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Clement V
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Peaceful, timid Pope Clement V could not endure
turbulent Rome and wandered through Italy and France until 1309. In that
year he bought the small town of Avignon in the papal territory of Venaissin.
He established papal court there and surrounded himself with Frenchmen.
So commenced the Avignon exile, the "Babylonian captivity" of
the papacy.
His successors, John XXII, Benedict XII, Clement VI, and Innocent VI,
(Frenchmen all), toyed with the idea of returning to Rome. Innocent VI,
by employing the Spanish Cardinal Gil Albornoz as his agent in Italy,
secured the necessary conditions. Albornoz was a capable general who brought
the Italian barons to heel. Innocent VI was too old to capitalize on this
gain, but his successor was not.
Urban V was a Benedictine, personally decent but seemingly more in love
with learning than with Christ. English armies were pressuring Southern
France. This may have motivated his return to Rome. Furthermore, bandits
had extorted large sums from him and the furies of Rome could not seem
more inconvenient than the realities at Avignon. His French cardinals
protested any dislocation and threatened to abandon him. Urban overrode
their objections and sailed from Marseille on April 30, 1367, surrounded
by a fleet of joyous Italian galleys.
He did not immediately report to Rome, but summered in Viterbo. While
he was there, Cardinal Albornoz died. When Urban did reenter the eternal
city, his heart must have sunk. None of its former pomp remained. The
buildings were in ruin. The Lateran palace had been burned. Swamps repossessed
acres which once boasted dwellings. Rubble and trash congested the streets.
St. Peter's appeared likely to collapse.
The pope was greeted warmly. The Italians seemed genuinely pleased to
have the papacy back home. Urban found rooms nearby while restoration
proceeded. But although he hankered for Avignon, his days in Italy were
not without their rewards. Emperor Charles IV called and dignified him
by leading him on his horse to mass. Byzantine emperor Michael Palaeologus
(John V) also came to him, renouncing the schism between the eastern and
western churches and pleading for military aid against the Ottoman invaders.
Urban could not help him. He surrounded himself with humanists and the
morals of his court declined. He hadn't the fire of holiness to remedy
this.
More and more he cast longing eyes to the North. St. Bridgett prophecied
his speedy death if he returned to Avignon. Ignoring her, he left in September.
By December he was dead. He had remained in Italy only three years.
Thus the first attempt to end the Avignon exile ended in failure. Restoration
of the papal home was important, because nations at enmity with France
found it hard to swallow the rulings of popes perceived to be under French
influence. The results of the Avignon exile were not easily erased either.
Although Gregory XI was more successful in restoring the papacy to Rome,
schism soon followed, with half of the European nations favoring the Roman
pope and half a rival in Avignon.
Resources:
- Brusher, J. Popes Through the Ages. Princeton, New Jersey:
Van Nostrand, 1964.
- Curtis, A. Kenneth, J. Stephen Lang, and Randy Petersen. Dates
with Destiny; the 100 most important dates in Church History. Tarrytown,
New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1984.
- Montor, Chevalier Artaud de. Lives and Times of the Popes. New York: Catholic Publication Society of America, 1911.
- Raymund, Webster. "Pope Bl. Urban V." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
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