POPE URBAN VI, A CONTRARY MAN

by | Nov 26, 2023 | Popes

Medieval Italian soldiers This pope was neither French nor Italian (at that time), but from the Kingdom of Naples. He was born about 1318 and given the name Bartolomeo Prignano. A very intelligent man, he was a monk, trained at Avignon. In 1364, he was named...

POPE GREGORY XI AND THE ESCAPE FROM AVIGNON

by | Oct 20, 2023 | Popes

Pope Urban V temporarily escaped Avignon, France and went back to Rome. But it only lasted two years. He moved back to Avignon where he died. Pope Gregory XI tried again less than a decade later. And it worked. Pope Gregory XI was born Pierre Roger de Beaufort about...

POPE INNOCENT VI, THE 199TH POPE

by | Sep 27, 2023 | Popes

Pope Innocent VI Pope Innocent VI was the fifth pope to live at Avignon, France, rather than Rome, Italy. It all started when Pope Boniface was kidnapped and tortured at his summer home just outside Rome in 1303. The Roman citizens were wild and chaotic. The popes...

POPE CLEMENT VI, DEFENDER OF AUTHORITY

by | Sep 20, 2023 | Popes

Ceiling Palace of the Popes, Avignon Born as Pierre Roger (Rogers, Rosiers) Pope Clement was the fourth pope at Avignon. Before that he was born about 1291 at Chateau de Maumont, in Limousin, half-way between Paris and the Pyranees. His father was the lord of...

POPE BENEDICT XII, DEFENDER OF ORTHODOXY

by | Sep 6, 2023 | Popes

Palace of Popes, Avignon The third Avignon pope, Pope Benedict XII was born around 1280-1285 in the county of Foix, southern France near the Pyrenees Mountains. Nothing is known of his immediate family. His name was Jacques Fournier.  The first we know of him is...