St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

St. Gregory was born of a patrician family in Rome in about 540. He was educated in law and entered the Roman civil service, and in about 572 he became prefect of Rome. Two years later (574), he decided to become a monk, and so he converted his house on Rome’s Coelian Hill into a monastery. In 579, Pope Pelagius II sent him to Constantinople (today’s Istanbul) as his apocrisiarius or representative to the imperial Byzantine court. Gregory was recalled to Rome (about 585 or 586) and became Pope Pelagius’s adviser. On the death of Pope Pelagius, Gregory was elected his successor and was consecrated on September 3, 590. As pope, he sent (596) St. Augustine of Canterbury (see May 27) and about thirty monks to convert England, and it was he who introduced several changes into the liturgy of the Mass, for example: the Kyrie and Christe eleison were to be sung alternately by clergy and laity, the Alleluia was to be dropped in penitential seasons, and the Lord’s Prayer was to be said after the Canon. He was interested in Church music and promoted a plainchant that now bears his name. He was the first pope to refer to himself as the “Servant of the Servants of God,” a title still in use by the popes today. In his dealing with the Church in Constantinople, he emphasized Rome’s primacy, maintaining that all bishops are subject to the Roman see, for the Roman Church has been set over all Churches. He was also a voluminous writer. Many of his homilies have been preserved, but he is best remembered for two works: Pastoral Care (about 591), which details the duties of a bishop toward his flock, and Book of Morals, a commentary on the Book of Job, which is, at the same time, a summary of dogmatic and moral theology as well as asceticism and mysticism. Gregory died on March 12, 604, but his memorial is celebrated today, the anniversary of his consecration as pope. His writings were so esteemed over the centuries that he was the most frequently quoted ecclesiastical author during the Middle Ages. Pope Boniface VIII declared him a doctor of the Church in 1298. St. Gregory is one of the four great doctors of the Latin Church.

St. Pius X, Pope

St. Pius X is known as the “Pope of the Eucharist.” He was born Joseph Melchior Sarto on June 21, 1835, in Riese, northern Italy. He entered the seminary in Padua in 1850, and after studies he was ordained in 1858 for the Diocese of Treviso. For the next nine years, he did pastoral work in small parishes. In 1867, he became archpriest of Salzano, and then in 1875 he was named chancellor of the Treviso Diocese and spiritual director at the major seminary. In 1884, Pope Leo XIII made him Bishop of Mantua, and then in 1893 the same pontiff named him a cardinal and Patriarch of Venice. He was elected pope on August 4, 1903. During his pontificate, which lasted eleven years, he saw to the publication of guidelines for the education and training of priests, and when a diocese could not maintain its own seminary, he encouraged regional seminaries. He supervised the codification of the Church’s canon law, reformed Church music by restoring Gregorian chant, and fought against the threats of Modernism (a movement first known as “New Catholicism”). His decree Lamentabili (July 3, 1907) contains a list of sixty-five errors taught by the Modernists, and in his subsequent encyclical Pascendi (September 8, 1907), he condemns the movement.

Pius likewise promoted devotion to the Holy Eucharist. His decrees on the Eucharist recommended frequent and even daily Communion (1907), and lowered the age for receiving First Communion (1910). He set up a commission to promote biblical studies, which he entrusted to the Benedictines, and he encouraged the daily reading of the Bible. In 1909, he founded the Biblical Institute for scriptural studies in Rome, and this he entrusted to the Jesuits. With the outbreak of World War I, his heart was broken, and he died on August 20, 1914. Throughout his life, whether as parish priest, bishop, or pope, Pius was admired for his simplicity and sincerity. He was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1954. In today’s Mass, the prayers over the gifts and after Communion recall St. Pius X’s devotion and love of the Eucharist, and the opening prayer quotes his motto as pope: “to make all things new in Christ” (Eph. 1:10).

SS. Pontian, Pope and Martyr, and Hippolytus, Priest and Martyr

St. Pontian was a pope and St. Hippolytus an antipope; they became reconciled when both were sent into exile. Hippolytus was born about 170, and his mother tongue was most probably Greek. He came to Rome, and there he was ordained during the days of Pope Victor I (189–198). Hippolytus was a man of great learning and was recognized as the leading intellectual among the Roman clergy. The election of Pope Callistus (see October 14) in 217 did not meet with Hippolytus’s approval. He always looked with disdain on this former slave and cemetery-keeper, and now that Callistus was pope, Hippolytus openly disagreed with his penitential discipline. He thought the pope was much too easy with regard to forgiving sinners; hence, Hippolytus had his followers elect (217) him antipope—the first antipope in the history of the Church. Hippolytus remained antipope during the following pontificate of Pope Urban I (223–30) and into that of Pope Pontian. In 235, Maximinus Thrax (emperor 235–38) initiated his persecution by striking against the Church’s leaders, and thus he exiled both Pontian and Hippolytus to the salt mines of Sardinia. Hippolytus was one of the more prolific writers of the early Church, and of all his works the Apostolic Tradition is perhaps the most famous, because in it he has left us a description of the liturgical practices in use in the early third century.

Pontian was Roman-born and was elected to the papacy on July 21, 230, to succeed Urban I. The early years of his pontificate were years of peace, until Maximinus Thrax was acclaimed emperor in March 235. The Christian religion was no longer tolerated, and its leaders were singled out for attack. Thus Pontian and Hippolytus became the emperor’s first victims. Both were arrested and sent to Sardinia. Knowing that his deportation was for life, Pontian, on September 28, 235, abdicated the papacy (the first pope to do so) so that another could succeed him. Either on their way to Sardinia or shortly after arriving there, Pontian and Hippolytus became reconciled. Pontian died in Sardinia in October 235, not long after his arrival, as a result of the harsh treatment to which he had been subjected. Hippolytus died shortly afterward of the same cause. The Christians in Rome immediately revered both as martyrs, and Pope Fabian (236–50) (see January 20) had their bodies brought to Rome. Pontian was the first martyred pope to be solemnly buried (August 13, 236 or 237) in the crypt of the popes in the cemetery of Callistus, and Hippolytus was buried in the cemetery on the Via Tiburtina. Their memorial is celebrated on the anniversary of their burial in Rome.

SS. Sixtus II, Pope and Martyr, and His Companions, Martyrs

St. Sixtus, who may have been of Greek extraction, was elected pope in August 257. On succeeding Stephen I (254–57), Sixtus became heir to the controversy that had originated during Stephen’s pontificate concerning the validity of baptism conferred by heretics. The Churches of Africa and Asia Minor held to their custom of rebaptizing heretics and schismatics, but Sixtus, like Stephen before him, upheld the Roman view that baptism, when properly administered even by heretics, was valid. With regard to this matter, Sixtus succeeded—where Stephen had failed—in restoring good relations with St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (see September 16). The year of Sixtus’s election to the papacy was also the year of Valerian’s (emperor 253–59) decree against the Christians, in which he did not exactly demand that they renounce their religious beliefs but merely demonstrate their loyalty by offering sacrifice to the gods. Because most Christians remained faithful to their beliefs and practices, the imperial decree turned into a full-scale persecution, with Church leaders as the main target. On August 6, 258, Sixtus, together with his seven deacons, was conducting a service in the cemetery of Praetextatus when imperial police discovered them and beheaded Sixtus and four of the deacons (Januarius, Magnus, Stephen, and Vincent). Two deacons (Felicissimus and Agapitus) were most probably martyred later that day, while the seventh (Lawrence) was martyred four days later (see August 10). The bodies of Sixtus and the four deacons were buried in the cemetery of Callistus on the Appian Way, directly across from the cemetery of Praetextatus. Sixtus was one of the most venerated martyrs of the Roman Church and, thus, his name was added to the Roman Canon. His epitaph was written by Pope Damasus I (see December 11).

St. Gregory VII, Pope, Religious

Before becoming pope, St. Gregory worked closely with five other popes. His name was Hildebrand, and he was born in Tuscany in about 1021. He then went to Rome, where he became a monk, probably at Santa Maria on the Aventine. When Pope Gregory VI (1045–46) was forced into exile (1046), Hildebrand accompanied him to Germany. When Pope Leo IX (1049–54) was elected, he called Hildebrand to Rome and made him treasurer of the Roman Church. Pope Leo and his successor Pope Victor II (1055–57) both used Hildebrand for special papal missions. Hildebrand subsequently worked closely with Pope Nicholas II (1058–61) and Pope Alexander II (1061–73), and after Alexander’s death, he himself was elected pope on April 22, 1073, by popular acclaim. Pope Gregory was a man of exceptional ability and sought to promote reform within the Church by renewing decrees against clerical marriage and simony, and to abolish lay investiture, that is, secular control over the appointment of bishops and abbots. When Emperor Henry IV of Germany (reigned 1056–1106) ignored the pope’s orders and appointed bishops, Gregory excommunicated (1076) him and forbade him to exercise royal powers. Gregory reconciled him to the Church only after the emperor had submitted at Canossa (January 1077). When Henry later (March 1084) seized Rome, Gregory was forced to go south to Salerno, where he died on May 25, 1085. Today’s prayer speaks of the courage and the love of justice that distinguished Pope Gregory, and thus it recalls what are said to be the pope’s final words: “I have loved justice and despised iniquity, and because of this I die in exile.”

St. Pius V, Pope and Religious

St. Pius was born Anthony Ghislieri in Bosco Marengo, near Alessandria, northern Italy, on January 17, 1504. He entered the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in Voghera when he was fourteen years of age and took the name Michael. After his ordination to the priesthood (1528) in Genoa, he taught theology at the Dominican scholasticate in Pavia. In 1551, Pope Julius III appointed him commissary general of the Roman Inquisition, and later (1566) he became bishop of Sutri. In 1567, Pope Paul IV made him a cardinal, and in 1558 he became the Church’s Inquisitor General. Upon the death of Pope Pius IV (1559–65), he was elected pope on January 7, 1566, and he chose the name of Pius. As pontiff, he was as ascetical in his daily life as he was in appearance. He was wholeheartedly devoted to reform and determined to preserve the integrity of the Catholic faith against the onslaughts of the Reformers. He revised the Roman Breviary (1568) as well as the Roman Missal (1570), both of which continued in use until the revisions ordered by Vatican Council II. He died on May 1, 1572, and was canonized by Pope Clement XI in 1712. When the prayer in today’s Mass speaks of St. Pius as being chosen by God to protect the faith and to give him more fitting worship, this is an allusion to Pius’s determination to keep the faith unadulterated and to his revision of the Church’s liturgical books.