On his return to Rome, Gregory was chosen Pope by unanimous consent, for Pelagius had been carried off by the plague. He refused, as long as it was possible, the honour thus offered him. He disguised himself and hid himself in a cave, but he was discovered by a pillar of fire shining over the place, and was consecrated at Saint Peter’s. As Pontiff he was an example to his successors by his learning and holiness of life. He every day admitted pilgrims to his table, among whom he received, on one occasion, an Angel and, on another, the Lord of Angels, who wore the garb of a pilgrim. He charitably provided for the poor, both in and out of Rome, and kept a list of them. He re-established the Catholic faith in several places where it had fallen into decay. Thus, he put down the Donatists in Africa, and the Arians in Spain, and drove the Agnoites out of Alexandria. Gregory refused to give the pallium to Syagrius, Bishop of Autun, until he should have expelled the Neophyte heretics from Gaul. He induced the Goths to abandon the Arian heresy. He sent Augustine and other monks into Britain and, by these learned and saintly men, converted that island to the faith of Christ Jesus, so that Saint Bede called him the “Apostle of England.”
Gregory checked the haughty pretensions of John, the Patriarch of Constantinople who had arrogated to himself the title of “Bishop of the Universal Church.” He obliged the Emperor Mauritius to revoke the decree by which he had forbidden any soldier to become a monk. He enriched the Church with many most holy practices and laws. In a Council held at Saint Peter’s, he passed several decrees. Among these, the following may be mentioned: That in the Mass, the Kyrie eleison should be said nine times; that the Alleluia should always be said, except during the interval between Septuagesima and Easter; that these words should be inserted in the Canon: Diesque nostras in tua pace disponsas (And may you dispose our days in your peace). He increased the number of Processions (Litanies) and Stations, and completed the Office of the Church. He would have the four Councils, of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon, to be received with the same honour as the four Gospels. He allowed the Bishops of Sicily, who, according to the ancient custom of their Churches, used to visit Rome every three years, to make that visit once every fifth year. He wrote several books, and Peter the Deacon assures us that he frequently saw the Holy Ghost resting on the head of the Pontiff while he was dictating. It is a matter of wonder that with his incessant sickness and ill health he could have said, done, written and decreed as he did.
At length, after performing many miracles, Gregory was called to his reward in Heaven after a pontificate of 13 years, 6 months and 10 days. It was on the fourth of the Ides of March (March 12th), which the Greeks also observe as a great Feast, on account of this Pontiff’s extraordinary learning and virtue. His body was buried in the Basilica of Saint Peter near the Secretarium.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
Among all the Pastors whom our Lord Jesus Christ has placed as His Vice-regents over the universal Church, there is not one whose merits and renown have surpassed those of the holy Pope whose feast we keep today. His name is Gregory, which signifies watchfulness. His surname is the Great, and he was in possession of that title when God sent the Seventh Gregory, the glorious Hildebrand, to govern His Church.
In recounting the glories of this illustrious Pontiff it is but natural we should begin with his zeal for the Services of the Church. The Roman Liturgy, which owes to him some of its finest Hymns, may be considered as his work, at least in the sense that it was he who collected together and classified the prayers and rites drawn up by his predecessors and reduced them to the form in which we now have them. He collected also the ancient chants of the Church and arranged them in accordance with the rules and requirements of the Divine Service. Hence it is that our sacred music is called the Gregorian Chant, which gives such solemnity to the Liturgy and inspires the soul with respect and devotion during the celebration of the great Mysteries of our Faith.
He is, then, the Apostle of the Liturgy, and this alone would have immortalised his name. But we must look for far greater things from such a Pontiff as Gregory. His name was added to the three who had hitherto been honoured as the great Doctors of the Latin Church. These three were Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome. Who else could be the fourth but Gregory? The Church found in his writings such evidence of his having been guided by the Holy Ghost, such a knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures, such a clear appreciation of the Mysteries of Faith, and such unction and authority in his teachings, that she gladly welcomed him as a new guide for her children.
Such was the respect with which everything he wrote was treated, that his very Letters were preserved as so many precious treasures. This immense correspondence shows us that there was not a country, scarcely even a city, of the Christian world, on which the Pontiff had not his watchful eye steadily fixed: that there was not a question, however local or personal, which, if it interested religion, did not excite his zeal and arbitration as the Bishop of the universal Church. If certain writers of modern times had but taken the pains to glance at these Letters written by a Pope of the sixth century, they would never have asserted, as they have done, that the prerogatives of the Roman Pontiff are based on documents fabricated, as they say, two hundred years after the death of Gregory.
Throned on the Apostolic See, our Saint proved himself to be a rightful heir of the Apostles, not only as the representative and depository of their authority, but as a fellow-sharer in their mission of calling nations to the true faith. To whom does England owe her having been, for so many ages, the Island of Saints? To Gregory who, touched with compassion for those Angli of whom, as he playfully said, he would fain make Angeli, sent to their island the monk Augustine with forty companions, all of them, as was Gregory himself, children of Saint Benedict. The faith had been sown in this land as early as the second century, but it had been trodden down by the invasion of an infidel race. This time the seed fructified, and so rapidly that Gregory lived to see a plentiful harvest. It is beautiful to hear the aged Pontiff speaking with enthusiasm about the results of his English mission. He thus speaks in the twenty-seventh Book of his Morals: “Lo! the language of Britain, which could once mutter nothing save barbarous sounds, has long since begun to sing, in the divine praises, the Hebrew Alleluia! Lo! That swelling sea is now calm and saints walk on its waves. The tide of barbarians which the sword of earthly princes could not keep back, is now hemmed in at the simple bidding of God’s priests.”
During the fourteen years that this holy Pope held the place of Peter he was the object of the admiration of the Christian world, both in the East and West. His profound learning, his talent for administration, his position — all tended to make him beloved and respected. But who could describe the virtues of his great soul? — that contempt for the world and its riches which led him to seek obscurity in the cloister; that humility which made him flee the honours of the Papacy and hide himself in a cave where, at length, he was miraculously discovered and God Himself put into his hands the Keys of Heaven, which he was evidently worthy to hold because he feared the responsibility; that zeal for the whole flock of which he considered himself not the master, but the servant, so much so indeed that he assumed the title, which the Popes have ever since retained, of Servant of the Servants of God; that charity which took care of the poor throughout the whole world; that ceaseless solicitude which provided for every calamity, whether public or private; that unruffled sweetness of manner which he showed to all around him, in spite of the bodily sufferings which never left him during the whole period of his laborious pontificate; that firmness in defending the deposit of the Faith, and crushing error wherever it showed itself: in a word, that vigilance with regard to discipline which made itself felt for long ages after in the whole Church? All these services and glorious examples of virtue have endeared our Saint to the whole world, and will make his name be blessed by all future generations, even to the end of time.
*****
Father of the Christian people, Vicar of the charity, as well as of the authority, of Christ! O Gregory, vigilant Pastor! The Church which you have so faithfully loved and served turns to you with confidence. You cannot forget the flock which keeps up such an affectionate remembrance of you. Hear the prayer she offers you on this your solemnity. Protect and guide the Pontiff who now holds the place of Peter, as you did. Enlighten and encourage him in the difficulties with which he is beset. Bless the hierarchy of the Pastors which has received from you such magnificent teachings and such admirable examples. Assist it to maintain inviolate the sacred trust of Faith. Bless the efforts it is now making for the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline, without which, all is disorder and confusion. God chose you as the regulator of the Divine Service, the Holy Liturgy. Foster, by your blessing, the zeal which is now rising up among us for those holy traditions of prayer which have been so neglected. Teach us the long-forgotten secret that the best way of praying is to use the prayers of the Church. Unite all Churches in obedience to the Apostolic See, which is the ground and pillar of Faith and the fountain of Spiritual Authority. The terrible schism, which has separated the East from Catholic unity, began to show itself during your Pontificate.
Apostle of England, look down with affection on this island which has now rebelled from Rome and has become the resort of countless false religions. But now, after [five] centuries of apostasy from the true Faith, the hand of God’s mercy is pressing her to conversion. She is your own child in Christ Jesus: will you not aid her return to Him? Will thou not guide her, by your prayers, to come forth out of the darkness which still so thickly clouds her and follow the light which Heaven holds out to her? Oh if England were once more Catholic, who can tell the good she would do? For what country is there that can do grander things for the Propagation of the Faith? Pray for her, then. She may regain her glorious title of Isle of Saints, for she has you for her Apostle!
These are the days of salvation. Lent is upon us. Pray for the faithful who are now entering on their career of penance. Obtain for them compunction of heart, love of prayer and an appreciation of the Liturgy and its Mysteries. The solemn and devout Homilies which you addressed at this Season to the people of Rome are still read to us. May they sink into our hearts and fill them with fear of God’s Justice and hope in His Mercy, for His Justice and Mercy change not to suit the time. We are weak and timid, and this makes us count as harsh the laws of the Church which oblige us to fasting and abstinence. Get us brave hearts, brave with the spirit of mortification. Your holy life is an example to us, and your writings are our instruction. What we still want is to be made true Penitents, and this your intercession must do for us so that we may return, with the joy of a purified conscience, to the divine Alleluia which you have taught us to sing on Earth, and which we hope to chant together with you in Heaven.Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
At Rome, St. Mamilian, martyr.
At Nicomedia, the passion of the blessed martyr Peter, chamberlain of the emperor Diocletian. For complaining openly of the atrocious torments inflicted on the martyrs, he was, by order of the emperor, first suspended and a long time scourged, then, salt and vinegar being rubbed into his wounds, he was burned on a grate over a slow fire. Thus did he become truly the heir of St. Peter’s name and faith.
In the same city, St. Egdunus, priest, and seven others who were strangled one by one, on successive days, to terrify those who remained.
At Constantinople, St. Theophanes, who gave up great wealth to embrace poverty in the monastic state. By Leo the Armenian he was kept in prison two years for the worship of holy images, then exiled in Samothracia, where, overwhelmed with afflictions, he breathed his last and wrought many miracles.
At Capua, St. Bernard, bishop and confessor.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
