Today is the feast day of Saint Pope Gregory The Great. He was the first pope to take the name Gregory, but rarely does the “I” follow his name. Instead, he is knows as ”The Great,” not because the Church honored him with it (it does not do such things), but bestowed on him through time and love because of his extraordinary accomplishment and stewardship in service to the Lord.
As one writer put, it is beyond the scope of a simple posting or Web article to capture Saint Pope Gregory The Great. He simply accomplished so much during his earthly life — and not only as pope.
Saint Pope Gregory The Great: A pope and a saint for all seasons.
He began his priestly calling as a monk and continued monastic practices even as pope. That is to say, he lived simply. In fact, as Holy Father, he ended the practice of lay papal attendants. Instead, brought in fellow clerics to attend any papal needs he could not bare himself.
Born in 540 A.D., he was the first monk to become pope and strongly supported monasticism. He enforced a strict observance of the Rule of St. Benedict and is acknowledged as his earliest biographer. But he was more than that, and delved into all aspects of the Church, from the liturgy to music, to reforming orders. He also was theologian of great significance and is the Fourth Doctor of the Latin Church. His contributions to the Church are felt to this day.
His significance is captured by NNDB.com:
Finally, as Fourth Doctor of the Latin Church, Gregory claims the attention of theologians. He is the link between two epochs. The last of the great Latin Fathers and the first representative of medieval Catholicism he brings the dogmatic theology of Tertullian, Ambrose and Augustine into relation with the Scholastic speculation of later ages. “He connects the Graeco-Roman with the Romano-Germanic type of Christianity.” His teaching, indeed, is neither philosophical, systematic nor truly original. Its importance lies mainly in its simple, popular summarization of the doctrine of Augustine (whose works Gregory had studied with infinite care, but not always with insight), and in its detailed exposition of various religious conceptions which were current in the Western Church, but had not hitherto been defined with precision (e.g. the views on angelology and demonology, on purgatory, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and the efficacy of relics). In his exposition of such ideas Gregory made a distinct advance upon the older theology and influenced profoundly the dogmatic development of the future. He imparted a life and impulse to prevailing tendencies, helping on the construction of the system hereafter to be completed in Scholasticism. He gave to theology a tone and emphasis which could not be disregarded. From his time to that of Anselm no teacher of equal eminence arose in the Church.
