A Stone Rock Pope of the Roman Church

September 3

The Caelian Hill (one of the seven hills of Rome) was situated opposite Palatine Hill. Now, they are connected by the Via di San Gregorio (the ancient Via Triumphalis)

St. Gregory the Decalogist was consecrated Pope of Rome on this day in 590.

St. Gregory was born around 540 during the reign of Emperor Justinian in the East and the time of the invasion of Lombards (Germanic tribes) in Italy. The Bubonic plague that broke out in 541 caused the cities of the Roman Empire to dwindle to one-third of their previous size. The epidemic “ended” the period of Antiquity and moved Europe into the medieval era. Gregory came from an aristocratic lineage, with Pope Felix III (d. 483) as his predecessor. Greogry’s father was a Roman senator, and Gregory himself was a prefect of Rome.