Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/243

 URBAN

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URBAN

(Gelzer, op. cit., 552), under the name of Stauros; and about 940, in the " Notitia" of Constantine Porphyro- »enitus (Georgii Cj-prii, ed. Gelzer, "Descriptio or- bis roniani", 63;. Stauros is not a substitute for V'eriiiopolis, but rather the name of a neighbouring locality. Ramsay (Asia Minor, 247) and Anderson [Studia Pontica, 25) say that Verinopolis is the Byzan- tine name of Evagina, a station described by the 'Tabula Pcutinger" (X, I) and by Ptolemy (V, iv, 7) indcr the altered name of Phubagina. The ruins of Evagina-\'erinopolis were discovered a little to the >outh-wpst of Keuhne, a nahie in thesandjakof Yuz-
 * ad, vilayet of Angora.

MuLLER. cd. DiDOT, Xotfs OH PtoUmij, I, 852; Ramsay, Asia Minor (London. 1S90), 247 sq.; Anderson. Studia Pontica (Brus- lels. 1903), 25-29; Fault -WisaowA, ReaUEncyclopadie der ctass- ^chen Alterimnswissenschaft (3d ed.), 3. v. Evagina.

S. Vailhe.

Urban I, Pope (222-30), date of birth unknown; d. !3 May, 230. According to the "IJber Pontificalis" ed. Duchesne, I, 143), Urban was a Roman and his ather's name was Pontianus. After the death of IJaUistus I (14 October, 222) Urban was elected Bishop )f Rome, of which Church he was the head for eight

b of bt. Calhstus

'ears, according to Eusebius (Hist, eccl., VI, 23). rhe document called the Liberian catalogue of popes Duchesne, loc. cit., 4-5) puts the beginning of his lontificate in the year 223 and its close in the year !30. The dissension produced in the Roman Church ly Hippolytus (q. v.) continued to exist during Ur- lan's pontificate. Hippolytus and his adherents per- isted in schism; it was probably during the reign of Jrban that Hippolytus wrote his "Philosophumena", n which he attacked Pope Callistus severely. Urban naintained the same attitude towards the schism.at- ral party and its leader that his predecessor had dopted. The historical authorities say nothing of ,ny other factious troubles in the life of the Roman !;hurch during this era. In 222 Alexander Severus lecame Roman emperor. He favoured a religious clecticism and also protected Christianity. His not her, Julia Mamma-a, was a friend of the Alexan- Irine teacher Origen, whom she summoned to Antioch. lippolylus dedicated his work on the Resurrection to ler. The result of the favourable opinion of Chri.s- ianity held by the emperor and his mother was that Christians enjoyed complete peace in essentials, It hough their legal status was not changed. The listorian Lampridius (.\lex. Sever., c. xxii) says em- ihatically that .Vlexander Severus made no trouble f)r the Christians: " Christ ianos esse passus est." Jndoubtedly the Roman Church experienced the appy results of these kindly intentions and was un- lolested during this emperor's reign (222-.35). The mperor even protected Roman Christians in a leg.al ispute over the ownership of a jjieceof land. When hey wi.shed to build a church on a piece of land in lome which was also claimed by tavern-keepers, he matter was brought before the imperial court, and Icverus decided in favour of the Christians, declar- ig it was better that God should be worshipped on hat spot (Lampridius, ",\Iex. Sever.", c. xlix).

Nothing is known concerning the personal labours f Pope Urban. The increase in extent of various loman Catacombs in the first half of the third century iroves that Christians grew largely in numbers during his period. The legendary Acts of St. Cecilia r-on- lect the saint, as well as her husband and her brother- XV.— 14

in-law, with Urban, who is said to have baptized her husband and her brother-in-law. This narrative, however, is purely legendary, and has no historical value whatever; the same is true of the Acts of the martyrdom of Urban himself, which are of still later date than the legend of St. Cecilia. The statement of the " Liber Pontificalis " (ed. cit.), that Urban con- verted many by his sermons, rests on the Acts of St. Ceciha. Another statement on the same authority, that LTrban had ordered the making of silver liturgical vessels, is only an invention of the later editor of the biography early in the sixth century, who arbitrarily attributed to Urban the making of certain vessels, including the patens for twenty-five titular churches of his own time. The particulars of the death of Urban are unknown, but, judging from the peace of his era, he must have died a natural death. The "Liber Pontificahs" states that he be- came a confessor in the reign of Diocletian; the date added is without authority. His name does not appear in the " Depositio Episcoporum" of the fourth century in the "Kalendarium Philoca- lianum".

Two different statements are made in the early authorities as to the grave of LIrban, of which, how- ever, only one refers to the pope of this name. In the Acts of St. Cecilia and in the "Liber Pontificalis" it is said that Pope Urban was buried in the Catacomb of Pretext at us on the Via Appia. The Itineraries of the seventh century to the graves of the Roman martyrs all mention the grave of an Urban in connex- ion with the graves of several martjTS who are buried in the Catacomb of Pnetextatus. One of the Itiner- aries gives this Urban t he t it le " Bishop and Confessor" (De Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", I, 180). Conse- quently, from the fourth century, all Roman tradition has venerated the pope of this name in the Urban of the Catacomb of Pnetextatus. In excavating a double chamber of the Catacomb of St. Callistus, De Rossi found, however, a fragment of the lid of a sarcophagus that bore the inscription OTPBAJJOC E [ir/iTKOTros], He also proved that in the list of martyrs and confessors buried in the Catacomb of St. Calhstus, drawn up by Sixtus III (432-40), the name of an Urban is to be found. De Rossi (op. cit., II, 52 sqq., 151 sqq.) therefore came to the conclusion that the LTrban buried in St. Callistus was the pope, while the saint of the same name buried in St. Pra?textatus was the bishop of another see who died at Rome and was buried in this catacomb. Most historians agree with this opinion of the great archaeologist, which, however, is chiefly founded on the Acts of St. Cecilia. The lettering of the above-mentioned epitaph of an I^rban in St. Calhstus indicates a later period, as a compari- son with the lettering of the papal epitaphs in thfi papal crj-pt proves. In the list prepared by Sixtus III and mentioned above, Urban is not given in the suc- cession of popes, but appears among the foreign bishops who died at Rome and were buried in St. Callistus (cf. Wilpert, " Die Papstgriiber und die Caciliengruft", Freiburg, 1909, p. 17).

Thus it seems necessary to accept the testimony that Pope LTrban was buried in the Catacomb of Pra-textatus, while the Urban lying in St. Callistus is a bishop of a later date from some other city. This view best reconciles the statements of the "Martyr- ologium Hieronymianum ". Under date of 25 May (VIII kal. .lun.) is to be found the notice: "Via nomentana miliario \'III natale Urbani episcopi in cimiterio Pnetcxlali" ("Martyr. Hieronym.", ed. De Rossi-Duchcsne. Cifi). The (•at;icomb on the Via No- mentana, however, is that which contains the grave of Pope .Alexander, while the Catiicnmb of I'ri'textatusis on the Via Appia. Duchesni' has proved (Lib. Pon- tif., I, xlvi-xlvii) that in the list of the graves of the popes from which this notice is taken a line dropped out, and (hat it originally stated that the