Gregory the Great was consecrated to the papal office on this day in the year 590. He would have preferred to remain a monk. According to Gregory of Tours, “[h]e strove earnestly to avoid this high office for fear that a certain pride at attaining the honor might sweep him back into worldly vanities he had rejected.” Circumstances colluded to push him into public office,however, and he seems to have met with great success there. He was responsible for the conversion of the English, and is credited with the development of Gregorian chant. An eminent historian of the papacy calls him, if not the greatest pope, then the “greatest Christian” of all the popes.(1)

He was also very adept at puns, and the historical record preserves many of his zingers. When he learned that some soon-to-be-converts were from a province called Deira, he replied that this was only suitable, since they were soon to be rescued “de ira,” or “from wrath” (that is, of God). Another opportunity to exercise his skill came as he set off for the mission field with some fellow monks. When a locust landed on Gregory’s Bible he exclaimed, naturally enough, “Ecce, locusta,”  (Behold, a locust). Ever attuned to alternative meanings, however, Gregory soon realized that “locusta” could be broken into “ loco  sta,” meaning “stay in place.”  He quickly decided to stay put and sent his cohorts on to convert the heathen alone. The drum roll, however, is generally reserved for the following.  In the well-known account recorded Historia ecclesiastica, Bede tells of how Saint Gregory came upon some especially attractive slave-boys for sale in the Roman market. Gregory inquired after them and soon learned they were Angles, or members of the Germanic tribe occupying what is now England. “Not Angles, but angels,” he quipped.

Gregory’s writings provide a synthesis of the orthodox thought of the Patristic era in the West; as such they remained very influential during the Middle Ages. This image comes from a 13^th-century Italian copy of Gregory the Great’s Magna Moralia, a commentary on the Book of Job. This section comes from chapter 23 of book XIII, and comments on Job: 16:19-20, verses that the scribe underlined in red. (The scribe indicates the start of a scriptural verse drawn from outside of the Book of Job with green pigment.)

You can see the end of verse 19–“O earth, do not cover my blood; let my outcry find no resting-place”-at the top of the folio. In the commentary that follows, Gregory first equates the blood in question with Christ’s blood. More surprisingly, he also equates the outcry with the blood, bringing in support from Genesis (And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!”) Gregory finds further application to human conduct: “We are bound to imitate that which we take,” i.e. the sacrament of wine representing the blood of Christ. “But that His cry may not lie hid in us, it remains that each one of us according to his small measure should make known to his neighbors the mystery of his own quickening.”(2)

Verse 20–“Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven,and he that vouches for me is on high” is about two-thirds of the way down. A three-line blue initial begins the commentary for this verse. Gregory interprets the “witness” to be God the Father. The verse thus contributes an orthodox understanding of the divine nature of Christ. The Christological debates of the Early Middle Ages, in which the dual nature of Christ was often contested, probably underlie this understanding.

Fragment 75, and others of Gregory’s manuscripts are available to be consulted during our regular opening  hours.

1. Erich Caspar, Geschichte des Papsttums, vol. II, p. 514

2. Translations from the Latin taken from the translation by John Henry Parker, et al.

A year after the child king, Edward VI, ascended to the British throne, the first Act of Uniformity was enacted in 1549. The Act established the Book of Common Prayer as the sole legal form of worship in England. Subsequent Acts of Uniformity in 1552 and 1559 adopted revisions of the Book of Common Prayer, or reinstated the act after the reign of a Catholic monarch, like Mary I. The Book of Common Prayer, first published in 1549, is the liturgical text of the Church of England. It contains liturgies for both Sunday and daily worship services as well as orders for baptisms, weddings, funerals, confirmation, and words to say over the ill and dying. Readings from the Old and New Testament were included as well as Morning Prayers, Evening Prayers, and Holy Communion rites. In England, a country that had only just recently broken from the Roman Catholic church, it was invaluable to have a liturgy text in the English language.

A century later, after the end of England’s Civil War and the reign of Oliver Cromwell and his son, Richard, the monarchy was reestablished under Charles II in 1661. Another major revision of the Book of Common Prayer was published a year later and a new Act of Uniformity was enacted along with it. This new Act was even more stringent. Not only was the Book of Common Prayer the only legal form of worship throughout England again, but adherence was mandatory for anyone who wished to hold a position in the church or in the government. Furthermore, the requirement for episcopal ordination for all ministers was reintroduced. The Act was met with hostility from a large group of ministers who complained that they could not adhere to a revised, yet-to-be-printed, Book of Common Prayer that they had not yet even seen. However, a deadline to comply with the Act was placed on St. Bartholomew’s Day, August 26, 1662.

What is now known as the Great Ejection took place on that day. It is estimated that about 2,000 to 2,500 ministers were cast out of not only the Church of England, but also from social and academic life. The Clarendon Code, named for the Earl of Clarendon, consisted of the Act of Uniformity and three other acts, passed around the same time. The Code forbade non-conformist ministers from holding university degrees from Cambridge or Oxford and many were forced to move at least five miles away from their former home parishes. Historians and former ministers wrote passionately on the injustice of the Great Ejection. Well-known ministers who became victims of the Great Ejection include John Bunyan, Isaac Watts, Sr., Thomas Doolittle, Matthew Poole, Samuel Clarke, and Richard Baxter. At Special Collections, you can find historian John Corbet’s An Account Given of the Principles & Practices of Several Nonconformists and Edmund Colamy’s The Church and the Dissenters Compar’d as to Persecution.

It would be 150 years before Nonconformists could hold civil or military office. This year, 350 years after the Act of Uniformity of 1662 was enacted, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dean of Westminster held a Service of Reconciliation at Westminster Abbey in London on February 8th. To mark the occasion, an Act of Penitence and an Act of Recommitment were performed, and selections from various writings of seventeenth century and eighteenth century Nonconformist ministers were read.