ST. GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH 03 September St. Gregory the Great (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) (© Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) From prefect to monk Gregory was born around 540 A.D. into worldly prestige – his family belonged to the Roman nobility and his father was prefect, or mayor, of the city. He was also heir to a Christianity profoundly lived, for his mother and aunt are saints. The city into which he was born, however, was suffering. In 542, the plague wiped out a third of the Italian population. Barbarian invasions followed. The tumult notwithstanding, Gregory received an excellent education. So talented an administrator was he that by thirty, he had become prefect, governing the vast city. Yet the highest civil office in Rome proved not enough for this son and nephew of saints. “Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor,” the Lord had said, and Gregory heard that voice penetrating his own heart. The prefect of Rome turned his family’s villa
