Urban V

Urban V (1310–1370, birth name: Guillaume de Grimoard) was pope 1362–1370. Before his election he was abbot of St. Victor's in Marseille. As pope he showed himself to be a stern opponent to simony and to lax morality among the clergy, which made him unpopular with many cardinals. He attempted to move the papacy back from Avignon, returning to Rome in 1367, but was forced by unrest to leave the city for Montefiascone in April 1370. While there, on the 5th of August 1370 he approved Birgitta’s monastical rule, Regula Salvatoris. Birgitta had a revelation of the Virgin, warning the Pope from going back to Avignon (Rev. IV, ch. 138), but the Pope nevertheless made the journey. A few days after his return to Avignon, on the 19th of December 1370, he died of illness.