by Bishop James Conley
This week marks the feast day of St. Gregory the Great, a name that is likely familiar to many in the Diocese of Lincoln because our own undergraduate seminary in Seward is placed under his patronage.
St. Gregory is a fitting patron saint of a young man studying to become a priest. St. Gregory the Great described his ministry as pope as being servus servorum Dei, “the servant of the servants of God.” This title has been used on papal documents ever since. It’s a beautiful expression that even the pope subordinates all his authority to serve the mission of Christ. Seminarians discern the call to give of themselves completely as priests in service to Christ and his Church. They are preparing spiritually, intellectually, pastorally, and humanly to be servants of God as priests.
I hope that many are aware of St. Gregory the Great Seminary. We are very blessed to have our own college seminary here in the diocese of Lincoln. It’s easy to take for granted that our seminarians are able to have the early years of priestly formation right here at home with our own staff.
While many may be familiar with St. Gregory the Great Seminary, I would invite you to look at the life of St. Gregory the Great, a magnanimous figure in Church history, who was a Latin Father and Doctor of the Church.
This fall Ignatius Press will publish a new biography of St. Gregory the Great entitled, “In the Eye of the Storm” by Sigrid Grabner. I was given an advance copy of the book by the publisher and asked to write a brief review. Although separated by nearly 1,500 years, I was struck at how similar St. Gregory’s times were to ours.
Gregory was born in 540 A.D. into a wealthy and prominent family in Rome. His father was a senator and also served as the Prefect of the City of Rome, which is comparable to a mayor. His family’s wealth and position afforded him a quality education. He studied grammar, rhetoric, the sciences, literature and law, among other subjects. His excellence in these areas of study is witnessed in his quick rise as a government official. At the age of 33, he, like his father, became the Prefect of the City of Rome.
But not all was roses for Gregory, despite his privileged life. He lived during a time of great tumult and social upheaval. He was born during the “Plague of Justinian,” a disease named after the Emperor Justinian, the emperor of the Byzantine Empire, who contracted the disease himself. The plague ravaged the empire, causing famine, panic, and chaos. Large populations of the empire were wiped out by this plague leaving physical, emotional, and spiritual damage. In addition, Gregory lived in the aftermath of the Gothic invasion of the Western Roman Empire and during the subsequent battles between the Visigoths and the Vandals and the Eastern Roman Empire.
After the death of his father, Gregory converted a family villa into a monastery and lived the monastic life. Gregory loved the monastic life. In fact, it was his preference, but his spiritual and administrative gifts were needed for the good of the Universal Church. At the time, popes were elected by the clergy and people of Rome, and after the previous pope died, Gregory was unanimously chosen, but he begged the emperor not to confirm the election.
Despite his efforts to remain a monk, he became pope in 590, and immediately expressed in letters that he had no ambition to seek such high office, and he would prefer to live the monastic life.
While Gregory may have preferred the monastic life, the Catholic Church has forever been enriched and blessed by his papacy. Since Gregory lived after the collapse of what was thought to be the impenetrable, invincible Roman Empire, there was a need for a great revitalization in the life of the Church. He provided that new life in variety of ways.
Even though he was a monk, St. Gregory the Great had a missionary heart. Much of Europe had been converted to Christianity, but he wanted all people to come to know Jesus. He sent Augustine (St. Augustine of Canterbury), who was prior of his previous monastery, to preach to the pagan Anglo-Saxons in England. Gregory is reported to have said of the English, “They are Angles, but angels if they were Christian.” The missions to the English were successful and it spurred further missions to Germany and the Netherlands.
Gregory used his administrative skills to create a system of almsgiving in the Church. Jesus preached against the neglect of the widow, orphan and downtrodden. Gregory had a great desire to relieve the poor in their distress and exhorted bishops and priests to continue to care for them.
Gregory put his educational talents to use through his many writings. He wrote extensively on Sacred Scripture; his Commentary on Job is perhaps his most famous. Knowing the need for inspiring stories of the saints, he wrote Dialogues, a collection of books depicting miracles and healings by holy men. He wrote a treatise entitled, Pastoral Care, in which he described the duties of the clergy and described the role of the bishop.
St. Gregory the Great lived during a time of great uncertainty and change. He is called “Great” because he provided courageous leadership during those troubling times. As a pope with the heart of a monk, he knew that prayer, discipline, and silence would be necessary to get away from the noise, turmoil and commotion of the world, while at the same time knowing that we have to live in the midst of the world.
In our contemporary culture, perhaps we can find a connection with the life of St. Gregory the Great. We, too, live in times that seem to be changing so rapidly. And this presents serious challenges for the Church. St. Pope John Paul II recognized this over 20 years ago. He wrote in his encyclical Novo Millenio Ineunte, “Even in countries evangelized many centuries ago, the reality of a ‘Christian Society’ which, amid all the frailties which have always marked human life, measured itself explicitly on Gospel values, is now gone.”
However, our current cultural realities should not instill fear within us. Rather, as disciples of Jesus Christ we are people of hope. The Holy Spirit works in every era. In the words of St. Paul, “Jesus is the same today, yesterday, and forever.” Let us pray through the intercession of St. Gregory the Great that we may remain faithful amidst the uncertainties of the world.
