RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Gregory I.
813 at Mainz and Reims) it was read aloud to the priests for a standard of conduct. According to Hincmar of Reims, a priest at his consecration had to hold it in his hand and swear that he would discharge his office accordingly. In the form of conversations with his friend Peter, Gregory composed in 593-594, his Libri IV. dialogorum de vita et miraculis patrurn Italicorum et de ceternitate animarum. The first and third books tell wondrous stories of various persons, to which the third appends all sorts of instructive digressions; the second book relates the life of Benedict; the fourth, wonderful apparitions intended to prove the existence of the soul after death. This work was much in vogue in the Middle Ages, and was rendered into Greek by Pope Zacharias (d. 752), and into Anglo-Saxon under Alfred's direction. Gregory constantly emphasized his conviction that one of the pastor's main duties is preaching, and industriously practised it himself, so long as his health permitted. Twenty-two homilies by him on Ezek. i. 1-iv. 3 and xl. are preserved as well as forty homilies on passages from the Gospels. Eight hundred and fifty-three of Gregory's letters are extant and have great value for the history of the time. Lastly he composed hymns. Those which are universally attributed to him show resemblance in both substance and form to the hymns of Ambrose.*
In the liturgical sphere, Gregory was certainly active, but the evidence does not altogether confirm the traditional view that "he es- Reform of tablished a strict order in the ordo the Liturgy. Romanus for the solemn observance of mass, as performed in Rome on processional days, transcribing from the Psalms into the liber antiphonarius the portions to be sung during the introit, gradual, hallelujah, tract, offertory, and communion, and eliminating from the sacramentary of Gelasius whatever he deemed unnecessary; but adding new matter, and thus becoming the author of the sacramentary still known by his name, besides perhaps compiling the liber responsalis, containing the responsories usual in the mass, and the hymns of the canonical book of hours." Nor is it altogether certain whether that style of liturgical chant which has become customary in the Roman Catholic Church is rightly termed "Gregorian" after Gregory I. as its originator (see Mtjsic, Sacred, II., 1, § 2). Against such an epochmaking activity on Gregory's part in the musical sphere, it is especially significant that no indications of it appear either in his versatile correspondence, or in any other sources in all the seventh century; although it is certain that he founded a
* The Benedictine edition of his works attributes eight hymns to him, viz. (1) Primo dierum omnium, several Eng. transls., e.g., J. M. Neale, " On this the day that saw the earth"; D. T. Morgan, " Welcome! Thou chiefest of all days"; (2) Nocie surgentes vigilemus omnes, by Cardinal Newman, " Let us arise and watch by night"; (3) Bcce jam noclis tenuatur umbra, by Cardinal Newman, " Paler have grown the shades of night"; (4) Clarum decus jejunii, by R. F. Littledale, " The shining glory of the fast"; (5) Audi, benigne conditor, by J. M. Neale, " O Maker of the world, give ear"; (6) Rex Christe, factor omnium, by Ray Palmer, " 0 Christ! our King"; (7) Lucis creator optime, by Cardinal Newman, " Father of lights, by whom each day"; and (S) Magno salutis gaudio. Cf. Julian, Hymnology, passim.
chorister school in Rome to improve the church singing.
Gregory's importance in the history of dogmatics is great. During the Middle Ages no Christian writer of the past was studied so much as he. Though he furnished no original thoughts, this very defect made his writings especially Gregory's useful for an era wherein the only valid Theology, rule was to transfer what was old into the new ecclesiastical forms which grew out of national readjustments. Furthermore, he was commended by the fact that he appeared to lean entirely upon the great Augustine, and was even able to replace the latter, reproducing his thoughts in such a form that they were no longer too difficult for the uneducated multitudes. The impression is not infrequently given that Gregory may have possessed more Christianity than he offered to others; the fact is that the same regard for the attainable as is traceable in all his policies caused him, as a teacher, to say only so much, and that only in such guise, as, in his opinion, could find acceptance and exert practical influence amid the ecclesiastical conditions then prevalent. As thus viewed, Gregory's contribution may be termed an abridged and materialized Augustinianism. Stiff necks are to bend under the authority of Holy Scripture and Holy Church. The former is dictated by the Holy Ghost; outside the latter one can "absolutely not be saved." That is to say, none but the officiating "regents" in this Church administer the necessary "boons" to the attainment of salvation. True, Christ "appeased by his death the judge's wrath"; but his sacrifice undergoes its effectual repetition in the sacrifice of the mass provided by the Church. Consequently the Church, in the sacrifice of the mass, is possessed of a means for influencing God. Again, this "good work" dispensed by the Church also profits the dead in Purgatory, while it sometimes helps even the living in earthly tribulation. In like manner, Gregory sharply defined and incorporated into the church doctrinal plan certain theories which had long been in vogue in a supplementary way, but which Augustine had admitted to be only "perhaps" true, or "not incredible"; and he likewise keenly appreciated the value of the marvelous in impressing a people still half-pagan. His doctrine of sin and grace is so far Augustinian that he teaches the damnation of children dying without baptism, and seems to assume the irresistibility of grace (Moralia, IX., ix. 13); even though he speaks of a "monstrous great weakness" in fallen man, of our "voluntary accord with the grace which frees us," and of the cooperation of man's will in good works. In this light "it can be said of us that we free ourselves"; and therefore "the good that we do is both God's and our own doing," and becomes our "merit." In a similar vein he speaks of the "hidden decree of predestination"; but "the determined number of the elect," rests on " the foreknowledge of God." Gregory indeed appears to hold the necessity of an inward transformation of man, in that according to him the voice of the Spirit which speaks in man by process of the Word inspires love toward the invisible Creator, and, con-
Gregory I. -TV