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 GREGORY THE GREAT 157 munication was so difficult, when Italy was thrown into con- fusion by the Lombards, and when the monarchs of the Franks and Visigoths tried to keep their clergy under their own control. Even in Gaul, however, Gregory interfered occasionally in church matters, while in imperial Africa he was able to make his authority generally felt, although even there he had to abstain from judging some cases because of the difficulty in securing adequate information. He dis- tinctly advanced, nevertheless, the jurisdiction not only of his own, but of ecclesiastical courts generally. Especially in Italy and Sicily he made use of the stewards of his estates to maintain discipline in churches and monasteries, to fill vacant bishoprics, and to prosecute heretics. The Arch- bishop of Ravenna, supported by the exarch, refused in practice to take orders from Gregory, but even he admitted the papal claims in theory, writing to Gregory in this strain, "How could I possibly venture to oppose that most holy see which transmits its decrees to the church universal?" and "The providence of God has placed all things in your hands." The Archbishop of Dalmatia, after a long contro- versy, had to lie prone on the paving-stones of Ravenna for three hours and cry out, " I have sinned against God and the most blessed Pope Gregory." The patriarchs of Constanti- nople at this time evoked strong protests from Gregory by assuming the title, "Universal." Gregory's successors in the Papacy during the seventh century seem to have lacked his ability and not to have increased the papal power; but his many-sided influence and forceful personality had set a standard which was not forgotten, especially as it re- mained recorded in his writings. Because of his writings Gregory ranks with Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome as one of the four great Latin doc- tors of the Western Church. Forty sermons are Writings of extant of the many that he preached before sermons' great crowds. He seems to have preached hell- and hymns fire a good deal, and perhaps the rough men of his time needed this. As he sincerely believed that the wars, plagues, and decline of civilization in his day meant the near end of