Ordinary Time: September 3rd

Free eBook:

Free eBook: No Offense Intended

MASS READINGS

September 03, 2011 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

Father, you guide your people with kindness and govern us with love. By the prayers of Saint Gregory give the spirit of wisdom to those you have called to lead your Church. May the growth of your people in holiness be the eternal joy of our shepherds. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

show

Recipes (5)

• Cherries and Pecorino Cheese
• Gregorian Cocktail
• Legume Soup
• Old-Fashioned Cherry Tart
• Rosolio Liqueur

show

Activities (4)

• Our Lady's Thirty Days
• Pope St. Gregory the Great and Cherries
• Religion in the Home for Elementary School: September
• Religion in the Home for Preschool: September

show

Prayers (2)

• September Devotion: Our Lady of Sorrows
• Easter Prayer of Saint Gregory the Great

show

Library (22)

• Benedict XVI Letter on the 100th Anniversary of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music | Pope Benedict XVI
• Catholic Music: It’s Time to Stop Making Stuff Up | Jeffrey Tucker
• Chant Leaves the Ivory Tower | Arlene Oost-Zinner
• Chant: Music for the Few? Or the Many? | Lucy E. Carroll
• Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) | Vatican II
• Conversion of England | St. Bede the Venerable
• Gregorian Chant: Back to Basics in the Roman Rite | Piunno John C.
• Gregory the Great, a Model for Civil and Religious Leaders | Pope Benedict XVI
• Instruction on Sacred Music (Tra le Sollecitudini) | Pope Saint Pius X
• Iucunda Sane (On Pope Gregory The Great) | Pope Saint Pius X
• Musicae Sacrae (On Sacred Music) | Pope Pius XII
• Sacred Music Contributes to New Evangelization | Pope Benedict XVI
• Sacred Music Is Integral Part of Liturgy | Pope Saint John Paul II
• Sacred Signs and Religious Formation: An Application of the Teachings of Monsignor Romano Guardini | Fr. Samuel Weber O.S.B.
• Saint Gregory the Great (1) | Pope Benedict XVI
• Saint Gregory the Great (2) | Pope Benedict XVI
• The Patrimonium Musicae Sacrae and the Task of Sacred Music Today | Paul Henry Lang
• The Divine Office, Part III: From St. Gregory the Great to Pius X | Benedictine Monks of Buckfast Abbey
• The Origin of the Hymns of the Liturgy | Grace Hausmann Sherwood
• Toward a Definition of Liturgical Chant | Father Mark D. Kirby O.Cist.
• Twelve Latin Chants Every Catholic Should Know | Arlene Oost-Zinner
• Why Don't Catholics Sing? | Catherine Downer

show

Blog & Podcasts (5)

• 127—Gregory the Great—Chase Faucheux
• 53—Gregory and His Greatness
• Gregory the Great, Christ, the Church and the Soul in the Song of Songs
• Introducing the Church Fathers
• The Saints: Our Empathetic Brothers and Sisters

» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!

St. Gregory, senator and prefect of Rome, then in succession monk, cardinal and pope, governed the Church from 590 to 604. England owes her conversion to him. At a period when the invasion of the barbarians created a new situation in Europe, he played a considerable part in the transitional stage, during which a great number of them were won for Christ. At the same time he watched over the holiness of the clergy and preserved ecclesiastical discipline, as well as attending to the temporal interests of his people of Rome and the spiritual interests of the whole of Christendom. To him the liturgy owes several of its finest prayers, and the name "Gregorian chant" recalls this great Pope's work in the development of the Church's chant. His commentaries on Holy Scripture exercised a considerable influence on Christian thought, particularly in the Middle Ages. Together with St. Ambrose, St. Augustine and St. Jerome, he is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church.

According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is feast of St. Pius X; his feast in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is August 21. The feast of St. Gregory the Great in the Extraordinary Rite is March 12.

St. Gregory the Great
St. Gregory was born at Rome in 540. He was successively senator and prefect of Rome before the age of 30. After five years he resigned and became a monk, transforming his own house into a Benedictine monastery, and founding six others. At the age of 50 he was elected pope, serving from 590 to 604. In 14 years he accomplished much for the Mystical Body of Christ.

After seeing English children being sold as slaves in Rome, he sent 40 monks, including St. Augustine of Canterbury, from his own monastery to make "the Angles angels." England owes her conversion to him. At a period when the invasion of the barbarian Lombards created a new situation in Europe, he played a great part in winning them for Christ. When Rome itself was under attack, he personally went to interview the Lombard King.

At the same time he watched equally over the holiness of the clergy and the maintenance of Church discipline, the temporal interests of his people of Rome and the spiritual interests of all Christendom. He removed unworthy priests from office, forbade taking money for many services, and emptied the papal treasury to ransom prisoners of the Lombards and to care for persecuted Jews and victims of plague and famine. These deeds and others made him, in the words of an antiphon in his office, "the Father of the City, the joy of the World."

Gregory reformed the liturgy, and it still contains several of his most beautiful prayers. The name "Gregorian chant" recalls this great Pope's work in the development of the Church's music. His commentaries on Holy Scripture exercised a considerable influence on Christian thought in the Middle Ages. St. Gregory died on March 12, 604. His body lies at St. Peter's in Rome.

Patronage: choir boys; educators; gout; masons; music; musicians; choirs; singers; stonecutters; teachers; popes; students; scholars; against plague; against gout; against fever; England; West Indies;

Symbols and Representation: dove (the Holy Spirit perched upon St. Gregory's shoulder while he wrote); bishop's staff; book and a pen; papal tiara; a church; a sheet of music written in Gregorian style (4 lines, with square notes); scroll with the words, "Ora pro nobis Deum"; desk and book; altar; double or triple cross; eagle; lectern; tall cross and book.

Highlights and Things to Do:

• Read this article about Gregorian chant.
• Want to learn more about Gregorian chant? See:
  • Musica Sacra, Church Music Association of America
  • Corpus Christi Watershed
  • Spiritual Cantor
  • Gregorian Chant Hymns
  • Gregorian Chant Academy
  • Clear Creek Monks
  • Paraclete Press with Solesmes editions
  • Abbey of Regina Laudis
  • Ward Method at CUA
  • Sacred Music Podcast
• You may find the entire collection of St. Gregory's writings in the Catholic Culture Library.
• From the Catholic Culture Library:
  • Study the history of missionaries in England
    
  • The Origins of the Hymns of the Liturgy
    
  • Papal Errors in the Ordinary Magisterium?
    
  • Pope Pius X's encyclical, Iucunda Sane on Pope Gregory the Great.
• Read The Life of St. Gregory from the Golden Legend.
• Got Gout? This malady seems to be on the rise now that our diets have such rich foods. But St. Gregory the Great is the saint to invoke for getting out the gout!
• See the list of churches in Rome and beyond that hold relics or significance for St. Gregory the Great.