Picture: Joseph Felizian Geissinger · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Conrad of Urach

Catholic cardinal

BlessedResearchedGermanyCistercians

Feast: 30 September (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)

Born

1180

verified

Died

1227

verified

Beatified

—

not needed: before formal processes

Canonised

—

not yet

Who they were

Conrad, a canon of Liège, entered the Cistercian monastery of Villers in 1199 and became its abbot, then Abbot of Clairvaux in 1214 and of Cîteaux, general of his order, in 1217.

Created a cardinal in 1219, he served as legate in France and Germany. After the death of Honorius III the cardinals agreed to elect him pope, but he refused. He died in 1227.

The miracles

The Cistercians venerate him as Blessed; the Catholic Encyclopedia does not describe a formal cause.

Why that counted as sanctity

A Cistercian abbot and cardinal who refused the papacy.

Connected on this site

Engelbert II of Berg Saint
“Cardinal Conrad of Urach declared him a martyr; there was no formal canonisation.” — this site's research

Sources

Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Conrad of Urach
Wikidata Q66608 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
English Wikipedia — Conrad of Urach (CC BY-SA)

Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.