De sancto Urbano
The Meaning of the Name Urban
The name Urban is interpreted through the virtues of light, fire, and teaching, reflecting the saint's holy life.
The name Urban comes from the word for city-dweller, or perhaps from 'ur,' which means light or fire, along with a simple explanation. He was light through his honest way of life, fire through his burning love, and a response through his teaching. He was light—or rather, a lamp—because a lamp is lovely to look at, immaterial in its essence, heavenly in its place, and highly useful in its action. Thus, this saint was lovely in his way of life, immaterial in his contempt for the world, heavenly in his contemplation, and useful in his preaching.
The Martyrdom of Saint Urban
Saint Urban endures persecution, leads others to Christ through his witness, and ultimately suffers martyrdom under the prefect Almachius.
Urban succeeded Pope Calixtus; during his time, after a great persecution of Christians had finally ended, Alexander—whose mother, Ammaea, was a Christian converted by Origen—took up the empire. She herself persuaded her son with maternal prayers to stop the persecution of the Christians; nevertheless, Almachius, the prefect of the city who had beheaded the blessed Cecilia, was raging cruelly against the Christians. He therefore had Saint Urban diligently sought out, and once he was found in a certain cave through the efforts of a minister named Carpasius, he ordered him to be thrown into prison along with three priests and three deacons. Afterward, he ordered Urban brought before him, accused him of leading away five thousand people along with the sacrilegious Cecilia and the illustrious men Tiburtius and Valerian, and demanded Cecilia’s treasures. Urban replied, 'As I see it, greed leads you to rage against the saints more than the worship of the gods does; Cecilia’s treasure has ascended to heaven through the hands of the poor.' When they were beating Saint Urban and his companions with lead-weighted scourges, and he was calling upon the name of the Lord Elyon, the prefect smiled and said, 'This old man wants to appear wise, which is why he’s speaking of things unknown.' But when they could not be overcome, they were thrown back into prison, where Saint Urban baptized three tribunes who came to him, along with the prison guard, Anolinus. Once it was heard that Anolinus had become a Christian, he was brought before the prefect and, refusing to offer sacrifice, was beheaded. Saint Urban, however, was led with his companions to an idol and urged to offer incense; then, as Urban prayed, the idol fell and killed the twenty-two priests who were tending the fire. Then they were most severely tortured, and after this they were led to sacrifice; they spat upon the idol itself, marked their foreheads with the cross, and having given each other the kiss of peace, they received their capital sentence under Alexander, who began his reign around the year of the Lord 220. But immediately Carpasius was seized by a demon, and while blaspheming his own gods and unwillingly magnifying the Christians, he was suffocated by the demon. Seeing this, his wife Armenia, along with their daughter Lucina and their whole household, received baptism from the holy priest Fortunatus and, after this, honorably buried the bodies of the saints.
Read the original Latin
Urbanus ab urbanitate dictus vel Urbanus ab ur, quod est lumen vel ignis, et banal responsio. Fuit enim lumen per conversationem honestam, ignis per caritatem succensam, responsio per doctrinam; fuit lumen sive lux, quia lux est in adspectu amabilis, in essentia immaterialis, in situ coelestis, in actu perutilis. Sic ille sanctus fuit amabilis in conversatione, immaterialis in mund despectione, coelestis in contemplatione, utilis in praedicatione.
Urbanus Calixto papae successit, cujus tempore cum fnisset maxima persecutio in christianis, tandem Alexander, cujus mater Ammaea christiana erat, quam Origenes converterat, imperium sumsit. Ipsa igitar filium precibus maternis induxit, ut a persecutione christianorum cessaret, verumtamen Almachius urbis praefectus, qui beatam Caeciliam decollaverat, in christianos crudeliter saeviebat, sanctum igitur Urbanum diligenter inquiri fecit et in quodam antro procurante Carpasio quodam ministro cum tribus presbiteris et tribus dyaconibus repertum in carcerem mitti jussit. Post hoc coram se ipso adduci praecepit et quod quinque millia hominum cum sacrilega Caecilia et illustribus viris Tyburtio et Vaz leriano seduxerat, eidem objecit et thesauros Caeciliae requisivit. Cui Urbanus: ut video, plus te ad saeviendnm in sanctos ducit cupiditas, quam cultus Deorum: thesaurus Caeciliae per manus pauperum coelos conscendit, Cum igitur sanctum Urbanum cum sociis plumbatis caederent et ipse nomen domini Elyon invocaret, subridens praefectus ait: sapiens vult iste senex videri et ideo nunc ignota loquitur. Cum autem superari non possent, iferum iu carcerem recluduntur, ubi tres tribunos ad se venientes cum custode carceris Anolino sanctus Urbanus baptizavit. Audito igitur, quod Anolinus christianus factus esset, praefecto sistitur et sacrificare renuens decollatur, sanctus autem Urbanus cum sociis ad simulacrum ducitur et thura imponere urgetur: tunc orante Urbano simulacrum cecidit et XXII sacerdotes, qui ignem ministrabant, occidit. Tunc gravissime laniantur et post hoc ad sacrificandum ducuntur, qui in ipsum ydolum exspuentes frontes cruce munierunt et invicem dato pacis osculo cupitalem sententiam acceperunt sub Alexandro, qui coepit circa annum domini CCXX. Sed statim Carpasius a daemone arripitur et Deos suos blasphemans et christianos invitus magnificans a daemone suffocatur: quod ejus uxor Armenia videns cum filia sua Lucina et tota familia a sancto Fortunato presbitero baptisma suscepit et post hoc sanctorum corpora honorifice sepelivit.
The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea) companion
Continue through all 240 chapters, one saint a day
Chosen Portion serves the Golden Legend as a daily portion on iOS, free, alongside the full Sub Rosa archive
The Legenda Aurea was organized for day-by-day use across the liturgical year, and Chosen Portion restores that original one-feast-per-day reading rhythm
- A complete saint's life or feast reading most days in 5-10 minutes
- 240 chapters - enough daily readings to cover a full liturgical year and beyond
- Daily reminders so the plan survives busy weeks