Pope Gregory I, or his more
illustrious title, Pope Saint Gregory the Great, was one of the most important
figures to shape the future of the Papal States and the influence of the papacy
over the monarchs of Europe. In fact, due to his brilliant theological mind and
his masterful administration of the Catholic Church, Pope Gregory I (r.
590-604) is sometimes considered to be the founder of the medieval papacy.
Pope Gregory and his
achievements deserve a much more in depth biography, but in this “Did You
Know?” we will try to keep the information about Gregory’s life and ascension
to throne of St. Peter concise. Gregory was born around 540 in the city of
Rome. His family was wealthy, owning estates in both the Italian Peninsula and
Sicily, but their primary holding was the Caelian Hill of Rome. Gregory also
came from a family that was heavily associated with Christianity—his
great-grandfather was Pope Felix III (r. 483-492)—and his mother, along with
three other of Gregory’s aunts, all became nuns. Initially, Gregory seemed to
be setting himself up for a life in government, even achieving the impressive position
of a Roman Prefect. Yet, around 574, Gregory abandoned his life as an elite
Roman citizen to become a monk. His isolation did not last—by 579, he was
pulled out of the monastic life and appointed as a deacon. He received his last
church promotion in 590, when he was elected to be pope of the Catholic Church.
In that span of time, between
Gregory being pressured to leave his monastery and his ascension to the
position of pope, an interesting event may have occurred that implanted the
idea of creating the Archbishopric of Canterbury inside the mind of the future
pope. Venerable Bede (673-735 CE) wrote
that there was a “traditional story in the history of our Church” claiming that
Gregory was inspired to proselytize England after an encounter with British
slaves in Rome (Ecclesiastical History of
the English People, Book 2, Chapter 1).
According to the story, Gregory was
browsing through a market in Rome that was selling goods from the British
Isles. As he was looking through the wares, one unfortunate type of merchandise
caught his attention—slaves. According to Bede, a group of enslaved boys that
were captured from England left Gregory awestruck. The future pope could not
find a single flaw in their aesthetic appearance or physical poise. Filled with
questions about these flawless boys, Gregory struck up a conversation with the
slaves.
First, he asked where they came from,
and they told him that their home was in Britain. Next, as a clergyman, Gregory
naturally asked if the boys came from a Christian community. To this the slaves
responded that their people were not Christians, but rather followed their
traditional pagan gods.
As Gregory continued to question the slaves,
he soon began to believe that their answers were omens calling for Britain to
be fully converted to Christianity. Gregory asked the slaves what their society
or race was called. To the priest’s delight, they were Angles, which he
immediately compared to “angels,” the divine beings that served God in heaven.
Next, Gregory asked about which province the slaves had been taken from. When
they said they came from Deira, Gregory quickly associated that with the phrase,
de ira, or, “from wrath.” He
interpreted this to mean the Angles should be saved from the wrath of God
through the teachings of the church. Finally, Gregory asked about the king of
the Angles. The slaves told him that their king was named Aelle. Like with all
of the other answers, Gregory could not help but associate the response with a
Christian meaning. This time, he linked their king’s name, Aelle, with the
religious phrase of praise, “alleluia.” After all of these answers, Gregory
reportedly made it one of his life’s goals to greatly amplify the spread the of
the Catholic Church into Britain.
Whether this story was historical or a
mere folktale remains an ongoing debate. Generally, most people conclude that
the scenario of Gregory encountering slaves from Britain is plausible, but that
the conversation that was recorded by Bede was likely the result of historical
fiction or storytelling. Either way, Pope Gregory did, indeed, set up the Archbishopric
of Canterbury. In 597, he sent a group of missionaries, under the leadership of
Saint Augustine of Canterbury, which ultimately converted King Aethelbert (or
Ethelbert) of Kent to Christianity, after initially being quarantined on the
Isle of Thanet. Augustine, a Benedictine monk from Rome who was said to have
performed miracles, was named the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
Photo attribution: (Gregory the Great (prior to becoming pope) conversing
with British Slaves, by James William Edmund Doyle (1822–1892), [Public Domain]
via Creative Commons)
- From Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People (and relevant letters), translated by Leo Sherley-Pride, R. E. Latham and D. H. Farmer. New York: Penguin Classics, 2003.
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Gregory-the-Great
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Augustine-of-Canterbury
- http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=54
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