Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
A Pope for hard times: "Santo subito" - this was what was called right after his death
He was a pope of the breakthrough era. The antique was dying. The Byzantine Empire tried to restore the old order, but the West was already irreversibly taken over by barbarian peoples. Rome itself fell victim to the invasions of the Ostrogoths or the Lombards. Pope Gregory, in a sense, he relied on the barbarians. He saw that peoples who had just embraced Christianity (or rather their rulers) needed intensive evangelization. He sent missionaries to the Gauls, Lombards, Visigoths and Anglo-Saxons, and wrote letters to the rulers. Looking at the Benedictine ideal (he was himself a Benedictine), he laid the foundations for the medieval European "christianitas".
Gregory (born 540) came from a wealthy Roman family. His great-grandfather was Pope Felix III. Gregory, at the age of 30, took the office of the prefect of the Eternal City. However, he quickly abandoned his political career and joined the Benedictine Order. He allocated the family property to the foundation of monasteries. He was ordained a deacon. Pope Pelagius II sent him as his representative to the court of the emperor in Constantinople. Gregory wanted to remain a monk. It was not given to him. The people of Rome made him pope in 590. Gregory defended himself against this task, but finally succumbed. He assumed the title " Servant of the servants of God", which is still used by popes today.
History nicknamed him "Great". Did he deserve this? In times of confusion, Gregory I consistently strengthened the authority of the papacy and the Church. Through peace negotiations, he protected Rome from further Lombard invasions. He eased the tensions between Rome and the mighty Constantinople. The Eastern Church, which had never had a special love for popes, recognized Gregory as a saint, and was given the nickname "Dialogus" there. The epithet Saint Gregory the Dialogist has been attached to him in Eastern Christianity because of his Dialogues. English translations of Eastern texts sometimes list him as Gregory "Dialogos", or the Anglo-Latinate equivalent "Dialogus"
He is also included in the group of the four great Fathers of the Western Church (next to Augustine, Jerome, and Ambrose). He wrote at least 850 letters, many homilies, comments, and a handbook for pastors. He was not an outstanding theologian, he was rather a man of action, the chaplain of the nascent medieval Europe. He cared for the poor and enjoyed great respect among the common people. After his death in 604, Gregory was declared a saint by the Romans' acclamation "santo subito". His tomb is in the Basilica of St. Peter.
Apart from satisfying our historical curiosity, do we have today a reason to delve into the biography of a man who lived in distant times, at the end of antiquity? Can the modern era draw inspiration from the pontificate and the achievements of a statesman and leader of the Church born over 1,500 years ago? Historians are unanimous: Gregory the Great was an extraordinary figure who had a key influence on the shape of the emerging Middle Ages after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. But were those times really so different from ours? Gregory shaped personality gained multiple experience appropriate to people of power (both secular and church), and then held the papal office in times of brutal geopolitical discharges, barbarian invasions, constant social unrest, and even catastrophes (such as natural disasters and plagues), deep church divisions and incessant political games, not to mention the illnesses that drew him to bed during his pontificate.
It was in this context, which he himself regarded as a prelude to the imminent Apocalypse, and in such a personal situation, marked by suffering, that Gregory, the last Roman, undertook long-term, reforms that ultimately saved not only Catholicism and the Church. Also - in the long perspective - he saved the legacy of antiquity and the then germinating Latin civilization, of which he is an undeniable co-creator. Nowadays, when the overuse of pathetic expressions, understandably, causes their devaluation, it is worth realizing why Gregory, as one of the few heroes of the past centuries, received the nickname "The Great" from history.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george
Prayer to Saint Gregory the Great
Father, you guide your people
with kindness and govern
us with love.
By the prayers of Saint Gregory
give the spirit of wisdom
to those you have called to lead
your Church.
May growth of your people
in holiness be the eternal joy of
your shepherds.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Your Son, who lives and reigns
with you in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.
Amen.