Western Fatherswriter
Who he was
- The father of Anglo-Saxon Christianity.
- Bishop of Rome, civil official, monk, and writer.
- Gregory was born to an aristocratic Roman family that had been Christian for several generations.
- His great-great grandfather was Pope Felix II (III) (483- 492), and Pope Agepetus I (535-36) was another paternal ancestor.
- His three sisters, Tarsilla, Aemiliana, and Gordiana, embraced the life of Christian virgins. Tarsilla and Aemiliana were known for their asceticism, but Gordiana abandoned the dedicated life and married.
- Gregory founded the Monastery of St. Andrew in the family mansion, and used family lands in Sicily to establish and endow six monasteries there.
- He was ordained deacon and sent to Constantinople as Episcopal representative from 579 to 586, when he was recalled to Rome, where he lived again in the Monastery of St. Andrew as a simple monk, and assisted Pelagius II with papal business.
- When Pelagius died in 590, Gregory was unanimously chosen by the people to succeed him as bishop.
- Gregory called himself “servant of the servants of God,” a title used by others ever since. His Theology and Spirituality
- He held many of St. Augustine’s theology, such as: the fallen state of human beings (with the pervasive effects of original sin, the primacy of grace in salvation, the doctrine of predestination, and the mediating role of the sacraments).
- His consideration of the possibility of an after death purgatory of sins contributed to the gradual elaboration of a doctrine of purgatory.
What he wrote
- His Regula Pastoralis (Pastoral Rule): It takes up the question of the effective ministry of bishops in their dioceses, in which Gregory sought to sketch the duties of the ideal shepherd (pastor) of souls. King Alfred thought so highly of it that he translated it for the use of the English clergy of his time.
- The Moralia, an allegorizing exposition of the Book of Job.
- His Letters, no fewer than 838 have been preserved.
- He delivered many sermons to the people of Rome on Sundays and feast days.
- Of his sermons, there survive several series: on the liturgical cycle of Gospel lessons, on the opening and closing chapters on the Book of Ezekiel, and two on the Songs of Solomon.
- Commentary on the book of I Kings.
- Now lost are commentaries on Proverbs, all of Kings, and Genesis through Judges.
- The Dialogues, in four books recounts the lives and miracles of holy men and women in Italy.
- In his Epistles 2.48, he wrote: Watch out! The world doesn’t attack the Lord’s flock stealthily at night anymore, but in open daylight…We must study to make our hearts passionate by imitating earthly shepherds. They often keep watch through winter nights, nipped by rain and frost, lest even one sheep should perish. And if the prowler does bite one greedily, they busy themselves to save it. They pant with rapid heartbeats, leap to rescue the sheep with loud cries, and are stimulated by the urgency, lest the lord of the flock require what they lost carelessly.