Urban VIII
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Pope Urban VIII |
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| Bishop of Rome | |
A portrait of Pope Urban VIII
by Pietro da Cortona (1627) |
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| Papacy began | 6 August 1623 |
| Papacy ended | 29 July 1644 |
| Predecessor | Gregory XV |
| Successor | Innocent X |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1592 |
| Consecration | 28 October 1604 by Fabio Blondus de Montealto |
| Created Cardinal | 11 September 1606 by Pope Paul V |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Maffeo Barberini |
| Born | 5 April 1568 Florence, Duchy of Florence |
| Died | 29 July 1644 (aged 76) Rome, Lazio, Papal States |
| Parents | Antonio Barberini & Camilla Barbadoro |
| Previous post |
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| Coat of arms |  |
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Papal styles of Pope Urban VIII |
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| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | None |
Pope Urban VIII (Latin: Urbanus VIII; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), reigned as Pope from 6 August 1623 to his death in 1644. He expanded the papal territory by force of arms and advantageous politicking, and was also a prominent patron of the arts and a reformer of Church missions.
However, the massive debts incurred during his pontificate greatly weakened his successors, who were unable to maintain the papacy's longstanding political and military influence in Europe. He was also involved in a controversy with Galileo and his theory on heliocentrism during his reign.
He is the most recent pope to date to take the pontifical name of Urban upon being elected as pope.
He was born Maffeo Barberini in April 1568 to Antonio Barberini, a Florentine nobleman, and Camilla Barbadoro. His father died when he was only three years old and his mother took him to Rome, where he was put in the charge of his uncle, Francesco Barberini, an apostolic protonotary. At the age of 16 he became his uncle's heir. He was educated by the Society of Jesus, ("Jesuits") and received a doctorate of law from the University of Pisa in 1589.
In 1601, Barberini, through the influence of his uncle, was able to secure from Pope Clement VIII appointment as a papal legate to the court of King Henry IV of France. In 1604, the same pope appointed him as the Archbishop of Nazareth, an office joined with that of Bishop of the suppressed Dioceses of Canne and Monteverde, with his residence at Barletta. At the death of his uncle, he inherited his riches, with which he bought a palace in Rome which he made into a luxurious Renaissance residence.
Pope Paul V also later employed Barberini in a similar capacity, afterwards raising him, in 1606, to the order of the Cardinal-Priest, with the titular church of San Pietro in Montorio and appointing him as a papal legate of Bologna.
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Wikipedia