By Leon Bent –
Pope Gregory I, commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was Pope from September 3, 590 to 12 March 604 AD. He is famous for initiating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregorian Mission, to convert the then-pagan Anglo-Saxons in England to Christianity. Gregory is also well known for his writings, which were more prolific than those of any of his predecessors, as Pope. The epithet, “Saint Gregory the Dialogist”, has been attached to him in Eastern Christianity because of his Dialogues.
A Roman senator’s son and the Prefect of Rome at 30, Gregory tried the monastery but soon returned to active public life, as Pope. Although he was the first Pope from a monastic background, his prior political experiences may have helped him to be a talented administrator, who successfully established Papal supremacy. During his Papacy, he greatly surpassed the emperors in improving the welfare of the people of Rome.
Gregory is a Doctor of the Church and one of the Latin Fathers. He is considered a saint in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, and some Lutheran denominations. Immediately after his death, Gregory was canonized by popular acclaim. The Protestant reformer John Calvin admired Gregory greatly, and declared in his Institutes that, Gregory was the last good Pope. He is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers.
Gregory was the prefect of Rome before he was 30. After five years in office he resigned, founded six monasteries on his Sicilian estate, and became a Benedictine monk in his own home at Rome.
Immediately after his ordination, Gregory became one of the Pope’s seven deacons, and also served six years in the East, as Papal representative in Constantinople. He was recalled to become Abbot, but at the age of 50, was elected Pope by the clergy and people of Rome.
Gregory was direct and firm. He removed unworthy priests from office, forbade taking money for many services, emptied the Papal treasury to ransom prisoners of the Lombards and to care for persecuted Jews, and the victims of plague and famine. He was very concerned about the conversion of England, and sent 40 monks from his own monastery on this mission. He is known for his reform of the liturgy, and for strengthening respect for doctrine. Whether he was largely responsible for the revision of “Gregorian” chant is disputed.
His book, Pastoral Care, on the duties and qualities of a Bishop, was read for centuries after his death. He described Bishops mainly as physicians, whose main duties were preaching and the enforcement of discipline. In his own down-to-earth preaching, Gregory was skilled at applying the daily Gospel to the needs of his listeners.
Called “the Great,” Gregory has been given a place with Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, as one of the four key Doctors of the Western Church.
An Anglican historian has written: “It is impossible to conceive what would have been the confusion, the lawlessness, the chaotic state of the Middle Ages without the Medieval Papacy – the real father being Gregory the Great.”
Gregory was content to be a monk, but he willingly served the Church in other ways when asked. He sacrificed his own preferences in many ways, especially when he was called to be Bishop of Rome. Gregory spent his energy fully to this work. His description of Bishops as physicians fits in well with Pope Francis’ description of the Church as a “field hospital.”
English Catholics took a particular interest in Gregory because it was he who sent St Augustine to Kent in 597, to bring Roman Christianity to a country where Celtic Christians did not recognise the supremacy of Rome, and where paganism still flourished.
He accepting that the barbarians had Gregorian chant is named after St. Gregory I, during whose papacy (590–604) it was collected and codified come to stay after devastating Rome and its rulers, he spent his years in St Peter’s Chair, sending missionaries to convert them to Christianity, or, where necessary, wean them off the Arian heresy. He said he would like to have been a missionary himself. His charisma, however, kept him in Rome, running the city, trying to steer barbarian kings and queens of brutal and uncertain temper, along the right path, reorganising the Church’s finances and administration, and writing a much-admired book of practical advice for Bishops and Priests, as well as homilies and commentaries on the Books of the Bible. He also revised the Liturgy and left his name to Gregorian chant, during whose papacy (590–604), it was collected and codified.
Lamed by arthritis at the end of his life, Gregory died in Rome, on 12 March 604, and was buried in the Basilica of St Peter. The first Pope to call himself ‘servant of the servants of God’, he was recognised immediately as a saint.
And, this final flourish! The saintly Pope is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical History.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.