in the medieval period and in modern times. The title
of ecumenical bishop assumed by the patriarch of Con-
stantinople was brought up for debate by Gregory at a
synod held in 588. His manner toward all bishops and
patriarchs, western or eastern, was cordial, despite his
differences with the eastern church.
In his relations with the Lombards, Gregory worked
hard to achieve a lasting peace. Authari, king of the
Lombards, died a few days after Gregory’s consecration
as pope and was succeeded by Agilulf, duke of Turin.
Gregory attempted to negotiate a separate peace for
Rome with the Lombards, using Queen Theodolinda,
who was a Catholic and a close friend, as an interme-
diary with King Agilulf and other Lombard chiefs. He
exercised his temporal authority in response to the Lom-
bard threat by appointing governors to cities, providing
munitions, counseling generals, sending ambassadors,
and negotiating, often without imperial authorization
from Constantinople.
Gregory’s connections with the Franks were perhaps
the most important legacy of his papacy, because they
resulted directly in his major diplomatic and spiritual
accomplishment—the missionary effort in the British
Isles. The Kentish queen, Bertha, was a Catholic Frank
who wrote to Gregory often and at length, asking him
to send spiritual ambassadors to the Kentish court and
eventually to the entire island. The story of the mission
to England of Saint Augustine of Canterbury in 597 was
recorded in Gregory’s letters and was also recounted by
an anonymous monk of the English abbey at Whitby in
the early eighth century. The English mission eventually
brought together the Celtic and the Roman churches
that had been torn apart by the breakup of the Roman
empire two centuries earlier. After settling ecclesiasti-
cal and liturgical practices, English monasticism would
reach its full fl owering in the early ninth century, when
Alcuin, a monk of York, became chief spiritual adviser
to Charlemagne. Gregory’s accomplishment earned him
the title “apostle to the English.”
In his relations with the imperial government,
Gregory again trod new ground. He believed that church
and state should form a united whole, yet be as distinct
and independent from each other as possible in their
respective spheres, the ecclesiastical and the secular.
The records of the imperial government centered in
Constantinople under Emperor Maurice and eventually
Emperor Phocus are a source for the interaction between
it and the Roman church, as is Gregory’s immense cor-
respondence.
Besides his missionary effort to the Angles, Gregory
also made efforts to root out paganism in Gaul, Africa,
northern Italy, and Istria. His policy toward schismatics,
pagans, and heretics was to use persuasion fi rst and force
only as a last resort. His contribution to monasticism
followed naturally from his own background as a monk.
Gregory’s fi rm opinions on discipline, order, austerity,
and obedience among monks, abbots, and bishops are
extensively recorded in his numerous letters and were
applied by many monastic orders during the Middle
Ages.
The last years of Gregory’s life were fi lled with suf-
fering, both mental and physical. He died on 12 March
604, and his body was displayed in the portico of Saint
Peter’s basilica. His relics were moved several times
during the medieval period and later, most recently by
Pope Paul V in 1606. He was canonized immediately by
popular acclaim. In art, the dove is his special emblem,
because of a story, recorded by Peter the Deacon, that a
dove placed the word of God on Gregory’s lips while he
was dictating his homilies on Ezekiel to his secretary.
Gregory the Great was not a philosopher or a man of
profound learning; but he was a trained Roman lawyer, a
monk and missionary, a highly regarded preacher, and a
leader of men. His two major contributions to the papacy
were his intense focus on convincing the world that the
see of Peter was the one supreme, decisive, authority
in the Catholic church, and his mission to the British
Isles. He enabled the papacy, eventually, to become a
power stronger than king, emperor, or patriarch. In his
writings, Gregory summed up the teachings of the early
fathers in a harmonious whole, so that they became a
textbook for laymen and clerics alike throughout the
medieval period. Writings confi dently attributed to
Gregory are Moralium libri XXXV, Regulae pastoralis
liber, Dialogorum libri IV, Homiliarum in evangelia libri
II, Homiliarum in eqechielem prophetam libri II, and
Epistolarum libri XIV. Gregory’s extensive contributions
to the standardization of the liturgy and liturgical music
include several hymns, the Gregorian sacramentary, and
the antiphonary.
See also Augustine of CanterburyFurther ReadingEditions
Epistolae, ed. P. Ewald and L. M. Hartmann. Monumenta Ger-
maniae Historica, Epist., 1, 2. Berlin, 1891–1899.
Opera Sancti Gregorii Magni. Editio princeps, Paris, 1518; ed. P.
Tossianensis, 6 vols., Rome, 1588–1603; ed. P. Goussainville,
3 vols., Paris, 1675; ed. Cong. S. Mauri (Saint-Marthe, 4 vols.,
Paris, 1705; reedited with additions by J. B. Gallicioli, 17
vols., Venice, 1768–1776, reprinted in Jacques-Paul Migne,
Patrologia Latina, 75–79.
Translations
The Book of Pastoral Care, trans. J. Barmby. In Nicene and Post-
Nicene Fathers, Series 2(12). Oxford and New York, 1895.
King Alfred’s West Saxon Version of Gregory’s Pastoral Care, ed.
H. Sweet. London, 1871.
Studies
Barmby, J. Gregory the Great. London, 1879. (Reissue, 1892.)GREGORY I, POPE