Ubald

Saint Ubald (Ubaldo Baldassini; also Latinized Ubaldus) was a twelfth-century bishop of Gubbio in Umbria. He was born in Gubbio of the noble Baldassini family in the later eleventh century; the year is conventionally given as about 1084, but it is not attested with precision. Orphaned young, he was raised under the care of an uncle connected with the local church and educated at the cathedral school of Gubbio and at the monastery of San Secondo. After ordination he became dean of the cathedral chapter and introduced among the canons the common life according to the Rule of Saint Augustine. Hagiographical sources report that he wished to withdraw into a stricter monastic setting, including an approach to the Camaldolese, but was retained for the service of his native church.

In the late 1120s he was elected bishop of Gubbio, an office he is said to have accepted with reluctance. Contemporary and near-contemporary tradition presents him as an ascetic pastor and peacemaker in a period of communal faction and violence in Umbrian towns. He is credited with defending the city, composing feuds, and showing particular care for the poor. Accounts of his life associate him with healings and with deliverance from demonic affliction, which later shaped his cult as a protector against possession and against severe headache and neuralgia. He maintained relations with the papacy of his day, including contact with Honorius II, and was remembered as a bishop of personal austerity rather than as a political prelate.

Ubald died in Gubbio on 16 May 1160. He was first buried in the cathedral; his relics were later translated to the church on Monte Ingino above the city, the present Basilica of Sant'Ubaldo, where the body has long been venerated and is described in the local tradition as remaining incorrupt. Civic devotion in Gubbio became closely tied to the Corsa dei Ceri (Race of the Ceri) on 15 May, in which large ceremonial structures dedicated to Ubald and other saints are carried in a race through the streets, a custom that continues. Pope Celestine III canonized him in 1192. His feast is kept on 16 May. He is the principal patron of Gubbio and is invoked against demonic possession and against migraine and related ailments.