Family Faith Reflections from Chris

This past week, we celebrated the Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great. Gregory just might be the most important saint you’ve never heard of! He is a patron saint of schoolchildren, teachers, plague victims, musicians, and other popes!
 
Gregory’s father was very wealthy. He was sent to good schools and appreciated the education he received. One day, in Rome, he saw a slave auction taking place. He was shocked to see children from England who had been stolen from their homes and were being sold as slaves in his hometown! Immediately Gregory took his family fortune to England. He used it to build safe schools for poor children, hospitals for people during an outbreak of disease, and defense against the slave-trading pirates who were raiding the island.
 
Later, he retired to a monastery to live a quiet life of prayer. God, however, had bigger plans for him! The city of Rome had come under attack by northern armies, and Pope Pelagius died before the invasion was fully repelled. The Romans wanted their next pope to be someone who could defend them! They called Gregory out of the monastery and proclaimed him Pope Gregory (the First!).
 
Pope Gregory did protect the city, but then he turned his attention to his true passions: prayer and music. Gregory wrote instructions on how to use music in the liturgy, gathering lists of sacred songs so that people all over the empire could learn to pray together in song. Although our style of music has changed a lot, the way that we incorporate music into our Masses is really built on his ideas! There’s even a style of music named after him: Gregorian chant.
 
Gregory was such an important saint that he has been given a few special titles. He is called a Doctor of the Church because his teachings were so wise; he is also called “the Great” because his ideas are still so important, almost 1500 years later.