Pope Urban VIII

Lore & Background

Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini was born in April 1568 in Florence, the son of Antonio Barberini, a Florentine nobleman, and Camilla Barbadoro. His father died when he was only three years old and his mother took him to Rome, where he was put in the charge of his uncle, Francesco Barberini. At the age of 16, he became his uncle's heir. He was educated by the Society of Jesus and received a doctorate of law from the University of Pisa in 1589. In 1601, through the influence of his uncle, he secured appointment as a papal legate to the court of King Henry IV of France. In 1608, he was appointed Archbishop of Nazareth. At the death of his uncle, he inherited his riches, with which he bought a palace in Rome. Pope Paul V raised him to cardinal in 1606 and appointed him papal legate of Bologna. On 6 August 1623, he was elected pope and took the name Urban VIII. His coronation was postponed until 29 September 1623 due to illness. Urban VIII practiced nepotism on a grand scale, enriching his family members. He elevated his brother Antonio Marcello Barberini and his nephews Francesco and Antonio to cardinal, and bestowed titles on Taddeo Barberini. Historian Leopold von Ranke estimated that during his reign, Urban VIII's immediate family amassed 105 million scudi in personal wealth. Urban VIII was a skilled writer of Latin verse. The 1638 papal bull Commissum Nobis protected the existence of Jesuit missions in South America by forbidding the enslavement of natives who were at the Jesuit Reductions. At the same time, Urban VIII repealed the Jesuit monopoly on missionary work in China and Japan, opening these countries to missionaries of other orders and missionary societies. In response to complaints in the Diocese of Seville, Urban VIII issued the letter Cum Ecclesiae, dated 30 January 1642, that made use of tobacco in holy places punishable by excommunication. Urban VIII canonized five saints and beatified 68 individuals. He is also known as the first pope who granted a canonical coronation towards a Marian icon, the La Madonna della Febbre, in 1631. He created 74 cardinals in eight consistories. In the papal bull Sanctissimus Dominus Noster of 13 March 1625, he instructed Catholics not to venerate the deceased or represent them in the manner of saints without Church sanction. Politically, in 1626 the Duchy of Urbino was incorporated into the Pap

Reader's Guide

Urban VIII's papacy covered 21 years of the Thirty Years' War. Despite an early friendship and encouragement for his teachings, Urban VIII was responsible for summoning Galileo to Rome in 1633 to recant his work. Urban VIII was opposed to Copernican heliocentrism and ordered Galileo's trial after the publication of Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, in which Urban's point of view is argued by the character 'Simplicio'. The massive debts incurred during his pontificate greatly weakened his successors, who were unable to maintain the papacy's longstanding political and military influence in Europe. He is the last pope to date to take the papal name Urban.

Did You Know?

• Urban VIII was one of the last popes to significantly extend the Papal territory, though later popes also made territorial acquisitions.
• He was a skilled writer of Latin verse, and a collection of his scriptural paraphrases and original hymn