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Urban II

Pope Blessed
Urban II
Urban II cropped.png
1655 portrait (Zurbarán)
Papacy began 12 March 1088
Papacy ended 29 July 1099
Predecessor Victor III
Successor Paschal II
Orders
Ordination C. 1068
Consecration 20 July 1085
Created Cardinal 1073
by Gregory VII
Personal details
Birth name Odo of Châtillon
Born c. 1042
Lagery, County of Champagne, Kingdom of France
Died 29 July 1099(1099-07-29) (aged 57)
Rome, Papal States, Holy Roman Empire
Previous post
Sainthood
Feast day 29 July
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Beatified 14 July 1881
Rome
by Pope Leo XIII
Attributes
Papal styles of
Pope Urban II
Emblem of the Papacy SE.svg
Reference style His Holiness
Spoken style Your Holiness
Religious style Holy Father
Posthumous style Blessed

Pope Urban II (Latin: Urbanus II; c. 1042 – 29 July 1099), born Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was Pope from 12 March 1088 to his death in 1099. He is best known for initiating the First Crusade (1096–99) and setting up the modern-day Roman Curia in the manner of a royal ecclesiastical court to help run the Church.

Pope Urban II was a native of France. He was a descendant of a noble family in Châtillon-sur-Marne.

Urban, baptized Eudes (Odo), was born to a family of Châtillon-sur-Marne. He was prior of the abbey of Cluny, later Pope Gregory VII named him cardinal-bishop of Ostia c. 1080. He was one of the most prominent and active supporters of the Gregorian reforms, especially as legate in the Holy Roman Empire in 1084. He was among the four whom Gregory VII nominated as papabile (possible successors). Desiderius, the abbot of Monte Cassino, was chosen to follow Gregory in 1085 but, after his short reign as Victor III, Odo was elected by acclamation at a small meeting of cardinals and other prelates held in Terracina in March 1088.

From the outset, Urban had to reckon with the presence of Guibert, the former bishop of Ravenna who held Rome as the antipope "Clement III". Gregory had repeatedly clashed with the emperor Henry IV over papal authority. Despite the Walk to Canossa, Gregory had backed the rebel Duke of Swabia and again excommunicated the emperor. Henry finally took Rome in 1084 and installed Clement III in his place.


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