St. Ubald
Description
St. Ubald Bishop, Confessor
St. Ubaldo Baldassini, born circa 1085 at Gubbio, near Ancona, Umbria, Italy, came from nobility. Our saint, related to St. Sperandia (died in 1276; feast day = September 11), an abbess and a mystic, was a son of Rovaldo Baldassini. Rovaldo died when St. Ubaldo was young. Our saint’s mother was, unfortunately, an invalid afflicted with a neurological disorder, so an uncle raised him.
St. Ubaldo, educated at the cathedral school at Gubbio, turned to the Church. He, a monk at the Monastery of St. Secondo, Gubbio, became a priest in 1115. Later he became the dean of the cathedral. Our saint began to serve as the Bishop of Gubbio in 1128. St. Ubaldo, a friend of St. Francis of Assisi, had a reputation for being patient and kind. Our saint also delivered the city from the wrath of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (reigned 1152-1190), whom he bribed not to sack Gubbio. St. Ubaldo died of natural causes at Gubbio on May 16, 1160. He was about 75 years old.
Pope Celestine III canonized our saint in 1192.
St. Ubaldo is the patron saint of autistic people, possessed persons, sick children, obsessive compulsives, and Gubbio and Montovi, Italy.
source: Sundry Thoughts
