revolutionists in combining zeal for republicanism with, a
moderation which sought to check every form of licence,
and with a steadfast adherence to the religion of which he
was a priest ; and it was further a remarkable feature of
his character that, though a sincere Roman Catholic, he
was thoroughly tolerant of the religious views of others.
Asides several political pamphlets, Cregoire was the author of Histo ire des sectcs religieuses, depuis Ic commencement du siecle dernier jusqu a Vepoque actuelle, 2 vols., 1810; Essai historiqv.e sur les libertes de Veglise gallicane, 1818; DC I influence du Christianisme sur la condition des fcrnmes, 1821 ; IHstoire dcs confcsscurs, des cmpcreurs, dts rois, et d autres princes, 1824; IHstoire du mariaye dus prttres en France, 1826. Gregoircana, ou resume general de la conduitc, des actions, et dcs Merits de M. Le Comic Henri Greyoire, preceded by a biographical notice by Cousin d Avallon, was published in 1821 ; and the Memoircs ccchsiastiqucs, politiqucs, ct litteraircs de Gregoire, with a biographical notice by H. Carnot, appeared in 1840.
GREGORY, St, surnamed the Great (
c. 540-
604), the first pope of that name, and one of the four doctors of the Latin Church (
Ambrose,
Augustine, and
Jerome being the other three), was born at Rome about the year
540. His father Gordianus possessed senatorial rank, and his mother
Sylvia is said to have baen remarkable for her mental
endowments. Educated for the legal profession, Gregory
about his thirtieth year was chosen by the citizens to the
high position of praetor urbanus ; this post he is said to
have occupied for three years (
571-
574), discharging its
duties with great pomp and magnificence ; but on the death
of his father, having become deeply impressed with a sense
of the transitoriness and vanity of all earthly things, he
retired from public life and gave up his whole fortune to
pious uses, building six monasteries in Sicily and one in
Rome; in this last, which was dedicated by him to St
Andrew, he embraced the Benedictine rule, and divided his
whole time between works of charity and the exercises of
fasting, meditation, and prayer. It was while he was still
a simple monk of St Andrew that the often repeated inci
dent related by Bede is believed to have occurred. Having
scan some English slaves of striking beauty exposed for
sale in the public market, "
non Angli sed Angeli," he set
his heart upon the evangelization of Britain, and was only
prevented by the command of his ecclesiastical superiors
from setting out in person to seek the realization of his
pious wish. About
578 or
579 he was appointed abbot of
his monastery, and likewise one of the seven deacons
(regionarii) of the Roman Church ; and in
582 he was sent
by Pelagius IT. to Constantinople as papal apocrisiarius or
responsalis at the imperial court. There he remained for
upwards of three years, during which he negotiated several
matters of importance and delicacy; but amid his diplo
matic and other engagements he found time to begin, if not
even to complete, one of his largest works, the Moralia,
or exposition of the book of JoK A few years after his
return from the Eastern capital, the death of Pelagius (
590)
caused a vacancy in the papal chair, and the choice of the
clergy, senate, and people unanimously fell upon Gregory.
He strongly deprecated the bestowal of this honour, and
wrote to the emperor (Maurice) imploring him not to con
firm the nomination. A pious fraud, committed by the
city praetor then in office, prevented the letter from reach
ing its destination ; and though Gregory hid himself for
a time, he was at length obliged to yield to the urgency of
his friends by accepting the papal crown (September
590).
The pontificate of fourteen years which followed was marked
by extraordinary vigour and activity, which made them
selves felt throughout almost every department of the
doctrine, discipline, and worship of the entire Western
Church. By means of earnest prayer and wisely ex
pended pains the aggressions of the Lombards were
checked, and order and tranquillity were speedily restored
to Rome ; in Italy and France he tightened the too long
relaxed reins of ecclesiastical discipline ; in England, Spain,
and Africa the powers of Paganism, Arianism, and Donatism
were perceptibly weakened; as against the Eastern emperor
and the patriarch of Constantinople the prerogatives of the
bishop of Rome were asserted with a vigour previously un
witnessed; the ceremonies of the church were regulated
and extended, the liturgy further developed. The anniver
sary of Gregory s death, which took place at Rome on the
12th of March
604, is observed as a duplex by the Latin
Church, and even in the Greek Church his wisdom and
sanctity continue to be commemorated. The hyperbolical
panegyrics of those ecclesiastical writers who lived nearest
his time (such as Gregory of Tours and Isidore of Seville)
must of course be taken with considerable reservation ; but
they are interesting as showing how powerful and profound
was the impression he left upon his contemporaries and
immediate successors an impression and an influence well
entitling him to the epithet of "great." Of the personal
qualities of Gregory, the most obtrusive are beyond all
question the singular strength and energy of his character.
Firmly and intensely convinced of the divineness of the
Christian doctrine and life as these had presented them
selves to his mind and heart, he suffered no obstacle and
no discouragement to triumph over his determination to
give them all the currency and prevalence that were possi
ble in his day. Having clearly seen the end he had in
view, he with equal discernment made choice of his
measures for its attainment. The refinements alike of
literature and of art had for him no place in the Christian
scheme ; it is needless to say that he therefore despised
them both for himself and for others. There is some room
for hoping indeed that the burning of the books of the
Palatine library was due to some ruder pontiff ; but there is
no possibility of mistake as to the literary taste of the man
who could write (pref. to Moralia) "non metacismi
collisionem fugio, non barbarismi confusionem devito, situs
motusque etiam et prtepositionum casus servare contemno,
quia indignum vehementer existimo ut verba ccelestis oraculi
restringam sub regulis Donati." The uniformity of the
Roman ritual, the ascendency of the Roman hierarchy, the
prevalency of the Catholic dogma, these were not merely
the highest, they were the only, ideals he had ever caught
sight of. It ought not therefore to surprise us if in striv
ing towards them he sometimes was tempted, and yielded
to the temptation, to sacrifice truthfulness to what he con
ceived to be the truth, and the mere claims of humanity to
the demands of what he regarded as a higher love. Xever
purely selfish, he was, apart from the exigencies of his
ecclesiastical position, singularly tolerant, liberal, and
kindly.