THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1904. A NOTABLE CENTENARY

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 15, 14 April 1904, Page 17

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1904. A NOTABLE CENTENARY

EAST week and this have been gala times in the Eternal City. The season of penance is past, and Catholic Rome dons the vesture of joy to celebrate t*he thirteenth centenary /fikfr\L# of the day when St. Gregory the Great 40*fn£* —one of the most remarkable men in the \^J»L long line of Roman Pontiffo— received the «3V* Crown of Life. The great Benedictine monk of the Celian Hill furnished a historic instance of the truth of Skobeleff's saying, that'thought and deed, more tha"n pedigree, are the passports to enduring fame.' Pope St. Gregory I. stands out in the

lomg perspective of thirteen hundred years of history as one of the giants of our race. The QiuTch has canjdmised him as saint for his heroic virtues. History, in its way, has canonised him with the title of • Great ' for the vast services of thought and deed which he rendered to Christianity and civilisation. He it was who in evil days restored monastic discipline, dignified Catholic ritual by the introduction of the Gregorian chant, brought Christianity and civilisation to 'Anglo-Saxon England, gave an imipetms to religion and piety everywhere, and left to the Church a precious inheritance in his numerous homilies on the Gospels, his « Moralia,' ' Regula Pastoralis,' ' Dialogues' * Letters,' atod other writings. Not one of all the successors of St. Peter has so portrayed himself to the life as did Gregory the Great in his numerous letters. They reveal him to us as a born ruler of men, gifted with marvellous enterprise, zeal, energy, and tenderness of heart, and with a keen and searching mind ever intent tipon extending the kingdom of God into every corner of his far-reaching jurisdiction. It was his largeness of heart, while still a monk, that led to t*e memorable scene described by the Venerable Bede in the Roman slave-market which resulted m the conversion of Anglo-Saxon England to the Catholic Faath. Here is the story as told by the sainted historian of the Anglo-Saxon OhurQh :— nn^r." l f th 408 a certai * day, when, in consequence of the recent arrival of some merchants, a great store o£ things were ofiered for sale in the forum, and large numbers had gathered there to buy, Gregory himself came amongst the rest, and perceived amongst the goods for sale some boys, noticeable by their white skms fair countenances, and the beauty of their (flaxen) hair' Gazing on them, he asked (so it is said) lrom what land or region they had been brought, and he was told that they were from the island of Britain, where the inhabitants were all of this type. Again he asked if these islanders were Christians, or still infected with the errors of paganism. It was answered that Uiey were pagans- Then drawing a long sigh, he exclaimed . Alas ! that the author of darkness should possess men with such bright faces, and that such grace of iront should bear within minds destitute of 'internal grace !" Again he asked for the name of this people and was told that they were Anglians (Angh) 'Ji is well," he rejoined, " for they have the face of angels (Angeli), and it behoves such as they to be the co-heirs of angels in Heaven. What is the name of the province from which they come ?" " The people of their province," was the answer, " are called Deniaus (Demi)." " That, too, is well," he said—" Deinans snatched from the ire of God (de ira Dei) and called to the mercy of Christ. And how is the King of that province named ? " He was told that he was named Ella., and, playing upon the word, he exclaimed : " Alleluia (Ella-luaa) ; for the praise of God our Creator must be sung in those parts." ' • So the story r.unneth. After seeing the fair-haired English boy slaves in the market place, he besought the Pope to send him to bring the faith to England, His request was granted. He set out secretly on his distant mission. But the indignant Romans stormed ar, the loss of their great monk and compelled the Pope to bring him back. Soon afterwards— it was in SDO— Gregory himself ascended the Papal throne. He was ever mindful of his great punpose, but it was not till 595 that he was able to gather together a little band of Benedictine monks from his own monastery to carry the Cross into Britain. St. Aiugustine was at their hea!d. After various discouragements and difficulties they landed at Thanet in the spring of 597. They were acconded an interview with King Ethelbert'. It took place in the open air. The missionaries came (as llpde tells us) ' trusting not in the power of evil spirits, but in the power of God, carrying a silver cross as their standard, and a picture of our Lord and Savior painted on a wooden tablet, whilst they sang processional litanies, supplicating God for the salivation both of themselves and of those for whom and to whiom they had come.' Conversions r.ipidly followed. Other labourers were sent by Pope St. Gregory to gather in

tine harvest of souls. A hierarchy was established. Bast Anglia, Wessex, and other parts of the England of the day were evangelised. St. Augustine (as the Anglican Canon Bright has clearly shown in his ' Waymarks of Church History ') is entitled to be regarded as the Apostle of England. For nine hundred and fifty years England clung to the See of St. Peter. Then came the great schism initiated by Henry VIII. and Queeti Elizabeth. The bond of unity that held England to Apostolic See was broken. England to-day presents that sad spectacle of several hundred warring sects within her borders. But (as a Catholic writer hjas said), there is nothing so much as those hopeless divisions which attracts English minds towards that principle of Cattiolic unity which Augustine brought with him from Gregory thirteen hundred years ago '