Gregory the Great
Only two popes, Leo I and Gregory I, have been given the popular title of “the Great.” Both served in the difficult times of the barbarian invasions of Italy. Gregory was born into a patrician family about 540 but sold his vast property, devoted the proceeds to the relief of the poor, and retired to a monastic life in a community which he founded in his ancestral home in Rome. In was appointed Ambassador to Constantinople and later elected pope.
Tirelessly energetic, Gregory organized the defense of Rome again the Lombards, and fed the people from papal granaries in Sicily. He reformed the church’s liturgy, wrote hymns and introduced what today we call Gregorian chant, all of which helped to mold the spirituality of the Western church as we know it today.
