St. Gregory the Great

Feast Day: September 3

“Servant of the servants of God.” – Papal Motto of St. Gregory the Great

Gregory wanted to be a monk.

He had left public life behind.

He had turned his family home into a monastery.

He wanted prayer.

Silence.

And a life centered on God.

Then Rome needed a pope.

Gregory was chosen.

He did not receive the office as a promotion.

He saw it as a burden of service.

Rome was struggling with war, disease, hunger, and political instability.

Gregory organized relief for the poor.

Strengthened Church discipline.

Preached constantly.

Wrote books that would influence Christianity for centuries.

And sent missionaries north to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons of England.

The monk who wanted a quiet life ended up helping guide the Western Church through one of the most unstable periods in its history.

He called himself:

“Servant of the servants of God.”

St. Gregory the Great, pray for us.

Who Was St. Gregory the Great?

St. Gregory the Great was born in Rome around A.D. 540.

He came from a wealthy and influential Christian family.

Rome itself had changed dramatically from the great imperial capital it had once been.

The Western Roman Empire had collapsed.

Wars, invasions, disease, and political instability had weakened Italy.

Gregory grew up in a world trying to survive after the fall of imperial power.

A Roman Official

Gregory was well educated and entered public service.

He eventually became prefect of Rome, one of the city's highest civil offices.

He understood administration.

Law.

Government.

Property.

And the practical problems of running a city.

Those skills would later become extremely important.

But Gregory eventually walked away from political life.

Becoming a Monk

After the death of his father, Gregory used much of his family wealth for religious purposes.

He founded monasteries and converted his own Roman home into a monastery dedicated to St. Andrew.

Gregory became a monk there.

He loved the monastic life.

Prayer, Scripture, silence, and contemplation suited him deeply.

He later looked back on these years with longing.

Called Away from the Monastery

Gregory's abilities made it difficult for him to remain hidden.

Pope Pelagius II ordained him a deacon and sent him as a papal representative to Constantinople.

Gregory spent several years there dealing with Church and imperial affairs.

Eventually, he returned to Rome and again lived close to his monastery.

Then crisis came.

Elected Pope

Pope Pelagius II died during an outbreak of plague.

Gregory was elected to succeed him in A.D. 590.

He did not want the office.

According to ancient accounts, Gregory tried to avoid becoming pope.

But he was eventually consecrated Bishop of Rome.

The monk now carried responsibility for the Roman Church.

Rome in Crisis

Gregory inherited enormous problems.

The Lombards threatened Italian territories.

Disease had struck the population.

Food supplies were unstable.

Imperial help from Constantinople was often distant or inadequate.

The pope therefore found himself carrying responsibilities that were both spiritual and practical.

Gregory responded with extraordinary administrative energy.

Feeding the Poor

The Roman Church owned large estates, especially in Sicily and other regions.

Gregory used these resources to support the poor.

Food was distributed.

People in need received assistance.

Church property was carefully administered.

Gregory believed wealth entrusted to the Church had to serve the mission of the Church.

Especially the poor.

A Pastor Before Everything Else

Gregory never forgot that he was first a bishop.

He preached regularly.

He taught Scripture.

He guided clergy.

He corrected abuses.

And he tried to ensure that bishops and priests lived according to the responsibilities of their office.

For Gregory, Church leadership was not about status.

It was about souls.

The Pastoral Rule

One of Gregory's most influential books is commonly called the Pastoral Rule.

It explains what kind of man a bishop or pastor should be.

Gregory describes the dangers of leadership.

Pride.

Ambition.

Cowardice.

Harshness.

Flattery.

Poor judgment.

A pastor must understand that different people need different kinds of guidance.

The book became one of the great manuals of Christian pastoral leadership.

Leadership as Service

Gregory famously used the title:

“Servant of the servants of God.”

The phrase became closely associated with the papacy.

It expresses a Christian paradox.

The higher the office, the greater the responsibility to serve.

Jesus had taught His Apostles that the greatest must become the servant of all.

Gregory tried to apply that to papal ministry.

Sending Augustine to England

One of Gregory's most important decisions was sending missionaries to the Anglo-Saxons in England.

Around A.D. 596, he sent a group of monks led by St. Augustine of Canterbury.

The missionaries were frightened by what they had heard about the journey and the peoples they would encounter.

Augustine even turned back to seek Gregory's permission to abandon the mission.

Gregory encouraged them to continue.

They did.

The Conversion of England

Augustine and his companions arrived in Kent.

King Æthelberht allowed them to preach.

The king eventually became Christian.

The mission grew.

Canterbury became an important center of the English Church.

Gregory never personally traveled to England.

But his decision to send missionaries helped reshape the religious history of the country.

Missionary Wisdom

Gregory gave practical advice about evangelization.

He did not believe missionaries needed to destroy every existing custom simply because it had existed before Christianity.

Where customs could be purified and redirected toward Christ, they could sometimes be retained.

This showed pastoral wisdom.

Conversion meant abandoning false worship.

It did not require destroying every harmless part of a people's culture.

Gregory and the Papacy

Gregory exercised strong authority as Bishop of Rome.

He communicated with bishops throughout the West.

He intervened in disciplinary matters.

He appointed representatives.

He dealt with kings and emperors.

And he clearly understood the Roman See as having a special responsibility for the unity and government of the Church.

At the same time, Gregory repeatedly warned against pride in ecclesiastical titles.

Authority existed for service.

The Lombards

Much of Italy was threatened by the Lombards.

Byzantine imperial forces controlled some territories, but their ability to defend Rome was limited.

Gregory sometimes negotiated directly with Lombard leaders.

This placed the pope in an increasingly important civil role.

The weakened political order of Italy meant bishops sometimes had to do work that government officials could no longer perform effectively.

Gregory the Preacher

Gregory's surviving homilies reveal a practical preacher.

He explained Scripture.

Called people to repentance.

Warned against pride.

Encouraged charity.

And reminded Christians to prepare for eternity.

His preaching reflects the instability of his world.

Earthly kingdoms could collapse.

God's kingdom could not.

The Book of Dialogues

Gregory also wrote the Dialogues, a collection of stories about Italian saints and miracles.

The most famous section concerns St. Benedict of Nursia.

Much of what later Christians knew about Benedict's life came through Gregory.

The work helped spread devotion to Benedict and Benedictine monasticism.

Gregorian Chant

Gregory is traditionally associated with Gregorian chant.

His actual role in creating the musical tradition later called Gregorian chant is more complicated than the popular story suggests.

He did not personally compose the entire chant repertoire.

The musical tradition developed over time.

But Gregory became strongly associated with the organization and promotion of Roman liturgical worship, and later generations attached his name to the chant tradition.

Sacred Liturgy

Gregory took the liturgical life of the Church seriously.

He worked within the Roman liturgical tradition and contributed to developments in worship and discipline.

For Gregory, liturgy was not performance.

It was the prayer of the Church directed toward God.

Scripture

Gregory wrote extensively on Scripture.

His massive Moralia on Job became especially influential.

He read Scripture on several levels:

historical,

moral,

and spiritual.

He wanted Christians not merely to understand biblical events but to allow Scripture to transform their lives.

Humility

Humility appears constantly in Gregory's writings.

He knew how easily leadership could corrupt a person's soul.

The bishop might begin serving God and eventually begin loving authority.

The preacher might begin proclaiming Christ and eventually begin loving applause.

Gregory warned pastors to examine themselves constantly.

The Papacy and the Title “Universal Bishop”

Gregory famously objected when the title “universal bishop” was used in a way he believed exalted one bishop improperly over others.

This statement is sometimes removed from its historical context.

Gregory himself exercised extensive Roman primatial authority.

His objection was to a title and understanding he saw as threatening the proper dignity of other bishops, not a denial that the Bishop of Rome possessed a unique role in the universal Church.

A Bridge Between Worlds

Gregory lived between the ancient Roman world and medieval Europe.

He inherited Roman institutions.

Worked with Germanic kings.

Supported monasticism.

Sent missionaries.

Administered estates.

Negotiated political crises.

And guided bishops.

His pontificate helped shape the form Western Christianity would take for centuries.

His Final Years

Gregory suffered from poor health.

He experienced serious physical pain and illness.

Yet he continued writing letters, governing the Church, and carrying out pastoral duties.

He died in A.D. 604 after serving as pope for about fourteen years.

“The Great”

Only a small number of popes are commonly called “the Great.”

Gregory is one of them.

The title reflects the enormous influence of his pontificate.

Pastoral theology.

Missionary work.

Monastic spirituality.

Liturgy.

Church administration.

Biblical interpretation.

His influence touched all of them.

Doctor of the Church

St. Gregory is recognized as one of the four great Latin Doctors of the Church, together with St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome.

His writings became fundamental to Western Christian theology and pastoral practice.

What St. Gregory the Great Teaches Us

St. Gregory teaches us that leadership is service.

The position does not exist for the leader.

The leader exists for the people entrusted to him.

He also teaches us that God may call us away from the life we personally prefer.

Gregory wanted the monastery.

God gave him the papacy.

And he reminds us that prayer and practical action belong together.

Feed the poor.

Teach the faith.

Send missionaries.

Organize what needs to be organized.

Then return to prayer.

When Is the Feast of St. Gregory the Great?

The Catholic Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church, on September 3.

He is remembered as a monk, pope, missionary pope, biblical teacher, reformer, and one of the greatest pastors in the history of the Church.

Prayer Inspired by St. Gregory the Great

Lord Jesus Christ,

give us the humility and pastoral wisdom of St. Gregory the Great.

Bless the pope, bishops, priests, and all who lead Your people.

Keep them free from pride and make them true servants.

Strengthen missionaries who carry the Gospel to new peoples.

Help us care for the poor, love Scripture, and worship You faithfully.

And when You call us to responsibilities we would not have chosen for ourselves, give us the grace to serve You well.

St. Gregory the Great, pray for us. Amen.