Pope Urban V

Guillaume de Grimoard was born in 1310 and entered the Order of Saint Benedict. Elected head of the Catholic Church on 28 September 1362, he took the name Urban V but kept his monk's discipline: simple living, no luxury, the Benedictine Rule in full. His ecclesial peers, used to wealth, bristled. He pushed reform through his pontificate, restored churches and monasteries, and set his sights on reuniting the Eastern and Western Churches — coming close but never closing the distance. He died 19 December 1370, the only Avignon pope beatified.