Category: St Gregory the Great

Today is the feast of St Gregory the Great. He was born in Rome around the year 540AD into a wealthy Roman family. Most of their wealth came from land they held in Sicily. Although we know little of his early life, what we do know it was a time a turmoil. If Rome wasn’t at war then warfare was not far away.

Around the year 575 his father died and Gregory became a monk. Whether he followed the rule of St Benedict is hotly debated. He turned his family villa into a monastry. His manner of life was so renwoned that it drew the attention of Pope Pelagius II who around 585 sent him on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople. This Gregory did not like!. The nature of the mission need not detain us, but it ended in failure.

In 590 Pope Pelagius died and Gregory became Pope by popular acclamation. He was reluctant to accept, but saw it as God’s will. Once again it was a time of uncertainty, as warfare and violence were never far from Rome and its environs. His reign was fruitful in many ways

• He was a missionary Pope. For example he sent one of the monks of his own monastry, St Augustine to England.
• He made  some reforms of the Liturgy, eg moving the Our Father to its present place in the Mass, shortening the penitential rite. There is some evidence to suggest he introduced what is called Gregorian chant
• He made sure the poor were fed and looked after. For example in the mid 590’s there was famine in Rome. He insisted that all the produce of the land owned by the church be brought to Rome to feed the starving. It was the clergy who organised it. It has also been said that this almost bankrupted the church in Rome!
• He was also a great write. His Pastoral Rule on how Bishops and priests should live had an enormous influence on the Church.

He died in the year 604 and was immdiatly proclaimed a saint.