RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Urban Urim
literature, and even left some poems. He gave two saints to the Society of Jesus, Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, and canonized Philip of Neri. The time of his pontificate is wholly covered by the Thirty- Years’ War (q.v.); and toward this his policy was naturally directed. According to Gregorovius (Urban VIII., p. 7, Stuttgart, 1879), he “‘ waived the Roman Catholic principle in the case of that war,” and turned his attention solely to the question of political domination. So as to limit the power of the emperor, when the house of Gonzaga became extinct, he favored the accession of Mantua to the French line of Nevers, and this transfer was confirmed in 1630. In the great war itself, his favor for the opponents of the house of Austria was undeniable, though this was consonant with the sharpest antipathy toward the Protestants (ef. his brief of June 28, 1631, in which he exults over the destruction of Magdeburg by Tilly, and his rejoicing over the death of Gustavus Adolphus).
Urban VIII. was the last pope who was able to expand the Papal States (q.v.), which he did by the sequestration of Urbino as a vacated tenure. He also erected fortifications at threatened points, as at the north boundary of the legation of Bologna, where he built the fortress Castelfranco, named Fortezza Urbano; fortified Castle Sant’ Angelo at Rome; and completed and secured the port of Civita Vecchia. He was also the last pope who used nepotism on a large scale. If he did not make sovereigns of the Barberini, he made them the richest landed proprietors in the Papal States, and this position they attempted to improve by an unsuccessful war on the duke of Parma. It is significant of this pope that he celebrated the memory of Countess Matilda of Tuscany, who laid the foundation for the temporal sovereignty. He had her ashes removed from S. Benedetto near Mantua, and reared for her a magnificent monument in St. Peter’s, Rome. K. Benraru. BrstiocraPHy: A. Nicoletti, Vita di Papa Urbano VIII.
(8 vols. of MS. in the Barberini Library, Rome; cf. on it
Ranke, Popes, iii. 400-407); A. Chacon (Ciaconius), Vite
et res geste pontificum Romanorum, vol. iii., Rome, 1677;
A. von Reumont, Beitrage zur italienischen Geschichte, v.
117-171, Berlin, 1857; idem, Geschichte der Stadt Rom,
iii. 2, pp. 611-622, ib. 1870; J. Hergenréther, Katholische
Kirche und christlicher Staat, pp. 712 sqq., Freiburg, 1872;
F. Gregorovius, Urban VIII. im Widerstreit zu Spanien
und dem Kaiser, Stuttgart, 1879; M. Brosch, Geschichte
des Kirchenstaats, vol. i., Gotha, 1880; Ehses, in Histor-
isches Jahrbuch der Gérres-Gesellschaft, xi (1895), 336-341;
O. Klopp, Der dreissigjahrige Krieg, iii. 2, pp. 659-674,
Paderborn, 1896; Ranke, Popes, ii. 263-271, 281 sqq., et passim; Bower, Popes, iii. 329-330; KL, xii. 451-452.
URIEL: An archangel, mentioned only in apocryphal and pseudepigraphical literature, chiefly in II Esdras and Enoch. He rules over the (angelic) host and over Tartarus (Enoch xx. 2), and accordingly is the divine guide for Enoch through the under-world. In this capacity Uriel tells Enoch where the fallen angels will have their abodes in hell, both for a period of 10,000 years and then for all eternity (xviii. 11-xix. 3), where the wicked of mankind will dwell in hell, and where the righteous will have their homes in heaven (xxvii. 2-4), besides revealing to him various other divine mysteries (xxxiii. 8-4). As an angel of the under-world, he,
together with Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, will bring from Tartarus the souls of the dead for judgment at the Last Day, Uriel’s division comprising especially the Titans, the giants who perished in the flood, and those who have died by drowning, who have been burned to death, or who have been devoured by birds, beasts, and creeping things (Sibylline Oracles, ii. 215 sqq.). According to the Life of Adam and Eve, xlviii., Uriel and Michael are commanded by the Lord to wrap the bodies of Adam and Abel in linen and to bury them in Paradise, this forming the model for burial to be followed by Seth and his mother. It is likewise probably as an angel of the under-world that he is sent to warn Noah of the impending deluge (Enoch x. 1-3).
Uriel also appears as an angel giving warning of the future in II Esdras, where he tells the signs of the times to come, although with much reluctance, since man’s understanding is unable to comprehend the judgments of God, nor can Esdras himself perform such relatively simple tasks as ‘‘ weigh me the weight of the fire, or measure me the blast of the wind, or call me again the day that is past ” (II Esdras iv.—v.). Nevertheless, by divine command Uriel again appears to Esdras later and explains to him the meaning of a vision (II Esdras x. 28 sqq.). According to fragments of the lost Prayer of Joseph, Uriel was the angel who wrestled with Jacob, Uriel declaring that he had descended to earth and taken up his abode among men, who called him Jacob, and Jacob’s reply being that he himself was “ Israel, the archangel,”’ below whom Uriel was eighth in rank (J. A. Fabricius, Codex pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti, 2d ed., i. 766, Hamburg, 1722); and the same book is said to have represented Jacob as conversing both with Uriel and with Raphael (ib. p. 768).
The name Uriel denotes “ Fire of God ”’ (cf. also the Hebr. proper names Uri, Uriah, Urijah, and Palmyrene Nurbel, ‘‘ Fire of Bel” or “‘ Bel is Fire’’), and from this fact his connection with Gehenna, and consequently his aspect as an angel of the underworld, becomes obvious. In later Jewish mysticism he was believed to be the source of the heat of the day in winter and to be the angel of Sunday. His name is found in Greek magic papyri, and it was taught by a French rabbi of the thirteenth century that if Uriel’s name is repeated ten times in one breath in the morning, the day will be lucky (cf. further, L. Blau, in JZ, xii. 383).
The name of Uriel was also borne by a Kohathite chieftain (I Chron. vi. 24, xv. 5, 11) and by a man from Gibeah who was the grandfather of Abijah (II Chron. xiii. 2).
URIM, ytrim, AND THUMMIM, thum’im: Media employed by the Hebrews in obtaining divine oracles. Concerning the nature and method of employing them there is much doubt; even from
the time of Josephus and Philo an
The Basal abundance of conjecture concerning
Scriptural them is in evidence, but no satisfac-
Passages. tory solution. Two sets of data ap-
pear, those furnished by P and those by other writers. Until the nineteenth century P was the source generally employed to elucidate the
Urim Urlsperger