G R E 



ORE 



jurifdictioii of Guayaquil 



Gi(Er.o;iio, St. a town of Naples, in Principato Citra ; 

 8 milLS N. W. of Cangiano. 



St. Gkec.ouio tie jibo, a town of New Mi'xico ; no 

 miles S. of Santa Fc. 



GREGOIllUS, m Iclilhyolo^'. See S.\LMO /avaretus. 



and town of South America, in the audience of Quito, and the eyes of the emperor and the public, and he not only 

 "^ '^ ' confirmed the wifhes of the peopk, but congratulated the 



Romans on the clioice which they had made. When the 

 mandate was proclaimed, Gregory fohcited the aid of fome 

 friendly merchants to convey liim in a bafiict beyond the 

 gates of Rome, and he conceaLd h.imfelf a few days in the 

 _ mountains, and among the woods, where he believed, or 



GREGORY I. in Biography, pope, funiamed the Great, affected to believe, that he fhould be fafe from difcovery. 

 and alfo dignified with the title of Saint, was a native of Notwithftanding this precaution, he was in a few days found 

 Rome, and born about 544 or 5. He was defcended from in a cave, and brought back in triumph Ly the people, who 

 one of the moll illutlrious families in that city, and was edu- would not abandon their charge, till they had taken him to 

 Gated in a manner fuitable to his rank. His proficiency in the church of St. Peter, where l-.e was inflar.tlv ordained. 

 literary purl'uits anfwcred the moft fanguine expectations of The pontificate of Gregory the Great, which laRed rather 

 his friends , it was faid that none in Rome excelled him in more than iix years and a half, is reckoned one of the moft 

 grammar, rhetoric, and logic. Having left the ufual rou- flourilhing periods of the church ; his virtues, and even h-j 

 tine of fchool learning, in the courfe of which he had im- failings, were happily fuited to his llalion.and to the temper 

 bibed fentiments of deep piety, as well as the elementary of the times. His Jirft ftep was to fatisfv the bifhops of the 

 principles of knowledge, he paid particuhu- attention to the cliief fees, as to the orthodoxy of his faith. For this pur-' 

 iludy of jurifprudence, which was necefi'ary to pcrfons who -pofe, he wrote to the patriarchs of Conllantinople, Alex- 

 filled thofe ftations, to which he was entitled by hi', birth, andria, Antioch, and Jerufalcm, declarinr that he receiv- 

 When he came under public notice, he difcovered fuch abili- ed the ilrit four councils as the four books of the holy- 

 ties, integrity, and prudence, in the exercife of the different gofpel ; that he reverenced the fiftii, and that he condemn- 

 feiiatorial employments, that the younger Juftin, who was ed the three chapters. In his rival, the patriarch of Con- 

 emperor, appointed him to the honourable poll of governor ilantinople, he condemned the Anti-chriilian title of univer- 

 of Rome. In this office he acquitted himfelf to the fatif- fal bifliup, which the fucceflor of St. Peter was too haughty 

 faftion of the emperor, of the fenatc, and of the jieople. At to concede, and too feeble to afTume ; and the ecclefiallicai 

 the death of his father, he became pofFeired of immenfe jurifdiction of Gregory was coEitined to the triple character 

 ■wealth, and being, probably from fome difappointments, of bilhop of Rome, primate of Italy, and apoftle of the 

 difgufted with the world, he determined to embrace the re- Well. He frequently afcended the pulpit, and kindled 

 ligious life. He devoted the greater part of his property by his eloquence the congenial paffions of his audience ; 

 to the foundation of religious houfcs, and to charitable pur- the language of the prophecies of the Old Tellament 

 pofes. He founded fix monaftcries in Sicily, and one at he interpreted and applied, and he took the opportunity of 

 Rome in his father's lioufe, dedicated to St. Andrew, over improving the prefent calamities of the people, by directing 

 v^hich he ciinllituted Valentius abbot, whom he had felefted their ho])eS and anxieties to the invilible world. His pre- 

 for that poil from a country monaflcry, and to whofe difci- ccpts and example defined the model of the Roman hturgv; 

 pline he fubmitted himfelf. From the time of his taking the diilribution of the parifties, the calendar of fellivals, the 

 the vows, he abandoned himfelf to meditation, devotion, and order of procefTion, the lervice of the priells and deacons, the 

 the moil rigorous abftinence. He was, however, in the variety and change of facerdotal garments. Till almoll thr 

 year 579 taken from his retreat, ordained deacon, and fent lall period of hi.< life, he ofiiciated in the canon of the mafs, 

 nuncio froni the pope to the imperial court : the objedl of this which continued above ttireo hoars at a time. Gregory was 

 miffion was to apply for relief in behalf of the inhabit- no friend to heretics : he fpared no pains to arm the civil 

 ants of Italy, againtt the ravages of the I.,ombards. So ^nd ecclefiallicai power agaiiill the Donutiils in Africa, an J 

 ably did he conduct the bullnels, that the emperor was en- all who favoured them. At firit, he was defeated in his 

 tirely fatished, and Gregory became one of his principal willies to deflroy the harmony that fubfiilcd between the 

 favourites : he was equally beloved by the principal cour- Catholic and Donatill parties in that country : he contrived 

 tiers, and even by the bilhops, notwithllanding the jealoufy to introduce invidious diflint'lions, whidi by degrees renewed 

 which they ufually entertained ot a pope's nuncio. While the animolities by which they had been formerly dillraftrd, 

 he was at Conllantinople, he had a dilpute with the patri- and terminated in the ultimate triumph of the Catholic, which 

 arch Eutychius, on the quellion, Whether, after the refur- was the llrongell party. Notwithflandiug the 2eal of pope 

 reftion, the bodies of the righteous would or would not be Gregory againil the heretics, he was favourable to the Jews, 

 palpable. The argument was carried on in the prefeiice of and protected them againil fome violent Chrillians. In ccr- 

 the emperor Tiberius; Gregory mantained the affirmative tain letters, which ho wrote to the bi/hops who were for 

 fide of the quellion, to which the emperor gave his decided forcing them to embrace Chriilianity, he condemned perfe- 

 fanclion, at the fame time, he ordered the patriarch to ac- cutioii of all kinds in the llrongell terms, though he enforc- 

 quiefce in the judgment, and condemned to the flames a trea- ed it in the inllancc of Chrillians, who ventured to differ 

 tife of that prelate in fupport of the negative fide of the from the Catholic creed. On his acceffion to the papal 

 quellion. In 5S 3 Gregory was recalled to Rome, and ap- throne, a general relaxation of difciplinr, as well as of piety 

 pointed fecretarv to pope Pelagius, until he obtained per- and morals, prevailed in the clerical orders ; he immediately 

 miffion to retire to his monallery. He was chofen abbot ; fet about the correction of thefc evils with the utmoft dili- 

 and in that ofEce exacted of his monks as Uriel an obfer- gence and perfeverancc. While Gregory was enforcing re- 

 vance of rigorous abllinence and difcipline, as he praftifcd formation on the clergy, he fet before them an example of 

 himfelf. After a iliort exerciie of the nionallic virtues, he the conduct which he prtfcribcd. He was ftriclly attentive 

 was dragged from the cloiller to the papal throne, by the to the duties of piety : he was humble, mild, compaffior.ate, 

 unanimous voice of the clergy, the fenate, and the people, hofpitable, and difinterellcd, an enemy to all pomp, grandeur. 

 He alone refilled his own elevation: and his humble pcti- and fliow, frequently abridging himfelf of the necelTarirs of 

 tion, that the emperor would be pleafcd to reject the choice life to relieve the indigent, and was moll indefatigable in in- 

 •f the Ro.Tiansj cjulj only fcrve to exalt his charaitcr in ilrucling his flock, both by ptesching aaU writing. With 



all 



