What kind of studies did Saint Gregory I receive?
So, Saint Gregory, the Dialogist, was born around 540, into a family of Roman patricians, with an ancient Christian tradition, in the city of Rome. Also, his family lived in a particular house on Celius Hill, on the present “St. Gregory” street, which runs north to the Colosseum and south to the Circus Maximus. So his family-owned significant properties around Rome and on the island of Sicily.
Gregory, I had a complete intellectual education, in addition to secular studies, consisting of Latin authors, natural sciences, history, mathematics, and music; he was also guided by St. Gregory of Tours, who considered his scholar “the most learned man of his time, especially in grammar, dialectics, and rhetoric.”
He who from above, from God, took divine grace, Martyr Gregory, and with the power of that grace, willingly followed the Holy Gospel of Christ, from Whom you took the reward of your labors, ever happy; pray Him to save our souls.
In what year did Gregory the Great go to Constantinople?
After selling his inheritance and distributing a lot of money to the poor, Gregory founded six monasteries on the family lands on the island of Sicily. Then, renouncing worldly clothes, he puts on monastic clothes, entering as a simple monk in the monastery founded in his father’s house, dedicated to Saint Andrew the Apostle.
In 0579 AD, after Pope Pelagius II ordained him a deacon, St. Gregory was sent to Constantinople as an “apocrine” (delegate, ambassador). For six years, the saint became deeply acquainted with Christianity and the monasticism of Rome. During this period, St. Gregory the Great wrote down the “Liturgy of the Previously Sacred Gifts,” which circulated only orally until then.
In the year 585, St. Gregory the Dialogue returned to Rome, bringing with him the honored Arm of St. Andrew the Apostle and the select Head of St. Luke the Evangelist. However, Pope Pelagius II appoints him as his secretary-counselor, the former badly in need of help in his attempt to unite the bishops of northern Italy with the Church of Rome.
Key Verse related to Pope Gregory I
“Have confidence in the compassion of our Creator. Reflect well on what you are now doing, and keep the things you have done before you. Lift your eyes to the overflowing compassion of heaven, and while He waits for you, draw near in tears to our merciful Judge. Having before your mind that He is a Just Judge, do not take your sins lightly, and also having in mind that He is compassionate, do not despair. The God-Man gives man confidence before God.”
What did Pope Gregory I do in his papal activity?
Pope Gregory I transformed his parental home on Caelius Hill into a monastery dedicated to St. Andrew the Apostle, where he housed the Benedictine monks who had also been expelled from Monte Cassino monastery by the Lombards. Who was also trying to conquer the Italian peninsula? Gregory himself retired here. He wished to remain a Benedictine monk.
The work of Gregory I during the 14 years of his pontificate (from 3 September 590 to 12 March 604) seems unbelievable: he organized the defense of Rome, threatened by Aginulpho. With whom he then maintained good neighborly relations. He administered the public treasury with meticulous impartiality. Making up for the shortcomings of the imperial officials, he saw to the water supply of Rome.
At the same time, he favored the emigration of the dogmatic, eliminating all forms of slavery; he was also inspired by zeal for the spread of the faith. He proposed and supported the mission of St Augustine of Canterbury in England. So always attentive to the problems of the whole of Christendom, he did not neglect the minor concerns of everyday life. Shortly before his death, he took the opportunity to send the Bishop of Chiusi a winter cloak.
How many works has Pope Gregory I written?
Therefore, Saint Gregory wrote four volumes entitled Dialogues (Dialogues), which is why Eastern Christianity honors him as Gregory the Dialogue. Pope Gregory the Great’s Dialogues, written at the end of the 6th century, contains a legitimization of the ascetic values of the early Middle Ages, linked to the birth of a Benedictine culture.
According to apocryphal sources, St Gregory I wrote countless sermons and 848 letters. The 848 letters that remain from him and the addresses to the people prove the immense activity carried out by Pope Gregory the Great. In all areas of pastoral life, he left deep traces. He also dealt with sacred music, the chant used in the celebration of Holy Masses, and established the norms that led to “Gregorian chant.”
He composed the Liturgy of the previously consecrated gifts, celebrated in Eastern churches during Lent. Known as the Liturgy of St Gregory the Dialogue, it is one of the three liturgies celebrated in Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches, along with that of John Chrysostom and Basil the Great.
Primary Takeaways
- He was not physically robust, but, on the contrary, he was sickly, so a secretary had to read the first series of “Homilies on the Gospel” because he could not stand.
- He died on 12 March 604 and was buried in St Peter’s Basilica. The new Calendar set his commemoration for 3 September, the day he began his work as supreme pastor of Christ’s Church.
- Saint Gregory the Great belongs to the category of men to whom history gives the title “the Great”; he is honored in both the Western and Eastern Churches and is thus a living witness of the Church, one holy, catholic, and apostolic.
Conclusion
St. Gregory I, Pope of Rome, so-called because of his beautiful words, was born in ancient Rome to a father named Gordian, and a mother, Silvia Felicita. Both were of good birth and honest and wealthy senators. But it was not so much for the honor of senators that the lineage of this Saint Gregory was honored as for those holy persons pleasing to God who were in that lineage.
Saint Gregory the Great passed away in Rome on March 12, 604. Despite the wealth at his disposal, St Gregory was characterized all his life by a love of poverty of goodwill. Therefore, he was recognized as a saint immediately after his death. His holy relics are in St Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican.
Read also: Synod of Constantinople (543). The Fifth Ecumenical Council
Quizlet about Pope Gregory I
Bibliography
- Chazelle, C. M. (1990). So Pictures, books, and the illiterate: Pope Gregory I’s letters to Serenus of Marseilles. Also Word & image, 6(2), 138-153.
- SO Frederick William Kellett. (1889). So Pope Gregory the Great and His Relations with Gaul (No. 2). Therefore, University Press.
- Katz, S. (1933). So Pope Gregory the Great and the Jews. Also, The Jewish Quarterly Review, 24(2), 113-136.
- Martyn, J. R. (2014). So Gregory and Leander: An Analysis of the Special Friendship between Pope Gregory the Great and Leander, Archbishop of Seville. SO Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
- Serfass, A. (2006). Therefore, Slavery and Pope Gregory the Great. SO Journal of Early Christian Studies, 14(1), 77-103.
