09/03/2026
† Saint of the Day †
(September 3)Thursday
✠ St. Gregory I ✠
64th Pope/ Doctor of the Church :
Birth Name: Gregorius Anicius
Born: 540 AD
Rome, the Eastern Roman Empire
Died: March 12, 604 (Aged 64)
Rome, the Eastern Roman Empire
Venerated in:
Catholic Church
Orthodox Church
Anglicanism
Lutheranism
Patronage:
Musicians, Singers, Students, and Teachers
Pope Saint Gregory I commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 3 September 590 to 12 March 604 AD. He is famous for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregorian Mission, to convert the then-pagan Anglo-Saxons in England to Christianity. Gregory is also well known for his writings, which were more prolific than those of any of his predecessors as Pope. 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".
A Roman senator's son and himself the Prefect of Rome at 30, Gregory tried the monastery but soon returned to active public life, ending his life and the century as pope. Although he was the first pope from a monastic background, his prior political experiences may have helped him to be a talented administrator, who successfully established papal supremacy. During his papacy, he greatly surpassed with his administration the emperors in improving the welfare of the people of Rome, and he successfully challenged the theological views of Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople before the emperor Tiberius II. Gregory regained papal authority in Spain and France and sent missionaries to England. The realignment of barbarian allegiance to Rome from their A***n Christian alliances shaped medieval Europe. Gregory saw Franks, Lombards, and Visigoths align with Rome in religion. He also combated against the Donatist heresy, popular particularly in North Africa at the time.
Throughout the Middle Ages, he was known as "the Father of Christian Worship" because of his exceptional efforts in revising the Roman worship of his day. His contributions to the development of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, still in use in the Byzantine Rite, were so significant that he is generally recognized as its de facto author.
Gregory is a Doctor of the Church and one of the Latin Fathers. He is considered a saint in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, and some Lutheran denominations. Immediately after his death, Gregory was canonized by popular acclaim. The Protestant reformer John Calvin admired Gregory greatly and declared in his Institutes that Gregory was the last good Pope. He is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers.
Comments:
It is quite just to consider St. Gregory the Great as one of the founders of the Middle Ages. For we note that his life – both before and after he was elected Pope – closed the last door that separated his world from pagan antiquity, and opened the door to another era, the Middle Ages, which was just starting.
Regarding pagan antiquity, he combated the remnants of Paganism. He ordered the last pagan temples to be transformed into Catholic churches. He wiped out A***nism, a plague that still remained from the two preceding centuries. A***nism was still alive in the West thanks to many barbarian tribes who had been seduced by that heresy. He fought vigorously against immorality and other bad customs from the old Roman Empire.
But he was also a builder of a new era. He was a great founder of monasteries and became superior of one of them. The monasteries played an important role in the foundation of the Middle Ages. He also worked to establish the chant that took his name, Gregorian Chant. With this, he gave voice to the new era, for one can say that the Gregorian Chant characterized the Middle Ages from beginning to end. He helped to solidify the Benedictine Order and to define its monastic life with the majestic tone it adopted.
The missionary facet of St. Gregory’s life is also admirable. He was the one who sent the missions to England and Ireland. From there, missionaries returned to the Continent to convert Germany. In this way, he spread the seeds of medieval Christendom everywhere.
He also dealt with one of the most difficult problems of that time, which was the decadent Eastern Roman Empire. He tried to strengthen the walls of that city of Jesus Christ that threatened to return to its persistent softness, immorality, and heresies. The ungrateful Byzantium would again reject the zeal of the Popes to steer it back onto the right road. This erroneous path would culminate centuries later in the Eastern Schism.
So, we see that all the problems of his time passed through the hands of that great man. He faced them, analyzed them, and resolved many of them. He wrote works that became the pillars of medieval thinking. He had a richest and admirable life turned to the service of the Holy Church and Christian Civilization.
If St. Gregory the Great were to be resurrected, what he would say about our times? What does he say about it now, from the heights of Heaven?
If he were to return, he would be astonished at the great difference he would find. Certainly, he lived in hard times, an epoch of disorders and notable crimes. Notwithstanding, the people of that time were able to recognize a great saint and oblige him to accept the Papacy. Today, the people have lost the notion of what sanctity is, and very often applaud the evildoers inside the Church.
Let us pray to St. Gregory the Great asking that he transform our epoch – after the purifying chastisement through which it needs to pass – into a new Middle Age. A new era still more glorious and giving yet more glory to God and Our Lady than the past one. He will understand this prayer since he was one of the founders of the Middle Ages.
