09/03/2026
September 3: Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604). Patron of Musicians, singers, teachers, and students.
"Ask yourselves whether you belong to his flock, whether you know him, whether the light of his truth shines in your minds. … [The Gospel] tells us that anyone who claims to know God without keeping his commandments is a liar."
- An excerpt from one of St. Gregory's many homilies
64th Pope and one of four Popes — along with Leo I, Nicholas I, and John Paul II — to be named "the Great", Gregory was born at Rome to a wealthy family in about 540, during tumultuous period of Italian history at the onset of the Middle Ages. His mother, Silvia, was herself canonised a saint.
After becoming a monk, Gregory was appointed Papal ambassador to Constantinople in 579, returning to Rome in 585. He was acclaimed Pope in 590.
As Pope, Gregory oversaw a revision of the Mass, standardised liturgical chant — hence when it is known as "Gregorian chant", though that kind of chant is actually a later development — wrote numerous theological works, and institution many missions to pagan kingdoms. Significantly, Gregory began missionary efforts to the Anglo-Saxons, commissioning Augustine (not to be confused with Augustine of Hippo) the eventual first Archbishop of Canterbury as the leader of these efforts among the Anglo-Saxons.
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The image used in this post is an altarpiece originally from a side altar at the church of St. Martin in Messkirch, Germany and now housed in the collection of Yale University. The image was taken from Wikimedia Commons, where it is identified as being in the Public Domain. See less
