HAGIOGRAPHY:
ST GREGORY THE GREAT, PART I
“Gregory the Great was born of an aristocratic family which was perhaps related to the senatorial Anici family. Having become a monk, he was sent by Pelagius II, as his permanent ambassador, to Constantinople, and on September 3rd 590, he was elected to the papal throne, amidst the acclamation of the people and the clergy. His first pastoral activities were regarding the Lombards and the evangelisation of Great Britain.
CONTEMPLATION OF THE MYSTERIES OF GOD
St Gregory was born in Rome about the year 540 and, before his pontificate, from 572 to 573 he held the civil duty of praefectus urbi of Rome. A great admirer of Benedict of Norcia (also he being a descendant of the gens Anicia), he dedicated himself assiduously to the contemplation of the mysteries of God in the reading of the Bible and decided to transform his properties in Rome on the Caelian Hill and in Sicily into as many monasteries, and to become a monk. He was not able to dwell at length in the convent on the Caelian Hill, because, after having been ordained as a deacon, Pope Pelagius II sent him, towards the year 579, as permanent ambassador to the Court of Constantinople, where he remained for six years and gained the esteem of the Emperor Maurice I, whose son, Theodosius, he baptised.
ST GREGORY TRIED TO RESIST THE ELECTION
On his return to Rome, in 586 he returned to the monastery on the Caelian Hill; however he remained there for a very short time because, on September 3rd 590 he was called to the pontifical throne by the enthusiasm of the believers, the insistence of the clergy and the senate of Rome, after the death of Pelagius II, whose secretary he had been. Gregory strove to resist the insistence of the people, sending a letter to the Emperor Maurice in which he besought him to intervene by not approving of the election, but the praefectus urbi of Rome, whose name was Germanus, and who was perhaps the brother of Gregory, intercepted the letter and substituted it with the petition of the people in which they asked for Gregory to be elected pope.
THE PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL HAD BEEN HEARD
At that time, Rome was afflicted by a terrible pestilence. In order to implore the divine assistance, Gregory made the people process for three consecutive days, singing the Litany ‘septiformis,’ to the basilica of St Mary Major. According to a tradition, during the procession the Archangel St Michael appeared over the tomb of the Emperor Hadrian, and he placed his sword back in its scabbard, announcing that the prayers of the Faithful had been heard. From that time forth, the tomb of Hadrian changed its name to that of ‘Castel St Angelo’ and a statue of the Angel was placed on its summit. William Durrand, Bishop of Mende, added in his ‘Rationale’ that at that point, there had been heard sung in three angelic voices, the Marian anthiphon ‘Regina coeli,’ and that St Gregory had added the last phrase ‘Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.’
‘ANGELS’ RATHER THAN ‘ANGLES’
As Pope, he showed himself to be a man of action, to be practical and also enterprising. He was a powerful administrator, be it on social or political matters, in supporting those in need of help and protection, or in the internal questions of the Church.
He had dealings with Recared I, the first Visigothic king of Spain converted to Christianity and was on excellent terms with the French kings. With the help of these, together with that of Queen Brunhilda, he was able to put into reality his most beautiful dream: the conversion of Britain, which he had entrusted to Augustine of Canterbury.
In this regard, it is recounted that one day, coming from his convent on the Caelian Hill and seeing at the market several young British slaves up for sale who were most beautiful of aspect and pagans, he exclaimed with affliction ‘They should not be called Angles but rather Angels.’ In less than two years, 10,000 Angles, including the king of Kent, Edelbert, were converted.
PREPARING THE WAY FOR PEACE
A few years after his election, he had to provide, in the face of an inefficient imperial army, for the defence of Rome. The Eternal City was by now a shadow of its ancient greatness and it was subjected, together with the neighbouring zones, to frequent incursions of the Lombardian warriors who devastated the countryside, pillaging and placing the inhabitants under ferocious reprisals. It was the duty of Pope Gregory to save Rome from the humiliation of the umpteenth pillage, purchasing peace from King Agilulfo for 500 pieces of gold, who then commended their conversion from the Arian heresy to Catholicism, thanks to the influential support of Queen Theodolinda, the wife of Agilulfo. She was a profoundly Catholic Bavarian princess, who was able, little by liitle, to lead the king to Catholicism, thus preparing the way for peace.”
– This article was published in “De Vita Contemplativa” (Monthly magazine for monasteries), Year VII – Number 3, March 2013.
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