Memorial of Pope Saint Gregory I

Below you can read something on this saint (taken from Wikipedia):

- a.k.a. Gregory the Dialogist (Gregorios Dialogos)
- one of the four great Latin Fathers of the Church (the others being Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome)
- born around the year 540 in the city of Rome into a wealthy noble Roman family with close connections to the church
- took part in Roman political life and at one point was Prefect of the City
- converted his family villa suburbana into a monastery dedicated to the apostle Saint Andrew and entered it as a monk
- ordained as a deacon and chosen as apocrisiarius or ambassador to the imperial court in Constantinople by Pope Pelagius II - elected Pope to succeed him on September 3, 590
- re-energized the Church's missionary work among the barbarian peoples of northern Europe - sent a mission under Augustine of Canterbury to evangelize the pagan Anglo-Saxons of England
- explicitly taught a doctrine of Purgatory where a soul destined to undergo purification after death because of certain sins, could begin its purification in this earthly life, through good works, obedience and Christian conduct, making the travails to come lighter and shorter
- tireless worker for communication and understanding between the Eastern and Western Churches - increased the power of the papacy
- declared a saint immediately after his death on March 12 604 by "popular acclamation"
- famous quotes and anecdotes:

• Non Angli, sed Angeli - "They are not Angles, but Angels"
• Pro cuius amore in eius eloquio nec mihi parco - "For the love of whom (God) I do not spare myself from his Word"
• Non enim pro locis res, sed pro bonis rebus loca amanda sunt - "Things are not to be loved for the sake of a place, but places are to be loved for the sake of their good things"