Who is St. Gregory?

St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church & Patron of teachers, 540 (about) – March 12, 604.

St. Gregory was born in Rome about the year 540. He was the son of a devout and wealthy senator, who later renounced the world and became one of the seven deacons of Rome. Gregory’s great-great-grandfather was Pope Felix III. His Mother, Silvia and two aunts on his father’s side, Tarsilla and Aemiliana, are honoured as Saints. In 574, after Gregory had acquired the usual thorough education, Emperor Justin the Younger appointed him Chief Magistrate of Rome, though he was only thirty-four years old.

After the death of his father, he built 6 monasteries in Sicily and founded a seventh in his own home in Rome. This became the Benedictine Monastery of St. Andrew. It is here, in 575, that he himself entered the monastic life at the age of thirty-five. He was eventually ordained a deacon by Pope Pelagius II who asked for his help to heal the schism of the Three Chapters in northern Italy. Gregory served as secretary to Pelagius II.

Learn more about the history of the ST GREGORY’S CATHOLIC CHURCH.