Who was the Pope who fought both the internal and external enemies of the Church by promoting the First Crusade, one of the greatest epochs in history? Blessed Urban II.
Newsroom (13/01/2023 4:43 PM, Gaudium Press) Born in 1040 into a noble family, the future Pope Urban II was a disciple of St. Bruno, founder of the Carthusian Order. Ordained a priest, he became archdeacon of Reims Cathedral. After three years, he entered the Monastery of Cluny, where the Abbot, St. Hugo, appointed him Grand Prior.
In 1080, St. Gregory VII appointed him Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia – a city near Rome – and chose him as a counsellor.
This heroic Pope died in May of 1085 and was succeeded by Blessed Victor III, who for thirty years had been Superior of the famous Monastery of Monte Cassino, in south-west Italy, but who reigned as Pope for only 15 months.
In 1088, the Chair of Peter was assumed by Blessed Urban II, who was 48 years of age at the time. Of majestic stature and energetic character, he possessed great wisdom and the charm of eloquence.
He vigorously continued the Gregorian Reform of the Church begun by St. Leo IX, pontiff from 1049 to 1054. It is called “Gregorian” because the instigator of that reform was Archdeacon Hildebrand, the future St. Gregory VII, who was St. Leo IX’s advisor.
Blessed Urban II fought against the intrusion of temporal power in the investiture of ecclesiastical offices, as well as the simony and impurity that were rife among many clerics.
He renewed the vehement disapproval and denouncement against Henry IV, who had invaded Rome in 1089 and was the cause of an antipope taking possession of St. Peter’s Basilica.
He confirmed, in 1094, the excommunication launched by the bishops of France against King Philip I, for having abandoned his lawful wedded wife.
The King holds the reins of the horse mounted by the Pope
St. Gregory VII had written encyclicals calling on Catholics to liberate Jerusalem, then dominated by Mohammedans, and had travelled through various regions of France, attracting large numbers of people. He himself wished to lead them, but the whole Church opposed the pontiff’s departure.
The one who succeeded in bringing this noble ideal to fruition was Blessed Urban II, who called a Council to be held in November 1095 in the French city of Clermont. From April of that year onwards, he visited various places in Italy and France, preaching the Crusade.
The people of Lombardy, in northern Italy, had supported the infamous Henry IV. Through the apostolate exercised by the Countess Matilda, Conrad, son of this excommunicated emperor, rejected the revolt promoted by his father, submitted to the true Pope, and was crowned King of Italy.
When Blessed Urban II approached Cremona, King Conrad went to meet him and, with his feet on the ground, ushered him into the city holding the reins of the horse mounted by the Pontiff.
He subsequently visited the Abbey of Cluny, where he had been a monk, and celebrated a solemn ceremony in the Basilica, which was still under construction. Finally he arrived at Clermont, a city not under the jurisdiction of the King of France, Philip I, who had been excommunicated.
The Council began on 18 November 1095, with the participation of some cardinals, 238 bishops and several abbots. After the examination of disciplinary questions, on 27 November, the proclamation of the Crusade was announced, awaited by more than 100,000 people, most of whom were French, but also included Italians, Spaniards and Germans.
The assembly was held on a plain on the outskirts of the city, on an elevated area, where the Pope, the prelates and abbots, as well as Peter the Hermit, were.
Spokesmen placed at some distance from each other repeated or translated the words of the Pontiff. Despite the intense cold, for it was winter, everyone followed with an enthusiasm provided by divine grace.
Shortly before this Council, many people had seen extraordinary phenomena in the sky: auroras borealis with a great number of shooting stars interspersed, clouds the colour of blood, and a comet in the shape of a flaming sword whose tip was turned towards the East. Some saw the Archangel St. Gabriel and Charlemagne.
“Draw your sword and strike the enemies of Jerusalem!”
Here is a summary of the words spoken by Blessed Urban II:
The Holy Places are transformed into stables filled with filth. Christians are bowed down under the weight of misery and ignominious slavery. Their children are forced to blaspheme against the adorable Name of Jesus Christ; if they refuse, their heads are cut off.
In the venerable Shrines, the barbarians commit the most monstrous crimes: they behead clerics, drag virgins under their mothers’ gaze to immolate them or deliver them up to outrages crueler than death itself.
And you who wear the insignia of chivalry, are you really the knights of Christ? Do you remember an emperor called Charlemagne?
German people, he was yours by the ancient origin of his grandparents! French people, he was yours and his name is for you a title of immortal glory! The invincible arm of Charlemagne decimated thousands of Saracens in Spain, France and Italy.
Will you cowardly allow the Saracens and the Turks to oppress and behead the last remains of the Christian people?
Rise up, you valiant knights! The Christian world will rush to follow you and imitate your heroic example. Put on your armour, gather your legions, and your companies! The more ardour and intrepid confidence you show, the more soldiers you will have. God will send His Angels who will march before you and direct your steps.
Christians, go and liberate the Sepulchre of Jesus Christ! Glory awaits you: eternal glory in Heaven and immortal splendour on this earth.
Soldiers of God, draw your swords and intrepidly attack the enemies of Jerusalem! God wills it! At this moment, everyone cried out: “God wills it!”
At the end of the homily, Bishop Ademar de Monteil knelt before the Pope and asked his permission to take part in the Holy Mass.
The Pontiff then distributed strips of red cloth, ordering them to place them on their chests in the form of a cross. And he declared that all those who solemnly vowed to go to the Crusade and did not fulfill it would be banished from Christian society, and would only be readmitted if they performed the corresponding penance.
And he ordered that in the Universal Church the Little Office of Our Lady should be recited, that every Saturday should be consecrated to Her, and that prayers should be said three times a day in honour of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, to the sound of the bells of the churches. Here we have the origin of the Angelus prayer that is prayed daily at 6am, 12 noon, and at 6 p.m.
By Paulo Francisco Martos
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
