From Your Parish Priest – 29th August 2026
On Thursday, we will celebrate the feast of St Gregory the Great. St Gregory reigned as Pope from 590 to 604. Across the world, the Church will be united in celebrating his feast day. For us, however, as members of the Church in England, it has a particular importance, as it was Gregory who commanded St Augustine and his monks to travel to England and spread the Gospel. The story goes that, before Gregory became Pope, while he was still a simple monk, he saw two Anglo-Saxon children being sold as slaves in the marketplace of Rome. When he asked where these children had come from, he was told that they were Angles. Seeing their fair hair and bright eyes, he exclaimed: “Non Angli, sed angeli, si forent Christiani” — “Not Angles, but angels, if they were Christians.” From that point onwards, the Anglo- Saxons held a particular place in his heart, and when he was elevated to the papacy, he launched his great mission to England.
Due to St Gregory’s love and concern for the spiritual welfare of the English people, when we celebrate his feast day, we tend to concentrate on and give thanks for his mission and the strengthening of the Christian religion in England. This, of course, is quite right. However, Gregory should also be celebrated and emulated for his selfless nature. Gregory was one of the greatest popes the Church has had; hence why we call him “the Great” — it is literally in his name.
However, Gregory did not want to be Pope; he longed to remain a monk. Having been elected Pope, Gregory was not only called upon to lead the Church but, due to the power vacuum left by the fall of the Western Roman Empire, he was also called upon to rule over the city of Rome itself. This simple and happy monk found himself both a spiritual and a secular ruler, a far cry from his former life in the monastery. Gregory had no wish or intention to change his life. He wrote: “I am tossed by the waves of pastoral cares. When I recall the life I once had, I sigh like one who looks back on the shore he has left.” Gregory is an astonishing example to us of how to be selfless. Selflessness takes a tremendous amount of courage because, as we see with Gregory, it can sometimes change our lives and circumstances for ever.
To be selfless is no small undertaking, and no one can suggest that it is easy. However, this week, following the example of St Gregory, perhaps we might find opportunities to be selfless for the good of others. Perhaps, in our own small way, we might be as brave and selfless as St Gregory and, like the Gregorian mission, change the course of history for the better. Through even the smallest acts of selflessness, we might become great. St Gregory the Great, pray for us.
God bless, Fr Hilton