Today is the feast of Pope St Gregory the Great (c. 540 AD–604 AD).
Gregory was born into the old Roman aristocracy after the fall of the Western Empire and rose to become Prefect of Rome, one of the highest civil offices in the city. Then, astonishingly, he abandoned public life, gave generously to the poor and turned his family home into a monastery.
He wanted to be a monk. Instead, in 590, he was elected Pope — a responsibility he accepted with considerable reluctance.
With Italy ravaged by plague, famine and Lombard invasion, Gregory became much more than an ecclesiastical administrator. As imperial authority receded, he organized relief for the poor, ransomed prisoners and negotiated with the Lombards.
During his reign we can see ancient Rome giving way to medieval Christendom, especially in relation to England. Gregory sent St Augustine of Canterbury and his monks to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons in 597 AD; hence, Gregory became known as “the Apostle of the English.”
Tradition associates this mission with his famous encounter with fair-haired English slaves in Rome: Non Angli, sed angeli — “Not Angles, but angels.”
His Pastoral Rule became one of the great eras of Christian leadership; his name became permanently associated with Gregorian chant; and he popularized the papal title Servus servorum Dei — “Servant of the servants of God.”
When Gregory died in 604 AD, his epitaph called him Consul Dei — “God’s Consul", an appropriate title for a man who inherited the fading world of ancient Rome and helped lay the foundations of the Christian civilization that followed.
The Catholic Church proclaimed St. Gregory the Great as a Doctor of the Church on September 3, 1295, making him the first pope to receive this title, by recognizing his writings and teaching as having outstanding and lasting value for the faith of the whole Church.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great is also associated with a Eucharistic Miracle:
The Eucharistic Miracle of Rome occurred in 595 AD during a Sunday Mass in an ancient church dedicated to St. Peter, presided over by Pope St. Gregory the Great.
According to the earliest account, "Vita Beati Gregorii Papae" by Deacon Paul (c. 787 AD), the Pope was distributing Holy Communion when a Roman noblewoman — who had personally baked the consecrated bread — began to laugh. She expressed doubt that the bread she had made could become the Body and Blood of Christ.
Troubled, St. Gregory withheld her Communion and prayed for a sign. Afterward, he observed that the portion of bread prepared by the woman had transformed into flesh and blood the size of a finger. The woman repented, knelt, and wept. Gregory then prayed again, and the Host returned to its bread form, after which she received Communion in faith.
The miracle is recorded in multiple early sources, including: "Vita Beati Gregorii Papae" (Deacon Paul, c. 787). There were later retellings in the Golden Legend and other medieval works. The event is also depicted in medieval art, notably the “Mass of St. Gregory” motif, which became a popular subject in late medieval European art.
A part of the miraculous Host is preserved in the Benedictine Monastery of Andechs, Germany, near the local church. The relic is venerated as a sign of the Real Presence.
This account remains one of the most celebrated Eucharistic miracles in Christian tradition, both for its historical witness and its enduring spiritual impact.
The mosaic altarpiece representing The Miracle of St. Gregory dates from 1772. It was inspired from an original painting by Andrea Sacchi dated 1627. Here the Holy Pope is depicted in the act of cutting a linen cloth that had been on St. Peter's tomb which suddenly bled.
His feast day, originally March 12, was changed to September 3 (his ordination date) due to Lent conflicts. His papacy bridged the ancient and medieval worlds, strengthening the Church as a stabilizing force amid chaos.
The tomb of Saint Gregory the Great: his body and tomb are in the Cathedral of Santa Maria degli Angeli, San Matteo e San Gregorio VII in Salerno, Italy, where he died in 1085 AD. In a sarcophagus beneath the altar his remains are preserved, brought here in 1606 AD.