W. Robert Godfrey

He was raised in a Christian home.

and he gave away the family fortune.

He joined a monastery and devoted himself to the ascetic ideal of Christianity that was becoming more and more popular in his day.

He was sent for a time as a representative of the Pope to the Byzantine court.

So these connections continue, and was then in 590, so at about the age of 50, he was elected Bishop of Rome.

He took the office very reluctantly.

He didn't want to be bishop of Rome.

He wanted to pursue somewhat less public life.

He wanted to be able to join the monastery and not be drawn into the active life, but the church was insistent.

And so in 590, he became bishop of Rome or pope, and he

died 14 years later in 604.

Fourteen years, not a really long period, but he was, through the power of his intellect and personality, really able to make a profound impression on the life of the church.

Now, you remember the title Pope was not unique to the bishop of Rome.

Some of you may have seen that the head of the Coptic church, Shenouda III, just died, and he's called the pope of the Coptic church.

Pope really comes from the Latin papa, meaning father.

So it's not an inherently really dignified title, although in the West it has become exclusively applied to one bishop, but it has not historically belonged to that one bishop alone.

So Gregory becomes a very important figure, so important in fact, that the Western church looks back to him as one of the four great doctors of the church.

He is still listed as one of the four great doctors of the church.

These doctors were Jerome, the great translator of the Bible, Augustine, the great theologian of salvation, Ambrose, the great preacher in Milan,

and Gregory.