Gregory the Great

Gregory the Great

Gregory's Early Life

Gregory was born in Rome and was educated as a lawyer. He was ordained Deacon by Pope Benedict I and was elected Pope in 590. At that period the city of Rome was under threat from the Lombard's. The son of a Roman senator, the young Gregory had wealth, position, and learning. He was named prefect of Rome in his early 30s (ca. 573), and seemed well on his way toward a secular political career. Despite these prospects, Gregory chose to liquidate his property as a means of benefiting the poor. Aside from charitable donations, he founded a number of monasteries on his Sicilian estates before becoming a monk himself in Rome. His star, however, was too bright to remain behind monastic walls, and Gregory soon became one of the seven deacons of Rome that served the pope. In 578, he appeared at the imperial court of Constantinople as the pope's representative. After a few years of service, he returned to his monastic life in Rome, apparently intending to live out his life in peace and asceticism (that is, religious self-denial). His selection to the papacy in ca. 590 (which Gregory appears to have resisted) denied him this opportunity.

Historical and Cultural Context

Indeed, Gregory's preference for an ascetic life is not hard to understand given the many challenges facing Italy at the time of his ascension. Repeated invasions by the Lombard kingdom had reduced large areas to famine and pestilence. Severe poverty abounded. Moreover, the imperial authority at Constantinople had little concern for the Roman plight, and greater desire to establish the religious primacy of the Eastern patriarch over the Roman pope. The representative of imperial power in the West had pointedly been established in the north Italian city of Ravenna, which considered itself a political ...