GREGORY THE GREAT.

WE NOW Come to the consideration of the career and character of an important personage in the line of Roman pontiffs, the most eminent protector of papal power since the time of Constantine, and one who laid the foundation of that splendid ritual which to-day constitutes the service of Catholic chapels and cathedrals from Dublin to St. Louis, from Madrid to Montreal. The life of Gregory makes an era in the history of Catholic Christianity. His advent was in an age of anarchy and darkness, and when universal madness seems to have seized upon the minds of men. Germany had been given into the hands of savages, and half-barbarous France groaned under the rule of the Merovingian monarchy; the Saxons had brought Britain back to paganism; Arian Visigoths swayed the scepter over Spain; ruthless savages ravaged Italy from the Po to the Straits of Sicily, and the emperor of the East was scarcely known beyond the bounds. of his dominion. Rome was surrounded by the wreck of nations, and mankind was overshadowed with misery and desolation. In these dark and hopeless days Gregory appeared and assumed control of the destiny of the Roman Church.

He was a Roman, of a wealthy and illustrious patrician family. His father, named Gordian, was an influential member of the Senate, and his mother, Silvia, since canonized by the Church, was the daughter of Pope Felix II. We are assured by Gregory of Tours, his contemporary, that Rome at that time contained no man more distinguished for eloquence and learning. His talents procured him the title of senator upon his arrival at manhood, and attracting the attention of the emperor, Justin the Second, he finally became

governor of Rome. The death of his father left him the possessor of all the accumulated wealth of his ancestors. Enjoying the confidence of the emperor, the favorite of the court and the people, the recipient of unstinted honors and emoluments, he was able-had not religious fanaticism suddenly turned him from his career of success-to have made the most illustrious alliances in the empire, and to have elevated himself to the very steps of the throne. All that this world could give seemed subject to his command. But all at once a startling change came over him, and he hesitated in his brilliant career.

The thought flashed upon the young Roman favorite that it would be impossible to serve God in the midst of opulence and earthly pomp. His reveries turned him toward the holy retreat of the cloisters. He became a monk. He renounced his riches and his greatness, gave his immense revenues to the convents of Sicily; distributed his tasteful furniture and his valuable vessels of gold and silver among the destitute; laidaside his silken robes, glittering with gold and jewels; clad himself in the coarsest of cloth, and left the world, to perform the menial duties of a monk. He had become a half-crazed religious enthusiast. He became the abbot of the monastery of St. Andrew. Here in his fanatical fervor he gave himself up to the rigors of such absolute fasting and penance that he was seized with a long and severe sickness. A monk, named Justin, who was also a physician, watched over him with the most affectionate tenderness. At length the faithful and self-sacrificing monk was himself seized with a mortal illness. And now the cold and rigorous zeal of the unfeeling fanatic manifested itself. The dying monk, with tears of bitter contrition, confessed to have hoarded up three pieces of money contrary to the rules of the monastery. Gregory now forgot all but the guilt of the miserable monk. him with the most unrelenting cruelty. to approach the bed of the dying man. He would not suffer his conscience to be soothed by any sacred rite nor holy consolation. His curses followed the spirit of his faithful friend

He punished He permitted no one

as it passed away. He caused the body to be cast upon a dunghill, together with the pieces of gold, while the assembled monks shouted their malediction, "Thy money perish with thee !"

According to Catholic chronicles, after Justus had endured purgatorial torment for thirty days, Gregory allowed a mass to be said for his suffering soul, which thereupon returned to earth to announce its escape from its frightful tortures. Such was the superstition of that age, and such is the superstition which has clung to the Church for fourteen centuries.

In 590 Pelagius the Second died of a contagious disease, and the deacon Gregory, in consideration of his ardent devotion, was chosen successor by the united voice of the clergy, the senate, and the people of Rome. His election was confirmed by the emperor Maurice. But Gregory assumed to shrink from so high and holy an office with real alarm. He wrote to the emperor in feigned humility, wishing some one more worthy ordained in his place. He even disguised himself and fled into the forest to escape being exalted to such a glorious dignity. The governor of Rome ordered emissaries to search the country for the hiding-place of the modest pontiff. It is said he was found by some shepherds in a cavern, betrayed by a pillar of fire which hovered over his head. was seized and carried back to the city, where he was duly consecrated, not withstanding his resistance. Under this guise of humility, Gregory concealed the most unbridled ambition. The proud deacon desired to add to the honor of the holy dignity the glory of having refused it. The truth is, he simply played the part of a dissimulating and hypocritical politician.

He

Gregory had many obstacles to overcome before being firmly established in the seat of St. Peter. At his accession, Italy was the prey of the fierce Lombards, who sold into slavery or massacred the whole population of great cities, and tainted the air with carnage. One day, in the early part of his pontificate, while in the midst of one of his most eloquent sermons, he was startled by the news that these savage hordes

were at the gates of the city. They had come to destroy Rome. Gregory broke off suddenly, and prepared for a desperate defense. The walls were manned by monks and trembling citizens, before the vigor of whom the assailants were obliged to retreat. But the environs of the holy city were desolated, monasteries and churches sunk into smoldering ruins, and the people were carried into captivity.

After weeping in vain over the woes of his wasted city, Gregory resolved upon a policy that should spread his intellectual influence over the whole of the West. He sought an alliance with the wild Lombards, and, upon the death of King Antuaris, he secured from his queen, Theodelinda, a pledge, in the name of Jesus Christ, to protect his provinces and the chair of St. Peter. He effected a union between her and the prince of Turin, which augmented the power of the Church by converting that monarch and his idolatrous subjects to the Catholic faith.

He

His was the most active mind in Europe in that age. guided the policy of Rome, and watched the conduct of his contemporaries with the keenest attention. He corresponded with bishops and kings; addressed letters in terms of seductive persuasion to Bertha, the beautiful queen of Kent, and others of arrogant expostulation to the emperor of Constantinople; he infused new life into the decaying churches of Greece and Africa, and forwarded the conversion of the savage Saxons. His vigorous efforts were finally rewarded by see. ing France, Spain, England, the warlike Huns and Goths and Lombards, all yield their united support to the see of St. Peter.

Notwithstanding his usual acuteness and the astonishing activity of his intellect, Gregory, like all religious enthusiasts, was the victim of the most senseless superstition. He had once been snatched from an early grave by the prayers of a pious associate. Angels floated over him, and spirits clustered around his sacred seat. He cast out devils, and demons departed at his approach. The realm of spirits was let loose, and the earth swarmed with its invisible citizens. On every

side were countless troops of demons, terrifying the elect and trying to destroy the Church. His boundless superstition filled the age with fearful fancies. But he found a spiritual shield against the assaults from the viewless world in the relics of saints and martyrs. A bone of a sainted bishop, or a hair from the head of John the Baptist, was a sure protection to their possessor, and a present worthy of a potentate.

Gregory displayed considerable financial ability in the dis position of these talismans. He traded a piece of the true cross and a key which contained some grains of a chain which had shackled St. Peter, with Recard, king of Spain, for an immense amount of gold and a valuable collection of jewels.

Gregory found another favorable opportunity for displaying his fervid zeal and hypocritical humility in opposing the title "Universal Bishop," which had been assumed by John the Faster, bishop of Constantinople. He pronounced him who accepted such an appellation to have the pride and character of Antichrist. This ecclesiastical Uriah Heep then ostentatiously adopted for himself the title, "Servant of the servants of God." His subsequent conduct proves that this mock pretension was, to employ a modern but very expressive phrase, altogether "too thin." The real reason of his opposi tion was that he himself was seeking that same universal supremacy he so vehemently condemned in his rival. Indeed, he soon after invented the fiction of certain keys, possessed of supernatural qualities, which he claimed had been committed to the successor of St. Peter, and was very profuse in his distribution of them. In presenting them to Anastasius, patriarch of Antioch, he says: "I have sent you keys of the blessed apostle Peter, your guardian, which when placed upon the sick, are wont to be resplendent with numerous miracles." This absurdity can only be attributed to the most impudent hypocrisy. The master motive of all his movements was the advancement of the see of Rome.

Thanks to the artful and successful policy of Gregory, the successors of the humble fisherman at Rome were enabled to exercise their supremacy over sovereigns and to dispose of the