Pope Urban VII

Urban VII
Papacy began	15 September 1590
Papacy ended	27 September 1590
Predecessor	Sixtus V
Successor	Gregory XIV
Orders
Ordination	30 March 1553 by Filippo Archinto
Consecration	4 April 1553 by Girolamo Verallo
Created Cardinal	12 December 1583
Personal details
Birth name	Giovanni Battista Castagna
Born	(1521-08-04)4 August 1521 Rome, Papal State
Died	27 September 1590(1590-09-27) (aged 69) Rome, Papal State
Other popes named Urban

Papal styles of Pope Urban VII
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	None

Urban VII (Latin: Urbanus PP. VII, Italian: Urbano VII; 4 August 1521 – 27 September 1590), born Giovanni Battista Castagna, was Pope for thirteen days in September 1590, the shortest papal reign in history. He was of Genoese origin, although born in Rome. He was made Cardinal-Priest of S. Marcello in 1584. He was chosen as the successor of Pope Sixtus V (1585–1590) on 15 September 1590, but died of malaria (27 September 1590) before coronation, making his the shortest papal reign in modern history.

He had previously served as governor of Bologna and as archbishop of Rossano, and was for many years nuncio to Spain; his election to the papacy was largely backed by the Spanish faction.

Urban VII's short passage in office gave rise to the world's first known public smoking ban, as he threatened to excommunicate anyone who "took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose".

See also

• Papal conclave, September 1590

Bibliography

• "Pope Urban VII" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
• The Death of the Popes by Wendy J. Reardon, 2004.

External links

• Media related to Urbanus VII at Wikimedia Commons

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Sixtus V	Pope 15–27 September 1590	Succeeded by Gregory XIV