Thursday, December 19, 2013

December 19: Blessed Pope Urban V

Pope Urban V
by Henri Segur

History

When Guillaume de Grimoard of France was elected pope, he chose the name Urban V because the four Urbans before him had all become saints, and he wanted to be a saint more than anything. Urban V resided in Avignon, France, instead of in Rome, because he was trying to bring peace to the area. He had many little wars to deal with and more tyrants (bad kings) than good leaders to work with. When he finally went back to Italy, things were so bad in Rome, he had to have an army and several princes in order to get to the basilica. He spent the rest of his life trying to bring wars to an end.

Activity

You may not realize it, but even today, there are wars going on in different parts of the world. Today, pray that people will work for peace, and pray that God will bless our current holy father, Pope Francis, as he tries to convince people to live together peacefully instead of fighting.

Blessed Urban V, pray for us!

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