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Pope Blessed Urban II

Pope Blessed Urban II Also known as

Odo of Lagery
Otho of Lagery
Eudes of Lagery

29 July

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Studied at Rheims, France. Monk and prior at Cluny. Assistant to Pope Saint Gregory VII, and helped in his reforms. Bishop of Ostia, Italy. Cardinal. Papal legate to Germany. As pope, he continued the reforms in the face of opposition by Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and his anti-pope Clement III (Guibert of Ravenna); he was unable to move to Rome until 1093 when Clement was removed. Urban concentrated his efforts in places that recognized him, such as southern Italy, Tuscany. and the Lombard cities. Urban summoned councils of whole populations to advertise and gain popularity for the reforms. There were councils at Piacenza, Italy in 1095, Clermont, France in 1095, Rome in 1097 and 1099, and Bari, Italy in 1098. At Clermont, Urban preached a sermon that started the First Crusade. Urban condemned King Philip I of France over Philip’s repudiation of his wife. Without Urban’s work, most of the reforms instituted by Pope Saint Gregory VII would have been vanished.