|
Also known as: Gregory I;
Gregory Dialogos; Father of the Fathers
Profile
Son of a wealthy Roman senator and Saint Silvia Nephew of Saint Emiliana
and Saint Tarsilla. Educated by the finest teachers in Rome. Prefect of
Rome for a year, then he sold his possessions, turned his home into a
Benedictine monastery, and used his money to build six monasteries in
Sicily and one in Rome. Benedictine monk. Upon seeing English children
being sold in the Roman Forum, he became a missionary to England.
Elected Pope by unanimous acclamation on 3 September 590, the first monk
to be chosen. Sent Saint Augustine of Canterbury and a company of monks to
evangelize England, and other missionaries to France, Spain, and Africa.
Collected the melodies and plain chant so associated with him that they
are now known as Gregorian Chants. One of the four great Doctors of the
Latin Church. Wrote seminal works on the Mass and Office.
Born
c.540 at Rome, Italy
Papal Ascension
3 September 590
Died
12 March 604 at Rome, Italy
Patronage
choir boys, educators, England, gout, masons, musicians, papacy, plague,
Popes, schoolchildren, singers, stone masons, stonecutters, students,
teachers, West Indies
Representation
crosier, dove, tiara; pope working on sheet music; pope writing
Readings
The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great
things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.
Saint Gregory the Great
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If we knew at what time we were to depart from this world, we would be
able to select a season for pleasure and another for repentance. But God,
who has promised pardon to every repentant sinner, has not promised us
tomorrow. Therefore we must always dread the final day, which we can never
foresee. This very day is a day of truce, a day for conversion. And yet we
refuse to cry over the evil we have done! Not only do we not weep for the
sins we have committed, we even add to them....
If we are, in fact, now occupied in good deeds, we should not attribute
the strength with which we are doing them to ourselves. We must not count
on ourselves, because even if we know what kind of person we are today, we
do not know what we will be tomorrow. Nobody must rejoice in the security
of their own good deeds. As long as we are still experiencing the
uncertainties of this life, we do not know what end may follow...we must
not trust in our own virtues.
Saint Gregory the Great, from Be Friends of God
|
