Saint Urban I, Pope

This holy Pope established a constitution according to which the funds and inheritances given to the Church for the maintenance of priests and clerics, and for the assistance of the poor, were not to be sold, but were to remain inalienable: their revenues were to be used to provide for their needs, without it being permitted to use them for anything else, "because," he said, "these are the offerings of the faithful, the ransom of sins, and the patrimony of the poor."

He further ordered that the chalices, patens, and other sacred vessels intended for the holy sacrifice should be of silver, or even fine gold, enriched with precious stones. He declared that Christians should receive the sacrament of Confirmation from the hands of the bishop, and forbade that any excommunicated person be elected to the episcopate, even if his sentence had not been entirely just.

It is said that Pope Nicholas I, who ascended the chair of Saint Peter in the year 858, gave the body of Saint Urban to the monks of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre in the year 862. The translation took place the following year and was accompanied by many miracles. In 865, the monks of Saint-Germain gave their precious deposit to Erebzoré, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, and this prelate placed it in the monastery he had built near Joinville (today in the diocese of Langres), which changed its name from the Holy Trinity to that of Saint-Urbain. It is today a town of nearly one thousand inhabitants. The parish church is very rich in holy relics: this is what is said. But this translation of the relics of Saint Urban, Pope, is an saint Urbain, pape Pope and martyr of the 3rd century, successor to Callixtus. ything but authentic. It would concern a Saint Urban, bishop, who took refuge in Rome and was martyred during the persecution of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, and not the Pope, the first of that name. This is what Father Papebrock proved or attempted to prove at s Père Papebrock Jesuit hagiographer who studied the life of Saint Urban. ome length in his notes on the life of Saint Urban. Indeed, the Romans are convinced that the body of Saint Urban, Pope, is still entirely with them; for, in 1599, it was found in the church of Saint Cecilia, and Sainte-Cécile Roman church where the body of Pope Urban was discovered in 1599. Clement VIII had it replaced under the altar from which it had been taken, after having separated the head for the church of Notre-Dame d'Ara Coeli, and some fragments for other churches. "Thus, although Pope Nicholas intended to send the true body of Pope Urban to Auxerre," says Baillet, "it is believed that he was deceived in good faith, and that, unaware that Paschal I had transferred this body forty years earlier to the church of Saint Cecilia, he gave that of another under this name." Be that as it may, it is to Saint Urban, Pope, that the cult rendered to the relics brought to France related; it is he whom the faithful invoked as patron.

In several places, Saint Urban is invoked for the prosp erity of the vine. The prospérité de la vigne Spiritual attribution of Saint Urban linked to the agricultural calendar. reason given for this patronage is that May 25 is the extreme limit of adverse influences and temperatures that can harm the vine. Hence, the need that was felt to place oneself under the protection of a Saint upon whom the salvation of the harvest depends. This patronage exists in Spain, as well as in Germany and France. For these reasons, Saint Urban is painted with a bunch of grapes.

*Acta Sanctorum; Baillet; Rossi, Roma sotterranea. — See the Supplement to this volume.*