From the desk of the Tar Heel Disciple:
September 3, 2025 (#33)
September 3 is the feast day of Pope St. Gregory the Great. He was born in Rome about 540 A.D., and lived until March 12, 604 A.D. Until the reform of the liturgical calendar in 1969, his feast was commemorated on the day of his death, as per custom. But it was decided that since that date always fell within Lent, it would be celebrated with more solemnity if a date outside of Lent were chosen. And thus, September 3rd, the anniversary of his episcopal consecration (in 590 A.D.) and the beginning of his ministry as Bishop of Rome, that is, the Pope, was selected for the current liturgical calendar. His relics are enshrined in an altar in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
Gregory was born into a distinguished and wealthy Roman family. His father was a senator. Gregory himself was very well educated and intellectually talented. Upon his father's death, he turned the family estate on the Caelian Hill in Rome into a monastery, which he entered. However, despite his desire to retire from the world, his talents were widely recognized and were especially utilized by Pope Pelagius II, who ordained him a deacon and who, in 579, appointed Gregory as his ambassador to the imperial court in Constantinople.
Pope Gregory proved to be a very capable administrator in a time of significant unrest and economic downturn, especially in the western part of the empire. He organized charity to feed the many poor in his see city and insisted that clergy everywhere attend to the needs of the impoverished. He made significant contributions to the church's liturgy, including important revisions in the Eucharistic liturgy and in the Church’s plainchant, what is now known as Gregorian chant. The English-speaking world can be especially grateful to Gregory for having sent monks from his Roman monastery to evangelize England, under the leadership of Saint Augustine of Canterbury. His theological and pastoral writings continue to inform and inspire the Catholic Faith, which explains why he is known as a Doctor of the Church.
In the last nearly 2,000 years of the church's existence, only three successors of Peter have been definitively remembered with the title, “The Great,” by popular acclamation of the People of God: Pope St. Gregory I, Pope St. Leo I (391-461), and the much lesser-known Pope St. Nicholas I (820-867). Of course, in our own time there are many who believe that Pope St. John Paul II merits the title and refer to him so. Time will tell if it “sticks”!
Medals of and a book about Pope St. Gregory the Great
