St. Gregory the Great, Pope

St. Gregory was born in Rome about 540 A.D. He was the son of a wealthy Roman senator. The name Gregory is Greek for ‘watchman’. In his youth he studied philosophy, grammar, rhetoric and law and at the age of 34 was made chief magistrate of Rome. After his father’s death he founded six monasteries in Sicily and the monastery of St. Andrew in Rome. When he was 35 he himself joined the monastery of St. Andrew. One day when walking through a market he came across English slaves who were on sale. He asked where they were from and whether they were Christians or pagans. When he was told that they were from Britain and that Britain was still pagan, he said:

^{It is a lamentable consideration that the prince of darkness should be master of so much beauty, and have so comely persons in his possession; and that so fine an outside should have nothing of God’s grace to furnish it within.}

Gregory succeeded Pope Pelagius II in 590 A.D. and one of his most important acts as Pope was to send St. Augustine (St. Augustine of Canterbury - not St. Augustine of Hippo) with a group of Benedictine monks to convert England. He also enforced the prohibition on the marriage of priests and introduced the style of singing in churches which is now called Gregorian chant. The earliest complete manuscript for containing musical notation for Gregorian chant is the Cantatorium of St. Gall in Switzerland copied at the beginning of the tenth century.

***Gregorian Chant is a musical form. It has its origins in Hebrew liturgical music and it is the oldest chant in present day use. The first recorded use of the expression ‘Gregorian Chant’ was in a letter of Pope Leo IV (847-855) who write to Abbot Honoratus of Farfa encouraging him to use it. Today the chant is associated most closely with the monks of Benedictine Abbeys throughout the world, but especially in France, where the Benedictine Abbeys are famous for the beauty of their liturgies. Many Abbeys produce recordings of their Chants and these can be found in most music stores. Some of the most famous of the French Abbeys are: Solesmes in northwestern France, Le Barroux near Avignon, and the Abbaye Notre Dame de Fontgombault.