Pope  Saint  Gregory  I  ("the Great")

Doctor of the Church; born at Rome about 540; died 12 March 604.


                          Gregory is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical
                          History. He has exercised in many respects a momentous
                          influence on the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the
                          Catholic Church. To him we must look for an explanation of the
                          religious situation of the Middle Ages; indeed, if no account were
                          taken of his work, the evolution of the form of medieval Christianity
                          would be almost inexplicable. And further, in so far as the modern
                          Catholic system is a legitimate development of medieval
                          Catholicism, of this too Gregory may not unreasonably be termed
                          the Father. Almost all the leading principles of the later Catholicism
                          are found, at any rate in germ, in Gregory the Great. (F.H. Dudden,
                          "Gregory the Great", 1, p. v).

                     This eulogy by a learned non-Catholic writer will justify the length and elaboration
                     of the following article.

                                         I. FROM BIRTH TO 574

                     Gregory's father was Gordianus, a wealthy patrician, probably of the famous gens
                     Amicia, who owned large estates in Sicily and a mansion on the Caelian Hill in
                     Rome, the ruins of which, apparently in a wonderful state of preservation, still
                     await excavation beneath the Church of St. Andrew and St. Gregory. His mother
                     Silvia appears also to have been of good family, but very little is known of her life.
                     She is honoured as a saint, her feast being kept on 3 November. Portraits of
                     Gordianus and Silvia were painted by Gregory's order, in the atrium of St.
                     Andrew's monastery, and a pleasing description of these may be found in John
                     the Deacon (Vita, IV, lxxxiii). Besides his mother, two of Gregory's aunts have
                     been canonised, Gordianus's two sisters, Tarsilla and Æmilians, so that John the
                     Deacon speaks of his education as being that of a saint among saints. Of his
                     early years we know nothing beyond what the history of the period tells us.
                     Between the years 546 and 552 Rome was first captured by the Goths under
                     Totila, and then abandoned by them; next it was garrisoned by Belisarius, and
                     besieged in vain by the Goths, who took it again, however, after the recall of
                     Belisarius, only to lose it once more to Narses. Gregory's mind and memory
                     were both exceptionally receptive, and it is to the effect produced on him by
                     these disasters that we must attribute the tinge of sadness which pervades his
                     writings and especially his clear expectation of a speedy end to the world. Of his
                     education, we have no details. Gregory of Tours tells us that in grammar, rhetoric
                     and dialectic he was so skilful as to be thought second to none in all Rome, and
                     it seems certain also that he must have gone through a course of legal studies.
                     Not least among the educating influences was the religious atmosphere of his
                     home. He loved to meditate on the Scriptures and to listen attentively to the
                     conversations of his elders, so that he was "devoted to God from his youth up".
                     His rank and prospects pointed him out naturally for a public career, and he
                     doubtless held some of the subordinate offices wherein a young patrician
                     embarked on public life. That he acquitted himself well in these appears certain,
                     since we find him about the year 573, when little more than thirty years old, filling
                     the important office of prefect of the city of Rome. At that date the brilliant post
                     was shorn of much of its old magnificence, and its responsibilities were reduced;
                     still it remained the highest civil dignity in the city, and it was only after long
                     prayer and inward struggle that Gregory decided to abandon everything and
                     become a monk. This event took place most probably in 574. His decision once
                     taken, he devoted himself to the work and austerities of his new life with all the
                     natural energy of his character. His Sicilian estates were given up to found six
                     monasteries there, and his home on the Caelian Hill was converted into another
                     under the patronage of St. Andrew. Here he himself took the cowl, so that "he
                     who had been wont to go about the city clad in the trabea and aglow with silk
                     and jewels, now clad in a worthless garment served the altar of the Lord" (Greg.
                     Tur., X, i).

                                    II. AS MONK AND ABBOT (C. 574-590)

                     There has been much discussion as to whether Gregory and his fellow-monks at
                     St. Andrew's followed the Rule of St. Benedict. Baronius and others on his
                     authority have denied this, while it has been asserted as strongly by Mabillon
                     and the Bollandists, who, in the preface to the life of St. Augustine (26 May),
                     retract the opinion expressed earlier in the preface to St. Gregory's life (12
                     March). The controversy is important only in view of the question as to the form of
                     monasticism introduced by St. Augustine into England, and it may be said that
                     Baronius's view is now practically abandoned. For about three years Gregory
                     lived in retirement in the monastery of St. Andrew, a period to which he often
                     refers as the happiest portion of his life. His great austerities during this time are
                     recorded by the biographers, and probably caused the weak health from which he
                     constantly suffered in later life. However, he was soon drawn out of his seclusion,
                     when, in 578, the pope ordained him, much against his will, as one of the seven
                     deacons (regionarii) of Rome. The period was one of acute crisis. The Lombards
                     were advancing rapidly towards the city, and the only chance of safety seemed
                     to be in obtaining help from the Emperor Tiberius at Byzantium. Popo Pelagius II
                     accordingly dispatched a special embassy to Tiberius, and sent Gregory along
                     with it as his apocrisiarius, or permanent ambassador to the Court of Byzantium.
                     The date of this new appointment seems to have been the spring of 579, and it
                     lasted apparently for about six years. Nothing could have been more uncongenial
                     to Gregory than the worldly atmosphere of the brilliant Byzantine Court, and to
                     counteract its dangerous influence he followed the monastic life so far as
                     circumstances permitted. This was made easier by the fact that several of his
                     brethren from St. Andrew's accompanied him to Constantinople. With them he
                     prayed and studied the Scriptures, one result of which remains in his "Morals", or
                     series of lectures on the Book of Job, composed during this period at the request
                     of St. Leander of Seville, whose acquaintance Gregory made during his stay in
                     Constantinople. Much attention was attracted to Gregory by his controversy with
                     Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople, concerning the Resurrection. Eutychius
                     had published a treatise on the subject maintaining that the risen bodies of the
                     elect would be "impalpable, more light than air". To this view Gregory objected
                     the palpability of Christ's risen body. The dispute became prolonged and bitter,
                     till at length the emperor intervened, both combatants being summoned to a
                     private audience, where they stated their views. The emperor decided that
                     Gregory was in the right, and ordered Eutychius's book to the burned. The strain
                     of the struggle had been so great that both fell ill. Gregory recovered, but the
                     patriarch succumbed, recanting his error on his death bed. Mention should be
                     made of the curious fact that, although Gregory's sojourn at Constantinople
                     lasted for six years, he seems never to have mastered even the rudiments of
                     Greek. Possibly he found that the use of an interpreter had its advantages, but
                     he often complains of the incapacity of those employed for this purpose. It must
                     be owned that, so far as obtaining help for Rome was concerned, Gregory's stay
                     at Constantinople was a failure. However, his period as ambassador taught him
                     very plainly a lesson which was to bear great fruit later on when he ruled in Rome
                     as pope. This was the important fact that no help was any longer to be looked for
                     from Byzantium, with the corollary that, if Rome and Italy were to be saved at all,
                     it could only be by vigorous independent action of the powers on the spot.
                     Humanly speaking, it is to the fact that Gregory had acquired this conviction that
                     his later line of action with all its momentous consequences is due.

                     In the year 586, or possibly 585, he was recalled to Rome, and with the greatest
                     joy returned to St. Andrew's, of which he became abbot soon afterwards. The
                     monastery grew famous under his energetic rule, producing many monks who
                     won renown later, and many vivid pictures of this period may be found in the
                     "Dialogues". Gregory gave much of his time to lecturing on the Holy Scriptures
                     and is recorded to have expounded to his monks the Heptateuch, Books of
                     Kings, the Prophets, the Book of Proverbs, and the Canticle of V+Canticles.
                     Notes of these lectures were taken at the time by a young student named
                     Claudius, but when transcribed were found by Gregory to contain so many errors
                     that he insisted on their being given to him for correction and revision. Apparently
                     this was never done, for the existing fragments of such works attributed to
                     Gregory are almost certainly spurious. At this period, however, one important
                     literary enterprise was certainly completed. This was the revision and publication
                     of the "Magna Moralia", or lectures on the Book of Job, undertaken in
                     Constantinople at the request of St. Leander. In one of his letters (Ep., V, liii)
                     Gregory gives an interesting account of the origin of this work. To this period
                     most probably should be assigned the famous incident of Gregory's meeting with
                     the English youths in the Forum. The first mention of the event is in the Whitby
                     life (c, ix), and the whole story seems to be an English tradition. It is worth
                     notice, therefore, that in the St. Gall manuscript the Angles do not appear as
                     slave boys exposed for sale, but as men visiting Rome of their own free will,
                     whom Gregory expressed a desire to see. It is Venerable Bede (Hist. Eccl., II, i)
                     who first makes them slaves. In consequence of this meeting Gregory was so
                     fixed with desire to convert the Angles that he obtained permission from Pelagius
                     II to go in person to Britain with some of his fellow-monks as missionaries. The
                     Romans, however, were greatly incensed at the pope's act. With angry words
                     they demanded Gregory's recall, and messengers were at once dispatched to
                     bring him back to Rome, if necessary by force. These men caught up with the
                     little band of missionaries on the third day after their departure, and at once
                     returned with them, Gregory offering no opposition, since he had received what
                     appeared to him as a sign from heaven that his enterprise should be abandoned.
                     The strong feeling of the Roman populace that Gregory must not be allowed to
                     leave Rome is a sufficient proof of the position he now held there. He was in fact
                     the chief adviser and assistant of Pelagius II, towards whom he seems to have
                     acted very much in the capacity of secretary (see the letter of the Bishop of
                     Ravenna to Gregory, Epp., III, lxvi, "Sedem apostolicam, quam antae moribus
                     nunc etiam honore debito gubernatis"). In this capacity, probably in 586, Gregory
                     wrote his important letter to the schismatical bishops of Istria who had separated
                     from communion with the Church on the question of the Three Chapters (Epp.,
                     Appendix, III, iii). This document, which is almost a treatise in length, is an
                     admirable example of Gregory's skill, but it failed to produce any more effort than
                     Pelagius's two previous letters had, and the schism continued.

                     The year 589 was one of widespread disaster throughout all the empire. In Italy
                     there was an unprecedented inundation. Farms and houses were carried away by
                     the floods. The Tiber overflowed its banks, destroying numerous buildings, among
                     them the granaries of the Church with all the store of corn. Pestilence followed on
                     the floods, and Rome became a very city of the dead. Business was at a
                     standstill, and the streets were deserted save for the wagons which bore forth
                     countless corpses for burial in common pits beyond the city walls. Then, in
                     February, 590, as if to fill the cup of misery to the brim, Pelagius II died. The
                     choice of a successor lay with the clergy and people of Rome, and without any
                     hesitation they elected Gregory, Abbot of St. Andrew's. In spite of their unanimity
                     Gregory shrank from the dignity thus offered him. He knew, no doubt, that its
                     acceptance meant a final good-bye to the cloister life he loved, and so he not
                     only refused to accede to the prayers of his fellow citizens but also wrote
                     personally to the Emperor Maurice, begging him with all earnestness not to
                     confirm the election. Germanus, prefect of the city, suppresses this letter,
                     however, and sent instead of it the formal schedule of the election. In the interval
                     while awaiting the emperor's reply the business of the vacant see was transacted
                     by Gregory, in commission with two or three other high officials. As the plague
                     still continued unabated, Gregory called upon the people to join in a vast
                     sevenfold procession which was to start from each of the seven regions of the
                     city and meet at the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin, all praying the while for
                     pardon and the withdrawal of the pestilence. This was accordingly done, and the
                     memory of the event is still preserved by the name "Sant' Angelo" given to the
                     mausoleum of Hadrian from the legend that the Archangel St. Michael was seen
                     upon its summit in the act of sheathing his sword as a sign that the plague was
                     over. At length, after six months of waiting, came the emperor's confirmation of
                     Gregory's election. The saint was terrified at the news and even meditated flight.
                     He was seized, however, carried to the Basilica of St. Peter, and there
                     consecrated pope on 3 September, 590. The story that Gregory actually fled the
                     city and remained hidden in a forest for three days, when his whereabouts was
                     revealed by a supernatural light, seems to be pure invention. It appears for the
                     first time in the Whitby life (c. vii), and is directly contrary to the words of his
                     contemporary, Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc., X, i). Still he never ceased to
                     regret his elevation, and his later writings contain numberless expressions of
                     strong feeling on this point.

                                          III. AS POPE (590-604)

                     Fourteen years of life remained to Gregory, and into these he crowded work
                     enough to have exhausted the energies of a lifetime. What makes his
                     achievement more wonderful is his constant ill-health. He suffered almost
                     continually from indigestion and, at intervals, from attacks of slow fever, while for
                     the last half of his pontificate he was a martyr to gout. In spite of these
                     infirmities, which increased steadily, his biographer, Paul the Deacon, tells us
                     "he never rested" (Vita, XV). His work as pope is of so varied a nature that it will
                     be best to take it in sections, although this destroys any exact chronological
                     sequence. At the very outset of his pontificate Gregory published his "Liber
                     pastoralis curae", or book on the office of a bishop, in which he lays down clearly
                     the lines he considers it his duty to follow. The work, which regards the bishop
                     pre-eminently as the physician of souls, is divided into four parts. He points out
                     in the first that only one skilled already as a physician of the soul is fitted to
                     undertake the "supreme rule" of the episcopate. In the second he describes how
                     the bishop's life should be ordered from a spiritual point of view; in the third, how
                     he ought to teach and admonish those under him, and in the fourth how, in spite
                     of his good works, he ought to bear in mind his own weakness, since the better
                     his work the greater the danger of falling through self-confidence. This little work
                     is the key to Gregory's life as pope, for what he preached he practiced. Moreover,
                     it remained for centuries the textbook of the Catholic epioscopate, so that by its
                     influence the ideal of the great pope has moulded the character of the Church,
                     and his spirit has spread into all lands.

                     (1) Life and Work in Rome

                     As pope Gregory still lived with monastic simplicity. One of his first acts was to
                     banish all the lay attendants, pages, etc., from the Lateran palace, and
                     substitute clerics in their place. There was now no magister militum living in
                     Rome, so the control even of military matters fell to the pope. The inroads of the
                     Lombards had filled the city with a multitude of indigent refugees, for whose
                     support Gregory made provision, using for this purpose the existing machinery of
                     the ecclesiastical districts, each of which had its deaconry or "office of alms".
                     The corn thus distributed came chiefly from Sicily and was supplied by the
                     estates of the Church. The temporal needs of his people being thus provided for,
                     Gregory did not neglect their spiritual wants, and a large number of his sermons
                     have come down to us. It was he who instituted the "stations" still observed and
                     noted in the Roman Missal (see STATIONS). He met the clergy and people at
                     some church previously agreed upon, and all together went in procession to the
                     church of the station, where Mass was celebrated and the pope preached. These
                     sermons, which drew immense crowds, are mostly simple, popular expositions
                     of Scripture. Chiefly remarkable is the preacher's mastery of the Bible, which he
                     quotes unceasingly, and his regular use of anecdote to illustrate the point in
                     hand, in which respect he paves the way for the popular preachers of the Middle
                     Ages. In July, 595, Gregory held his first synod in St. Peter's, which consisted
                     almost wholly of the bishops of the suburbicarian sees and the priests of the
                     Roman titular churches. Six decrees dealing with ecclesiastical discipline were
                     passed, some of them merely confirming changes already made by the pope on
                     his own authority.

                     Much controversy still exists as to the exact extent of Gregory's reforms of the
                     Roman Liturgy. All admit that he did make the following modifications in the
                     pre-existing practice:

                          In the Canon of the Mass he inserted the words "diesque nostros in tua
                          pace disponas, atque ab aeterna damnatione nos eripi, et in electorum
                          tuorum jubras grege numerari";
                          he ordered the Pater Noster to be recited in the Canon before the
                          breaking of the Host;
                          he provided that the Alleluia should be chanted after the Gradual out of
                          paschal time, to which period, apparently, the Roman use had previously
                          confined it;
                          he prohibited the use of the chasuble by subdeacons assisting at Mass;
                          he forbade deacons to perform any of the musical portions of the Mass
                          other than singing the Gospel.

                     Beyond these and some few minor points it seems impossible to conclude with
                     certainty what changes Gregory did make. As to the much-disputed question of
                     the Gregorian Sacramentary and the almost more difficult point of his relation to
                     the plain song or chant of the Church, for Gregory's connection with which
                     matters the earliest authority seems to be John the Deacon (Vita, II, vi, Xvii), see
                     GREGORIAN CHANT; SACRAMENTARY. There is no lack of evidence, however,
                     to illustrate Gregory's activity as manager of the patrimony of St. Peter. By his
                     day the estates of the Church had reached vast dimensions. Varying estimates
                     place their total area at from 1300 to 1800 square miles, and there seems no
                     reason for supposing this to be an exaggeration, while the income arising
                     therefrom was probably not less than $1,500,000 a year. The land lay in many
                     places — Campania, Africa, Sicily, and elsewhere — and, as their landlord,
                     Gregory displayed a skill in finance and estate management which excites our
                     admiration no less than it did the surprise of his tenants and agents, who
                     suddenly found that they had a new master who was not to be deceived or
                     cheated. The management of each patrimony was carried out by a number of
                     agents of varying grades and duties under an official called the rector or defensor
                     of the patrimony. Previously the rectors had usually been laymen, but Gregory
                     established the custom of appointing ecclesiastics to the post. In doing this he
                     probably had in view the many extra duties of an ecclesiastical nature which he
                     called upon them to undertake. Thus examples may be found of such rectors
                     being commissioned to undertake the filling up of vacant sees, holding of local
                     synods, taking action against heretics, providing for the maintenance of churches
                     and monasteries, rectifying abuses in the churches of their district, with the
                     enforcing of ecclesiastical discipline and even the reproof and correction of local
                     bishops. Still Gregory never allowed the rectors to interfere in such matters on
                     their own responsibility. In the minutiae of estate management nothing was too
                     small for Gregory's personal notice, from the exact number of sextarii in a modius
                     of corn, or how many soluli went to one golden pound, to the use of false weights
                     by certain minor agents. He finds time to write instructions on every detail and
                     leaves no complaint unattended to, even from the humblest of his multitude of
                     tenants. Throughout the large number of letters which deal with the management
                     of the patrimony, the pope's determination to secure a scrupulously righteous
                     administration is evident. As bishop, he is the trustee of God and St. Peter, and
                     his agents must show that they realize this by their conduct. Consequently,
                     under his able management the estates of the Church increased steadily in
                     value, the tenants were contented, and the revenues paid in with unprecedented
                     regularity. The only fault ever laid at his door in this matter is that, by his
                     boundless charities, he emptied his treasury. But this, if a fault at all, was a
                     natural consequence of his view that he was the administrator of the property of
                     the poor, for whom he could never do enough.

                     (2) Relations with the Suburbicarian Churches

                     As patriarchs of the West the popes exercise a special jurisdiction over and
                     above their universal primacy as successors of St. Peter; and among Western
                     churches, this jurisdiction extends in a most intimate manner over the churches
                     of Italy and the isles adjacent. On the mainland much of this territory was in the
                     hands of the Lombards, with whose Arian clergy Gregory was, of course, not in
                     communion. Whenever opportunity offered, however, he was careful to provide for
                     the needs of the faithful in these parts, frequently uniting them to some
                     neighboring diocese, when they were too few to occupy the energies of a bishop.
                     On the islands, of which Sicily was by far the most important, the pre- existing
                     chu