19 DECEMBER II

In some of the old lists of saints, this is the feast of St. Adam. Yes, that Adam. Our – my and your -- great, great, great, [insert umpteen millennia worth of “great”s here] grandfather. You’ll find his life in the first part of Genesis. (I looked to see what great, great, [etc.] grandmother Eve’s day is. I can’t find it. She doesn’t seem to have one. Seems rather ungallant to me.)

This is also the feast of the 14th century pope, Blessed Urban V. According to Engelbert, he “showed from his childhood a character hostile to every frivolity.” Ahem. Yes. Well. Those who know me are now wondering why I have seen fit to single out for mention someone so obviously not my patron and model. But he had other qualities, too. An Avignon pope, he attempted to return the papacy to Rome. In 1367 he sailed with 27 galleys to the Italian port of Corneto. In October of that year made his triumphal entry into Rome. In the end he was not able to maintain himself there and had to return to Avignon. During his reign he sent missionaries to India, China, and Lithuania. He also called a crusade to defend against the Mohammedans. He and the Byzantine Emperor John V Palaeologus entered a pact, short-lived though it was, ending the great schism. He died in 1370.