September 3rd is the Feast of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, a man who was reluctant to give up his contemplative life as a monk when the papacy was thrust upon him in the year 590. Nevertheless, he rose to the demands of the office to become one of the greatest leaders in the history of the Church. When he took office, Rome was in a chaotic state after years of incursions by the Lombards. Poverty was rampant, and war refugees were camped out in the city, presenting a challenge that started Gregory on the road to becoming a brilliant administrator because he set about to marshal all the resources at his disposal to care for those in need.
Overseeing an increase in production of food grown on Church lands, Gregory coordinated transport and distribution to the people of Rome, sending regular allotments to homes where some were on the brink of starvation. He also organized an army of monks to prepare food daily and carry it into the streets for the homeless.
Gregory's success was based on attentiveness to individual circumstances. He would personally cook meals for those of status who were suffering, yet too proud to ask for charity. And he shared his own table with needy people every night and would not eat until he knew the city's poor had been fed.
Calling himself the "Servant of the Servants of God," he popularized the title that would be widely used by popes thereafter, and the trust he inspired in the people shifted their focus to the papacy for leadership in Rome.
Gregory's roots as a contemplative also made him a natural spiritual leader, and it seems his entire life was building towards a profound demonstration of laying down temporal power in favor of eternal things.
Having been born into a wealthy and influential family, Gregory was prefect of Rome by the age of 30. However, when his father passed away a few years later, Gregory donated the family's properties to the Church, founding seven monasteries. He even donated the home he was living in, which became the Monastery of St. Andrew, where he remained, becoming a monk in humble service to others.
Gregory's life is also a demonstration of how renunciation yields immeasurable rewards because everything was given back to him in due time to accomplish God's will. It seems clear that he accomplished so much more as pope than he ever could have as prefect, rising to the occasion when the people needed him most.
Considered the father of medieval Catholicism, Gregory's sermons and writings are treasures of the faith, and his liturgical reforms laid the groundwork for beauty to flourish within the Mass and for the cultivation of Gregorian Chant. The Gregorian mission, wherein he commissioned the evangelization of the Anglo-Saxons of Britain, became the crowning achievement of his papacy and was marked by a focus on teaching the faith in an orthodox and non-heretical manner.
Gregory's path naturally included a cross, as seen in his lamentations about leaving the contemplative life to assume the papacy. Yet because he gave his gifts in service to God and others, the Church has been immeasurably enriched by the true, the good, and the beautiful.
When Gregory died in 604, he was immediately declared a saint due to universal acknowledgment of his holiness. Today, he holds the rare distinction of being remembered by the combined titles of Saint, Pope, Doctor of the Church, and Church Father.
This essay is a recent "Light One Candle"
column by Father Ed Dougherty, M.M., The Christophers' Board of Directors ; it is one of a series of
weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current
events.
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