Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/872

 OREGORY

786

GREGORY

monk to become pope, Gregory was in no sense an original contributor to monastic ideals or practice. He took monasticism as he found it established bj^ St. Benedict, and his efforts and influence were given to strengthening and enforcing the prescriptions of that greatest of monastic legislators. His position did in- deed tend to modify St. Benedict's work by drawing it into a closer connexion with the organization of the Church, and with the papacy' in particular, but this was not deliberately aimed at by Gregory. Rather he was himself convinced that the monastic system had a ver}^ special value for the Church, and so he did everything in his power to diffuse and propagate it. His own property was consecrated to this end, he urged many wealthy people to establish or support monasteries, and he used the revenues of the patri- mony for the same p\irpose. He was relentless in correcting abuses and enforcing discipline, the letters on such matters being far too numerous for mention here, and the points on which he insists most are precisely those, such as stability and poverty, on which St. Benedict's recent legislation had laid special stress. Twice only do we find anj'thing like direct legislation by the pope. The first point is that of the age at which a nun might be made abbess, which he fixes at "not less than sixty years" (Epp., IV, xi). The second is his lengthening of the period of novit iate. St. Benedict had prescribed at least one year (Reg. Ben., Iviii); Gregory (Epp., X, ix) orders two j'ears, with special precautions in the case of slaves who wshed to become monks. More important was his line of action in the difficult question of the relation between monks and their bishop. There is plenty of evidence to show that many bishops took advantage of their position to oppress and burden the monasteries in their diocese, with the result that the monks ap- pealed to the pope for protection. Gregory, while always upholding the spiritual jurisdiction of the bishop, was firm in support of the monks against any illegal aggression. All attempts on the part of a bishop to assume new powers over the monks in his diocese were condemned, while at times tlie pope issued docimients, called Privilegia, in which he definitely set forth certain points on which the monks were exempt from episcopal control (Epp., V, xli.x; VII, xii; VIII, xvii; XII, xi, xii, xiii). This action on Gregory's part midoubtedly began the long progress by which the monastic bodies have come to be under the direct control of the Holy See. It should be men- tioned that in Gregory's day the current view was that ecclesiastical work, such as the cure of souls, preach- ing, administering the sacraments, etc., was not com- patible with the monastic state, and in this view the pope concurred. On the other hand a passage in Epp. , XII, iv, where he directs that a certain Ia)'man " should be tonsured either as a monk or a subdeacon", would suggest that the pope held the monastic state as in some way equivalent to the ecclesiastical; for his ultimate intention in this case was to promote the lay- man in question to the episcopate.

(8) Death, Canonization, Relics, Emblem. — The last years of Gregory's life were filled with every kind of suffering. His mind, naturally serious, was filled with despondent forebodings, and his continual bodily pains were increased and intensified. His "sole con- solation was the hope that death would come quickly" (Epp., XIII, xxvi). The end came on 12 Marcli, 604, and on the same day his body was laid to rest in front of the sacristy in the portico of St. Peter's Basilica. Since then the relics have been moved several times, the most recent translation being that by Paul V in 1606, when they were placed in the chapel of Clement V near the entrance of the modern sacristy. There is some evidence that the body was taken to Soissons in France in the year 826, but probably only some large relic is really meant. Venerable Bede (Hist. Eccl., II, i) gives the epitaph placed on his tomb, which contains

the famous phrase referring to Gregory as consul Dei. His canonization by popular acclamation followed at once on his death, and survived a reaction against his memory which seems to have occurred soon afterwards. In art the great pope is usually shown in full pontifical robes with the tiara and double cross. A dove is his special emblem, in allusion to the well-known story recorded bj' Peter the Deacon (Vita, xxviii), who tells that when the pope was dictating his homilies on Ezechiel a veil was drawn between his secretary and himself. As, however, the pope remained silent for long periods at a time, the servant made a hole in the curtain and, looking through, beheld a dove seated upon Gregory's head with its beak between his lips. When the dove withdrew its beak the holy pontiff spoke and the secretary took down his words; but when he became silent the servant again applied his eye to the hole and saw that the dove had replaced its beak between his Ups. The miracles attributed to Gregory are very many, but space forbids even the barest catalogue of them.

(9) Conclusion. — It is beyond the scope of this notice to attempt any elaborate estimate of the work, influ- ence, and character of Pope Gregory the Great, but some short focusing of the features given above is only just. First of all, perhaps, it will be best to clear the ground by admitting frankly what Gregory was not. He was not a man of profound learning, not a philosopher, not a controversialist, hardly even a theologian in the constructive sense of the term. He was a trained Roman lawyer and administrator, a monk, a missionary, a preacher, above all a physician of souls and a leader of men. His great claim to remembrance lies in the fact that he is the real father of the medieval papacy (Milman). With regard to things spiritual, he impressed upon men's minds to a degree tmprecedented the fact that the See of Peter was the one supreme, decisive authority in the Catho- lic Church. During his pontificate he established close relations between the Church of Rome and those of Spain, Gaul, Africa, and Illyricum, while his in- fluence in Britain was such that he is justly called the Apostle of the English. In the Eastern Churches, too, the papal authority was exercised with a frequency unusual before his time, and we find no less an author- ity than the Patriarch of Alexandria submitting him- self humbly to the pope's "commands". The system of appeals to Rome was firmly established, and the pope is found to veto or confirm the decrees of synods, to annul the decisions of patriarchs, and inflict pimishment on ecclesiastical dignitaries precisely as he thinks right. Nor is his work less noteworthy in its effect on the temporal position of the papacy. Seizing the opportunity which circumstances otTered, he made himself in Italy a power stronger than emperor or exarch, and established a political influence which dominated the peninsula for centuries. From this time forth the varied popidations of Ital)' looked to the pope for guidance, and Rome as the papal capital con- tinued to be the centre of the Christian world. Greg- ory's work as a theologian and Doctor of the Church is less notable. In the history of dogmatic develop- ment he is important as summing up the teaching of the earlier Fathers and consolidating it into a har- monious whole, rather than as introducing new developments, new methods, new solutions of diffi- cult ((uestions. It was precisely because of this that his writ ings became to a great extent the comjyendium thcohxjitr or textbook of the Middle Ages, a position for which his work in popularizing his greater prede- cessors fitted him well. Achievements so varied have won for Ciregory the title of "the Great", but perhaps, among our English-speaking races, he is iionoured most of all as the pojie who loved the bright-faced Angles, and taught them first to sing the Angels' song.

His Writings. — Genuine, DoM/ul, Spurious. —