Pope Gregory I – Commemoration of co-creator of Catholicism

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September 3rd is the commemoration day of Pope Gregory I (the Great). He is honored and canonized as a significant church father in the Roman Catholic Church. He is indeed considered one of the founding fathers of contemporary Catholicism. However, this should not be confused with Christianity.

Gregor’s influential family

Every September 3rd, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Gregory I, or Gregory the Great, who was declared a “saint.” He held the episcopal see in Rome between 590 and 604 and thus belonged to the “first generation” of the papacy with expanded ecclesiastical and political power. His origins are not entirely clear, but Gregory’s ancestors most likely belonged to the patrician Anicii family, an aristocratic family of high standing and great influence. During the 5th century, this family provided two emperors of the still-existing Western Roman Empire.

Gregory’s great-grandfather was Pope Felix II (pontificate from 483 to 492). He was still a member of the Roman Senate and thus a direct participant or sharer of the Roman Empire. Felix was the first Bishop of Rome after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The last years of his pontificate were marked by the conquests of the Ostrogoths under their prince Theodoric. Historians also consider the Ostrogoth king a financial supporter of the abdicated last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Augustulus Romulus.

Even in the early years, the occupation of the “papal office” was clearly motivated less by the Holy Spirit than by family lineage, financial interests, and geopolitical ambitions. After all, and as luck would have it, three popes came from the highly influential Medici family (Florence, Italy). Among them was Pope Leo X, the “indulgent debt pope,” who was the first pontiff to have to contend with the “rebel” Martin Luther. While Luther was, after all, a former Augustinian monk and professor of (Catholic) theology, Pope Leo X was not even an ordained priest when he was elected.

Stories about Gregory I

Gregory I is considered one of the “most important Church Fathers” in the Roman Church. According to legend, he gave up the wealth he had accrued from his family, distributed it among the poor, and withdrew to a monastery. However, Pope Pelagius II took Gregory from the monastery to send him as an envoy to Constantinople. As the often mystical events of the Roman Church dictate, Gregory himself became Bishop of Rome around 15 years later.

The first monk to become Pope thus set out to ensure peace. This was to be achieved, among other things, by Catholicizing the previously hostile Lombards. Gregory achieved the desired peace on his doorstep by paying tribute to the Lombard king, Agilulf. As a result, the latter refrained from besieging Rome. Gregory also initiated the spread of Catholicism in England. Missionaries sent to the island thus led to the founding of the Church of Canterbury. The Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed by the Pope, will set significant cornerstones in the course of history.

It was Gregory who excessively emancipated himself from the sphere of influence of the Eastern Roman emperor. Constantly pushing the boundaries, Pope Gregory made political and military affairs independent, without seeking advice, let alone permission, from the Eastern Roman emperor. With the Merovingian and Frankish king Clovis I, the early papacy had already tied itself to a powerful military power.

All this, however, in the light of the “selflessness, humility, and piety” of a former monk who led the Church to what it represents today: the “mystical body of Christ.”

Gregory the Great in a different light

The Roman church’s apostasy from the Gospel did not begin with Gregory I; rather, the introduction of paganism, particularly in the 4th century, provided the “spiritual foundation” for the ecclesiastical and political decisions of the Bishop of Rome. The milestone of paganism entering the early church was set by Emperor Constantine with his “conversion” to Catholicism (on his deathbed), the introduction of Sunday law (in honor of the invincible sun), and the convening of the Council of Nicaea in 325.

John Dowling had this to say in his work “History of Romanism” (1845). Page 111:

“After the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century, when Christianity was taken under the protection of the state, this sinful conformity to the practices of Paganism increased to such a degree, that the beauty and simplicity of Christian worship were almost entirely obscured, and by the time these corruptions were ripe for the establishment of the Popedom, Christianity — the Christianity of the state — to judge from the institutions of its public worship — seemed but little else than a system of Christianized Paganism.“

Pope Gregory, however, did indeed shape the Roman Church into what it offers today in terms of tradition and rituals. To this end, the “great pope” drew not only on the already established paganism but also on the suggestions of even older “Church Fathers,” such as Augustine of Hippo. This is evident in his very status as a monk.

Monasticism – Pure Paganism

The monastic life practiced in Catholicism, or monastic existence, is not rooted in the Gospel. Such lifestyles do not appear anywhere in the Bible as a form of Christianity to be practiced. Rather, the existence of a monk corresponds to the exact opposite of what Jesus Christ called his followers to do: to (actively) go out into the world to proclaim the Gospel. Instead, the shaved-headed monks lock themselves in fortresses, cut themselves off from the world, and thus believe they are fulfilling their “piety.”

See also “History of Romanism,” page 87:

Monkery, like most of the characteristic marks of Antichrist, bears the most indubitable evidences of its heathen origin. Egypt, the rank soil in which it sprang up, had long been the fruitful parent of a race of gloomy and misanthropic eremites. It was in that country that this morose discipline had its rise; and it is observable, that Egypt has, in all times, as it were by an immutable law, or disposition of nature, abounded with persons of a melancholy complexion, and produced, in proportion to its extent, more gloomy spirits than any other part of the world.

It was here that the Essenes and the Therapeutse, those dismal and gloomy sects, dwelt principally, long before the coming of Christ; as also many others of the Ascetic tribe, who, led by a certain melancholy turn of mind, and a delusive notion of rendering themselves more acceptable to the Deity by their austerities, withdrew themselves from human society, and from all the innocent pleasures and comforts of life.

Strabo, Arrian, Diodorus Siculus, Porphyry, as well as several of the fathers, especially Clement of Alexandria, and Augustine, have handed down incidental notices of the philosophy and manners of the Indian and Egyptian gymnosophists, such as are amply sufficient for the purpose of identifying the ancient, and the more recent — the Buddhist, and the Christian ascetic institute.“

Despot Gregory I

“History of Romanism”, page 91:

“Previous to the elevation of Gregory I. to the See of Rome, he was himself abbot of a monastery, and exacted of the monks the strictest observance of the rules of poverty, chastity, and implicit obedience. An instance of superstitious, and, as it appears to us, inhuman severity toward one of them, is related by Gregory himself,! an d i s worth recording as an illustration of the character of Gregory, and of the spirit of that superstitious age.

The monk’s name was Justus; he had practised physic before entering the monastery, and had attended Gregory night and day during his long illness. Being himself taken ill, he discovered, at the point of death, to his brother, a layman, that he had three pieces of gold coin concealed in his cell. Some monks overheard him, and thereupon rummaging his cell, found, after a long search, which nothing could escape, the three pieces concealed in a medicament, and brought them to Gregory. As, by the laws of the monastery, no monk was to possess anything whatever in private, the abbot, to bring the dying monk to a due sense of his crime, and, at the same time, to deter the rest, by his punishment, from following his example, strictly forbade the other monks to afford him any kind of comfort or relief in the agonies of death, or even to approach him.“

Pseudo-saints through false games

Many a “holiness” within the Roman Church arose through the cheap tricks of card sharps. Such “wet dreams” of the early clergy could easily be deceived into believing in the uneducated populace (even today). “History of Romanism,” page 100:

Several ludicrous, but well authenticated instances of these fictitious saints are mentioned by the learned Dr. Conyers Middleton, in his letters from Rome. In one of these cases a mountain has been converted into a saint, by the corruption of the name of mount Soracte, near Rome, into S. Oracte, then S. Oreste, or Saint Oreste.

This is mentioned also by Addison,f who adds that a monastery has been founded in honor of this imaginary saint. This mistake is the less to be wondered at, because the Italians usually write the title of saint with the single letter S. (as S. Gregory), and thus in ages of darkness and ignorance, it was easy to transform mount Soracte, into Saint Orestes. Thus this holy mountain stands now under the protection of a patron, whose being and power is just as imaginary as that of the old guardian Apollo.

No suspicion of this kind will appear extravagant to those who are at all acquainted with the history of Popery, which abounds with instances of the grossest forgeries, both of saints and relics, which, to the scandal of many even among themselves, have been imposed for genuine on the poorngnorant people.

Gregory’s death cult

“History of Romanism”, pages 106 and 107:

“As there were none in these times to hinder the Christians from retaining the opinions of their pagan ancestors concerning departed souls, heroes, demons, temples, and such like matters, and even transferring them into their religious services; and as, instead of entirely abolishing the rites and institutions of ancient times, these institutions were still observed with only some slight alterations ; all this swelled of necessity the torrent of superstition, and deformed the beauty of the Christian religion and worship with those corrupt remains of Paganism, which still subsist in the Romish church.“

“To be convinced of the truth of the dismal representation we have here given of the state of religion at this time, nothing more is necessary than to cast an eye upon the doctrines now taught concerning the worship of images and saints, the fire of purgatory, the efficacy of good works; i. e., the observance of human rites and institutions, toward the attainment of salvation, the power of relics to heal the diseases of body and mind; and such like sordid and miserable fancies, which are inculcated in many of the superstitious productions of this century, and particularly in the epistles and other writings of Gregory the Great.

In order to show that the charge above referred to in relation to Gregory’s superstitious regard to relics is not made without sufficient reason, I will present the reader with a translation of an epistle which he wrote to the empress Constantina, who was building a church at Constantinople in honor of St. Paul, and had written to Gregory to grant her either the head or some other part of the body of that Apostle, which was said to be at Rome, for the purpose of enshrining it in the church when completed.

After a ceeds respectful —’Major allusion mcestitia to the tenuit, request fyc. Great the empress, sadness hath possessed me, because you have enjoined upon me those things which I neither can or dare do; for the bodies of the holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, are so resplendent with miracles and terrific prodigies in their own churches, that no one can approach them without great awe, even for the purpose of adoring them. When my predecessor, of happy memory, wished to change some silver ornament which was placed over the most holy body of St. Peter, though at the distance of almost fifteen feet, a warning of no small terror appeared to him….’“

Gregory’s promotion of pilgrimages

“History of Romanism”, page 108

“Besides the superstitious and idolatrous reverence of Gregory for relics, he labored hard in exalting the merit of pilgrimages to holy places; encouraged the use, though he condemned the worship, of images in the churches ;introduced a more imposing method of administering the communion, with a magnificent assemblage of pompous ceremonies, which institution was called the Canon of the mass, and which, without doubt, tended a century or two later to the conception of the absurd doctrine of transubstantiation;

he also seriously inculcated a belief in the pagan doctrine concerning the purification of departed souls by a certain kind of fire, which he called Purgatory, and which doctrine, as Gieseler asserts, was first suggested by Augustine, the bishop of Hippo, towards the close of the fourth century, “

Impressive rites

“History of Romanism”, page 111:

“As a proof that Christianity began thus early to be corrupted, it is related in the life of Gregory, bishop of New Cesarea, surnamed Thaumaturgus, or wonder-worker, that when he perceived that the ignorant multitude persisted in their idolatry, on account of the pleasures and sensual gratifications which they enjoyed at the pagan festivals, he granted them a permission to indulge themselves in the like pleasures, in celebrating the memory of the holy martyrs, hoping, that, in process of time, they would return, of their own accord, to a more virtuous and regular course of life.

This addition of external rites, says Mosheim, was also designed to remove the opprobrious calumnies which the Jewish and pagan priests cast upon the Christians, on account of the simplicity of their worship, esteeming them little better than atheists, because they had no temples, altars, victims, priests, nor anything of that external pomp in which the vulgar are so prone to place the essence of religion. The rulers of the church adopted, therefore, certain external ceremonies, that thus they might captivate the senses of the vulgar, and be able to refute the reproaches of their adversaries, thus obscuring the native lustre of the gospel, in order to extend its influence, and making it lose, in point of real excellence, what it gained in point of popular esteem.“

Veneration of Gregory I understandable

Given the activity of Pope Gregory I, an upstart from an aristocratic family once involved in the Roman Empire, a traditional pagan as a practicing monk, and advocate of the cult of the dead, including the veneration of the deceased and their body parts, it is only too easy to understand why the Church of Rome accords such great veneration to its former bishop.

The “canonized” Gregory the Great laid the foundations for what constitutes “true” Catholicism to this day. A religious-state institution that, while using the word Christianity, has positioned itself diametrically opposed to it (Info).

Internally, in the house of demons, the prison of all unclean spirits and unclean and hateful birds (Revelation 18:2), a simple, self-appreciative backslapping takes place. Understandable. But just as so many “cult figures” met a sudden end and their memory was torn down forever, so too will the Roman institution be “rudely” torn from existence (Daniel 2:44; Revelation 18:21; Revelation 19:20), thoroughly, completely, and without a trace, by the hand of Jesus Christ.

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)