Today, September 3rd, the Church commemorates Saint Gregory the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. He was born in A.D. 540 to a Roman senator who also served as Prefect of the City of Rome. His family was heavily involved in the Church, and both his father and mother are honored in the Western and Eastern Churches as saints.
Gregory was very well educated in grammar, literature, rhetoric, science, and law. He did not read or write Greek, but displayed exceptional knowledge in Latin authors, as well as natural science, history, mathematics, and music. He entered civil office at a young age, and became Prefect of Rome, the highest civil office in the city, at age 33.
He abandoned his political aspirations upon the death of his father and turned the family villa into a monastery. It was dedicated to Andrew the Apostle. Gregory once wrote of the monastery, “In that silence of the heart, while we keep watch within through contemplation, we are as if asleep to all things that are without.” While Gregory admired every facet of monastic life, he had a particular appreciation for the vow of poverty.
In A.D. 579, Pope Pelagius II selected Gregory to serve as apocrisiarius, an ambassador to the Imperial Court in Constantinople. He led imperial discussion between the Roman delegation of which he was a part and the leaders of Constantinople, in which the Roman delegation pleaded for military aid against the Lombards. It was during his apocrisiariate that theological relations between Gregory and Patriarch Eutychius soured, which would not fare well in the decades to come. Gregory returned to monastic life in 585, living in his monastery on Caelian Hill until his election to the papacy by popular acclamation in 590.
His monasterial inclinations and prolific political activity bolstered his administrative effectiveness during his papacy. He was inclined to retire prior to his ascendancy to the papal throne, loathing the burden of the office. Gregory became pope in 590, though unwillingly, as he had previously demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and incredible administrative talent, in no small part due to his previous service in Roman government as Prefect of Rome, an office he entered at 30 years of age, and his later service as apocrisiarius.
While Lutheran disapproval of the papacy is just, fairness must be afforded to Gregory’s views on the papal office. Upon ascending to the papacy after years of public service in the Roman government and in the Church, he wrote numerous letters disavowing aspiration to the throne of Peter and praising the contemplative and undisturbed nature of monastic life. He did not view ascendancy to the throne of Peter as gainful, and even spoke discouragingly concerning aspiration to the papacy. It would seem that even in matters of Roman governance he had more seemly opinions than those of the papacy.
Gregory was a renowned liturgical scholar, compiling Good Friday masses for the Roman Catholic Church; an adapted version of this mass is used during Lent in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where it is still accredited to Gregory. He also made numerous liturgical reforms, including the placement of the Our Father following the Verba (“words of our Lord”). Though it is unlikely that Gregory himself initiated its creation, his liturgical scholarship nevertheless paved the way for the inception and widespread use of Gregorian chant in the Western Church. For these liturgical accomplishments, he was known as “the Father of Christian Worship.”
Among all his accomplishments, none are so highly regarded as his missionary work. Gregory championed missionary work throughout the world and made this a focal point of his papacy. He led missions to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, which eventually spread to Germany and the Netherlands. Central to Gregory’s missional theology was the idea that non-heretical preaching of the Christian faith must take place in missionary contexts; all missionary work must be faithful to the teachings of Holy Scripture.
Upon his death, Gregory was immediately declared a saint by popular acclamation. His extensive writings, of which he wrote 850 in the last 13 years of his life, paint a vivid picture of his theological inclinations and doctrinal prowess, as well as his dedicated service to the Church. His mind and work continually evolved, which renders much of the research of his life and papacy today purely speculative.
Gregory is not without faults, however, as it was during his papal reign that his influence concerning devotion to saints, miracles, and relics began to influence the broader theological landscape of the Western Church. Gregory’s theology arguably led to the dogmatization of purgatory centuries later; it is noted that Gregory offered several masses for deceased monks to aid their souls before the Final Judgement. Some of the theological abuses and doctrinal maladies that began to plague the Western Church can be traced back to Gregory’s papacy.
The Church nevertheless commemorates Gregory as a faithful servant to the poor and brokenhearted, and for his devotion to liturgical purity and doctrinal integrity. As a scholar, his writings were profound influences in the days when monastic life began to dominate the religious landscape of the West. As a public servant and church leader, his effective administrative prowess was unmatched, and his reservation concerning higher office demonstrates a rare level of humility. And as a theologian, his deep appreciation for the Scriptures and its supremacy in the Church is demonstrably clear, though his doctrinal and dogmatic record is not without blemish.