It was thanks to Gregory’s tireless efforts that Rome, the Eternal City, would emerge from the ashes to become the center of a new, Christian civilization in Western Europe.
The Legacy of Pope Gregory
The English monastic historian Bede felt a special debt of gratitude to the pope who had first sent Christian missionaries to his country. (From Ecclesiastical History of the English People)
In AD 605, having magnificently served as bishop of Rome for over thirteen years, blessed Pope Gregory died and was taken up to his eternal home in heaven. And it is appropriate that I mention him in this history of the English people, since it was through his zeal that our English nation was brought from bondage to Satan into the faith of Christ, and we consider him our own “apostle.” Because during his papacy, even while he was exercising supreme authority over all the Christian churches that had already long been converted, he still managed to transform our idolatrous nation into a Church of Christ….
Gregory was born a Roman, son of Gordion, a member of a noble and devout family…. By God’s grace he used his high worldly position only for the glory of heavenly honor, for he soon retired from his secular life and entered a monastery. There he began a life of such perfection in grace that, as he would later recall with tears, his mind was focused on higher things, soaring above all that is temporary, and he was able to devote himself entirely to the spiritual life….
He would talk about this later, not to brag about his virtue, but to regret how much virtue he had lost in his spiritual life when he took up his responsibilities as pastor. One day, in conversation with his deacon Peter, Gregory was recalling his former spiritual state, and sadly went on: “My pastoral responsibilities now force me to deal constantly with men of the world, and when I remember how peaceful life was before, it seems that my mind is sunk in the swamp of daily affairs. For when I am tired from constant attention to the worldly affairs of countless people and wish to meditate on spiritual things, I seem to turn to them with undeniably diminished strength. So when I compare what I now endure with what I have lost, and when I weigh that loss, my burden seems greater than ever.”
The holy Gregory spoke in this way from deep humility, but I personally doubt that he lost any of his monastic perfection through his pastoral cares; instead, I think he gained even greater merit by his labors for the conversion of souls than by his former peaceful life, especially because, when he became pope, he transformed his house into a monastery….
His body was laid to rest on March 4 in the church of St. Peter the Apostle before the sacristy, from which he will one day rise in glory with the other shepherds of Holy Church. On his tomb was written this epitaph:
Receive, O earth, the body that you gave,
Till God’s life-giving power destroy the grave.
His heaven-bound soul no deadly power, no strife
Can harm, whose death is but the gate of life.
The tomb of this high Pontiff, now at rest,
Recalls his life and deeds for ever blest.
He fed the hungry, and he clothed the chill,
And by his message saved their souls from ill.
Whate’er he taught, he first fulfilled in deed,
And proved a pattern in his people’s need.
To Christ he led the Angles, and by grace
To Faith and Church he added a new race.
O holy pastor, all your work and prayer
To God you offered with a shepherd’s care.
High place in heaven is your just reward,
In triumph and in joy before the Lord.
I have to tell a story that shows Gregory’s deep desire for the salvation of our nation. One day some merchants, recently arrived in Rome, displayed their wares in a crowded marketplace. Among their merchandise Gregory saw some boys being sold as slaves. They had fair complexions, fine-cut features, and fair hair. Looking at them with interest, Gregory asked what country and race they came from. He was told, “They are from Britain, where everyone looks like this.”
He then asked whether the people there were Christians or were still pagans, and was informed that they were pagans. “Alas!” said Gregory, with a heartfelt sigh: “How sad that such handsome people are still in the grasp of the Author of darkness, and that behind such beautiful faces are minds ignorant of God’s grace! What is the name of this race?” “They are called Angles,” he was told. “No,” he said, “for they have the faces of angels, and should become fellow heirs of heaven with the angels.
“And what is the name of their province?” “Deira,” he was told. “Good,” said Gregory, “They shall indeed be saved de ira [“from wrath” in Latin] and called to the mercy of Christ. And what is the name of their king?” “Aella,” he was told. “Then ‘Alleluia’ must be sung in their land to the praise of God the Creator,” said Gregory.
Not yet pope himself, Gregory approached the pope of Rome to beg him to send preachers of God’s word to the English people in Britain to convert them to Christ and eagerly volunteered himself for the task, if the pope would agree to send him. But permission was not given, although the pope was willing, for the citizens of Rome so loved Gregory that they would not let him depart so far from the city.
But as soon as Gregory became pope himself, he took up this long cherished project and sent other missionaries in his place, assisting their work by his own prayers and encouragement.
The Qualities of a Christian Minister
Gregory’s most widely read work was his Book of Pastoral Rule, a set of moral, spiritual, and practical guidelines for Christian ministers. The fruit of a lifetime of experience in pastoral ministry, it would serve as a handbook for thousands of clergy in later centuries.
The conduct of a minister should be as superior to the conduct of his people as the life of a shepherd is superior to his flock. For someone who is in a position over a flock should take serious thought to the urgency of his maintaining an upright life. It is necessary, then, that he should be pure, decisive in his action, discreet in his silence, profitable in speech, sympathetic to all around him, excelling in contemplation, a close friend to others in humility, relentless in opposition to vice through his zeal for holiness, not neglecting to take care of external things in his focus on what is interior.
He should always be pure in thought, so that no impurity pollutes the one whose job is to wipe away the stains of pollution from the hearts of others, for a hand that is not clean itself cannot clean others but will only make them filthier. A minister must always be an active leader, so that he can point out the way of life to others by the way he lives, more by example than by words, so that the flock may learn how to walk by imitating the voice and manners of the shepherd.
For the man who, due to his position, is required to speak of exalted matters should also carry out exalted things. This is because a voice will more easily penetrate into the heart of a hearer when the speaker’s life is commendable, since what he commands in his speech he also shows how to do by his actions.
The minister should be discreet in keeping silence and profitable in speech, lest he express what should be suppressed or suppress what he ought to express. For just as incautious speaking leads to error, so indiscreet silence leaves in error those who should receive instruction.
The minister ought to understand how often vices appear in the form of virtues. For often stinginess excuses itself under the name of thriftiness and wastefulness hides itself under the name of generosity. Often excessive carelessness is believed to be affection and unbridled wrath is seen as spiritual