St. Urban

St Urban I Pope, Martyr

Pope Saint Urban I was one of the earliest popes of the Catholic Church, serving in the third century. He is often regarded as one of the first popes whose leadership can be dated. Even still, Pope Saint Urban’s papacy is still shrouded in mystery. Saint Urban left no personal writings. Thus, not much is known about his early life. It is believed that Urban was born around the year 175 in Rome. His father’s name was Pontianus. Unlike future leaders of the Catholic Church, Urban did not change his name upon election. He is the original Pope Urban. Many future popes adopted the name in his legacy.

Pope Saint Urban was elected to serve as Pope in 222 after the death of Callixtus I. His reign is a noted time of relative peace for Christians. He served in this position when the Roman Emperor was Alexander Severus. Unlike Rome’s previous leader, Alexander Severus did not persecute Christianity. For this reason, the Church grew in numbers. Saint Urban was considered to be a successful converter. Stories of his ability to get people to turn to Christianity are still told to this day. Some of his most notable converts include the husband and brother-in-law of Saint Cecilia.

While the Church was able to flourish during Pope Saint Urban’s papacy, there was still some dissension in the Roman Church. Hippolytus opposed the previous pope, Callixtus I. Once Saint Urban took over, much of that disdain with Hippolytus and his followers continued. Pope Saint Urban dealt with the schism the same way, which didn’t help to ease tensions. Additional factions in the Church, such as Gnosticism and Novatianism, also existed during his reign. They continued to challenge the Church.

Saint Urban was imprisoned by a provost of Rome called Almachius. Almachius beheaded Saint Cecilia and accused Saint Urban of conspiring with her to convert 5,000 people. He was then imprisoned, where he converted and baptized the keepers of the prison. Almachius then tried to force Saint Urban to pray to a Roman idol. However, he stayed true to his faith and prayed to God. The idol then fell, killing 22 pagan priests. Even though he was tortured, Saint Urban refused to pray to the Roman Idol. Eventually, Almachius sentenced him to death and had him beheaded.