Gregory I, the Great

Gregory I, the Great (about 540-604 AD), pope, b. Rome. Italy.

Gregory was a nobleman and the Prefect of Rome, but he gave away all his money and gave up the job.

He turned his home into a monastery and became a priest in the order of St. Benedict.

Bede tells the story of how Gregory saw some slaves being sold in the market in Rome. They had fair hair and blue eyes. Gregory asked where they had come from. 'From Britain,' he was told. 'They are Angles.' To this he responded. 'Not Angles but angels-and it is only right that they should be fellow heirs with the angels of heaven.'

He wanted to go to Britain to preach to the Angles but he was too popular in Rome. In 590 Gregory was elected Pope and he sent St. Augustine to preach to the Angles.

Gregory ruled the Church with wisdom and justice and his advice was asked for by the people of many countries.

See R. A. Markus Gregory the Great and his World