ST. GREGORY THE GREAT (SEPT. 3RD)

 

St. Gregory the Great, in Nave Window, St Gregory's Church, Sudbury, Suffolk

Today, the Ancient Church of the West celebrates St. Gregory the Great (AD 540-604), Patriarch of Rome, Missioner of the British People -

St. Gregory the Great was Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604 and is known for his contributions to Western Liturgy. He built 6 monasteries in Sicily and founded a seventh in his home in Rome. He is recognized as one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church and he was the first monk to become Pope. Despite his bodily ails and the frightful times he lived in, it has been said that no teacher of equal eminence has arisen in the Western Church.

St. Gregory Meeting British Slaves 

St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine of Canterbury, from Westminster Catholic Cathedral, London, England

The Crosier St. Gregory gave to St. Augustine of Canterbury 

An Early Style Manuscript Icon of St. Gregory

St. Gregory and St. Augustine of Canterbury Praying for the English Church Before Christ’s Throne

Encountering British slaves, who glowed with pale white skin in the slave market of Rome, St. Gregory said “They are not Angles, but angels" (Non Angli, sed angeli), and resolved to go himself to England to convert these people to Christ. According to the Venerable Bede, thwarted in his own efforts by being made Bishop of Rome, St. Gregory sent St. Augustine of Canterbury. Thus, the Latinization of the Celtic Church began, bringing order to ecclesial chaos, and the great missionary movement that would result in the flowering of English Orthodoxy and the Anglican Patrimony was firmly established upon British soil. St. Gregory was revered in England as "Our Gregory" (Gregorius noster) and it was in England, at a monastery in Whitby, that the first full length life of St. Gregory was written, in 713AD. 

The Collect

ALMIGHTY GOD, Who chosest Thy bishop Gregory to be a servant of the servants of God: grant that, like unto him, we may ever strive to serve Thee, by proclaiming Thy Holy Gospel to all nations, and may ever rejoice to sing Thy praises; through Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, Ever one God, world without end. Amen

(Text: Edited from Eric Staples and Wikipedia)