Post-Nicene · c. 540 – 604
St. Gregory the Great
Rome
Biography
Gregory, a former Roman prefect who became a monk and then, reluctantly, Pope in 590, is often called the last of the Latin Fathers and the first medieval pope. He organized relief for Rome amid famine and Lombard invasions, reformed the liturgy, and sent St. Augustine of Canterbury to evangelize England. His Pastoral Rule became the standard handbook for bishops throughout the Middle Ages, and he took the title 'servant of the servants of God.'
Historical background
Ruling as pope amid the collapse of Roman civil authority in Italy around AD 590–604, Gregory effectively took on civic governance of Rome itself, negotiating with the invading Lombards and organizing the great missionary expansion of the Church into Anglo-Saxon Britain.
Major writings
Pastoral Rule
A handbook on the duties and spiritual life of bishops.
Dialogues
Stories of Italian saints, including St. Benedict, and teaching on the afterlife and purification of souls.
Moralia in Job
An extensive spiritual and moral commentary on the Book of Job.
Important teachings
Gregory teaches that some souls undergo a purifying fire after death for minor faults before entering heaven, developing further the doctrine of purgatory, and that the Mass offered for the dead can aid their purification. He also insists that the bishop of Rome's primacy is a service of humility, styling himself 'servant of the servants of God' rather than accepting the title 'universal bishop.'
Quotations
“As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire.”
“The holy sacrifice of Christ... is offered on their behalf... it helps the souls of the dead if it is offered for them.”
“I confidently say that whosoever calls himself, or desires to be called, Universal Priest, is in his elation the precursor of Antichrist.”