Pope Urban VII (served
September 15, 1590 -
September 27, 1590)
One of the genuinely pious and charitable
Popes, he unfortunately died before he could even be
consecrated.
Born Giambasttista Castagna in
1521, he was the son of a
Genoese nobleman and was related to several
cardinals. He studied civil and
canon law and held a variety of important church positions under popes
Julius III,
Paul IV,
Pius IV,
Gregory XIII, and
Sixtus V, and was appointed a
cardinal priest by Gregory. He was held in great esteem for his learning and piety, and was elected pope after the death of Sixtus.
He took the name of Urban (
Latin for "kind") and planned a series of Papal works on behalf of the poor. He settled up the accounts those in debt to the
monts-de-piété and ordered bakers to bake bigger bread for less
dough. He also forbade his
chamberlains from wearing expensive
silk and strove to eliminate
nepotism in the church. All this in twelve days. Imagine what he could have done in twelve years.
Unfortunately, he caught
malaria and died. Charitable to the end, his fortune of 30,000
scudi went to provide
dowries for poor girls.
In
1606, his remains were moved from the
Vatican Basilica to the
Church of St. Maria sopra Minerva, where a monument to him was erected.
Information from The Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org)