Thursday, September 3, 2026

0:00It is the 3rd of September, 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I'm Dan VanVores. It might surprise you that on the Lutheran Church Calendar for Commemoration's, aka Saints Days, there is a Pope. Of course, along with the Anglicans who also recognize this Pope, he's not called Pope, but rather pastor by the Lutherans and Bishop by the Anglicans. Whatever you call him, it's not hard for Old Pastor Greg or Bishop Gregory to be noted as the Great. He was Gregory the Great, made Bishop of Rome on this day in 590. So why the Great and why so regarded by Christians across denominational lines? Let's tell his story. By the time Gregory was born into a Roman-petrician family in about 540, the old Roman Empire had

1:06fallen. Well, it had moved east to Constantinople. Rome itself was in ruins. Consider the population of the Eternal City in the year 400 to be at about 800,000. By 500, it had dwindled to about 100,000. In the midst of the Gothic Wars of that century, it had fallen to about 30,000. Gregory, whose lineage included government officials and bishops of Rome, was a petrician in the city, but by his mid-30s had grown weary of the world. He wrote, the world grows old and horrid and hastens to an approaching death. He resigned his office, turned some of his family's land into a monastery, and became a monk. While Pallegius II, however, would call him into service, he was ordained a deacon and sent Constantinople as the bishop's mouthpiece. He would return home around 585, where he was made abbot of his former home, and work

2:09with Pallegius during a time of great stress from weather and famine and lombard invasions. During this time, Gregory became known as a great preacher and an exegete of scripture. In 590, Pallegius died from the plague, and Gregory would be elected to take his place. Gregory began to reorganize the Roman relief system. He took special care to tender the poor and wrote his famous pastoral rule. This is one of the great texts of the early Middle Ages. It's a manual for bishops and pastors on how to lead and preach. He referred to himself as the bishop of Rome as the servant of the servants of God. Haggiathe has him died daily with the poor. His sermons are practical and humble. Politically, he helped settle a piece between the lombards and cultivated a relationship with a lombard queen who is Catholic. Her son, a future king, would be baptized, and this would be part of the story of the

3:11eventual lombard inclusion into the Christian West. He not only managed to establish a modicum of independence from Constantinople to the East, he took an interest in the people in the former Roman colony in the British Isles. The famous story is told by bead that Gregory saw a fair-haired boy at court and inquired who he was. He was told an angle. When he replied, no, they are angels of God. And so it was Gregory who would find a suitable Roman monk, Augustin, but not the famous one from Hippo, and sent him to evangelize the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent. Augustin of Canterbury, as he would be known, would forge the links between England and Rome that would be of such consequence for centuries to come. Despite his pastoral rule and homilies, he would also produce his famous dialogues. This four-book collection is a kind of lives of saints with the entire second book devoted

4:12to Benedict of Nersia. The Benedictine and Western monastic tradition was further strengthened, and it would make sense. Gregory was the first Pope or Bishop of Rome to be a monk. His pastoral leadership, the survival of Rome, his diplomacy, and missionary expansion make him a foundational character for the Western Church. Not only remembered today by Christians across dividing lines, but also as the fourth and final doctor of the Latin Church, along with Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustin of Hippo. His fingerprints on the institution are so widespread that even an 8th century musical tradition, monophonic text-based chant used in worship. Yes, the so-called Gregorian chant would be named after him. To call him the first medieval Pope might give too much credit to medieval popes, but as a key figure in the life of the Church, we can commemorate him, Pastor Greg, Bishop

5:14Gregory, Pope Gregory the first. He took office on this the 3rd of September in 590. The last word for today comes from the daily electionary, the penultimate salt, number 149. Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise and the assembly of his faithful people. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker. Let the people of Zion be glad in their King. Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp. For the Lord takes delight in his people, he crowns the humble with victory. Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double edged sword in their hands to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron.

6:16To carry out the sentence written against them, this is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the Lord. This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 3rd of September, 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. This show is produced by the pastor, the bishop, the archbishop, the Pope of random lake he is Christopher Gillespie. The show is written and read by a man who has no joke or pun, but you got to sit with that psalm a little bit. It takes a turn there in the middle. I'm Dan VanVores, you can catch us here every day. And remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true. Everything is going to be okay.