of Pope Urban. The increase in extent of various <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Roman Catacombs</a> in the first half of the third century proves that <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> grew largely in numbers during this period. The legendary Acts of <a href="../cathen/03471b.htm">St. Cecilia</a> connect the <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saint</a>, as well as her husband and brother-in-law, with Urban, who is said to have <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptized</a> her husband and her brother-in-law. This narrative, however, is purely legendary, and has no historical value whatever; the same is <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> of the Acts of the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> of Urban himself, which are of still later date than the legend of St. Cecilia. The statement of the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a> that Urban converted many by his <a href="../cathen/07448a.htm">sermons</a>, rests on the Acts of St. Cecilia. Another statement on the same authority, that Urban had ordered the making of silver <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> 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 <a href="../cathen/11541b.htm">patens</a> 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 <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a> states that he became a confessor in the reign of <a href="../cathen/05007b.htm">Diocletian</a>; the date added is without authority. His name does not appear in the "Depositio Episcopoirum" of the fourth century in the "Kalendarium Philocalianum".</p> <p>Two different statements are made in the early authorities as to the grave of Urban, of which, however, only one refers to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> of this name. In the Acts of St. Cecilia and the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a> it is said that Pope Urban was buried in the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of Praetextatus on the Via Appia. The Itineraries of the seventh century to the graves of the Roman <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> all mention the grave of an Urban in connexion with the graves of several <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> who are buried in the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of Praetextatus. One of the Itineraries gives this Urban the title "Bishop and Confessor." Consequently, from the fourth century, all Roman tradition has <a href="../cathen/05188b.htm">venerated</a> the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> of this name in the Urban of the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of Praetextatus. In excavating a double chamber of the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of St. Callistus, <a href="../cathen/04739c.htm">De Rossi</a> found, however, a fragment of the lid of a sarcophagus that bore the inscription <em>OUPBANOCE [piskopos]</em>. He also <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> that in the list of <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> and confessors buried in the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of St. Callistus, drawn up by <a href="../cathen/14032a.htm">Sixtus III</a> (432-40), the name of an Urban is to be found. The great archaeologist <a href="../cathen/04739c.htm">De Rossi</a> therefore came to the conclusion that the Urban buried in St. Callistus was the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, while the <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saint</a> of the same name buried in St. Praetextatus was the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of another see who died at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> and was buried in this <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">catacomb</a>. 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 <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> epitaphs in the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> <a href="../cathen/04558a.htm">crypt</a> proves. In the list prepared by <a href="../cathen/14032a.htm">Sixtus III</a> and mentioned above, Urban is not given in the succession of <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">popes</a>, but appears among the foreign <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> who died at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> and were buried in St. Callistus.</p> <p>Thus it seems <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> to accept the testimony that Pope Urban was buried in the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of Praetextatus, while the Urban lying in St. Callistus is a <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of a later date from some other city. This view best reconciles the statements of the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum". Under date of 25 May (<em>VIII kal. Jun.</em>) is to be found the notice: "Via nomentana miliario VIII natale Urbani episcopi in cimiterio Praetextati" ("Martyr. Hieronym.", ed. De Rossi-Duchesne, 66). The <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">catacomb</a> on the Via Nomentana, however, is that which contains the grave of Pope Alexander, while the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of Praetextatus is on the Via Appia. Duchesne has <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> (Lib. Pontif., I, xlvi-xlvii) that in the list of graves of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">popes</a> 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 <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of Praetextatus. Consequently 25 May is the day of the burial of Urban in this <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">catacomb</a>. As the same <a href="../cathen/09741a.htm">martyrology</a> contains under the <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">date</a> of 19 May (<em>XIV kal. Jun.</em>) a long list of <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> headed by the two Roman <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> Calocerus and Partenius, who are buried in the <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">Catacomb</a> of St. Callistus, and including an Urban, this Urban is apparently the foreign <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of that name who lies buried in the same <a href="../cathen/03417b.htm">catacomb</a>.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Kirsch, J.P.</span> <span id="apayear">(1912).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Pope Urban I.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15209a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Kirsch, Johann Peter.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Pope Urban I."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 15.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1912.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15209a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Carol Kerstner.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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