Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Augustine is supposed to have died soon after the conference." Before his death he had consecrated Justus to the bishoprick of Rochester, and Mellitus to that of London, the capital of Saberct, nephew of Ethelbert, and king of Essex; he had also consecrated Laurence as his own successor. The threat or prophecy which he had uttered at the meeting with the Britons was supposed to be fulfilled some years after, when Ethelfrid, the pagan king of Bernicia, invaded their territory. In a battle at Caerleon on the Dee, Ethelfrid saw a number of unarmed men, and, on inquiring, was told that they were monks of Bangor who had come to pray for the success of their countrymen. "Then," he cried, "although they have no weapons, they are fighting against us;" and he ordered them to be put to the sword. About twelve hundred, it is said, were slain, and only fifty escaped by flight.s

A.D. 613?

Amidst the pressure of his manifold occupations, and notwithstanding frequent attacks of sickness, Gregory found time for the composition of extensive works. The most voluminous of these, the Morals' on the book of Job, was undertaken at the suggestion of Leander, bishop of Seville, with whom he had made acquaintance at Constantinople, where the Spanish prelate was employed in soliciting the emperor to aid his convert Hermenegild.' Gregory's qualifications for commenting on Scripture were not of any critical kind; he repeatedly states that he was ignorant even of Greek." The nature of his work is indicated by its title. From the circumstance that Job sometimes makes use of figurative language, he infers that in some passages the literal sense does not exist; and he applies himself chiefly to explaining the typical

X

gard (A. S. C. i. 67, 62, 380) infers that on that subject the Britons did not differ from the missionaries. But how could they have more effectually disowned any such supremacy than by their conduct? If, as Dr. Lingard supposes (68), the story has been embellished, the embellishment must have been in the Roman interest. A letter or speech, first published by Spelman, in which Dinoth is made to disavow the bishop of Rome (Patrol. Ixx. 21), is, however, probably spurious. See Lingard, A. S. C. i. 71; Giesel. I. ii. 462; Collier, i. 179; Inett, i. 33; Martineau, 57.

His death is placed by some in the same year, 603; by Baronius in 604; by others, in 605; by Pagi, in 607 (xi.

74). See Hussey, n. in Bed. ii. 3.
Inett, i. 38.

Beda, ii. 2. The genuineness of the words, in which it is said that Augustine was dead long before this, has been questioned, but is now generally admitted (Soames, Ang. Sax. Ch. 46; Stevenson in loc.). Moreover, as Ethelfrid was a pagan, and beyond the limits of the Bretwalda's influence, it does not appear how Augustine could have instigated him against the Britons, if alive and desirous so to do.

Ep. ad Leandr. prefixed to the book; Mariana, iv. 124. See vol. i. P. 542.

u

Epp. vii. 32; xi. 74.

Ep. ad Leandr. c. 3.

and moral senses-often carrying to an extreme the characteristic faults of this kind of interpretation-strange wresting of the language of Scripture, and introduction of foreign matter under pretence of explaining what is written." He regards Job as a type of the Saviour; the patriarch's wife, of the carnally-minded; his friends, as representing heretics; their conviction, as signifying the reconciliation of the heretics to the Church. The 'Morals' were greatly admired. Marinian, bishop of Ravenna, caused them to be read in church; but Gregory desired that this might be given up, as the book, not being intended for popular use, might be, to some hearers, rather a hindrance than a means of spiritual advancement."

6

The Pastoral Rule,' written in consequence of Gregory's having been censured by John, the predecessor of Marinian, for attempting to decline the episcopate, also contains some curious specimens of allegorical interpretation; but it is characterised by practical wisdom and by an experienced knowledge of the heart. It was translated into various languages; the Anglo-Saxon version was made by king Alfred, who sent a copy of it to every bishop in his kingdom for preservation in the cathedral church.b France, it was adopted as the rule of episcopal conduct by reforming synods under Charlemagne and his son; and some synods ordered that it should be put into the hands of bishops at their consecration.d

In

In his Dialogues,' addressed to Theodelinda, Gregory discourses with a deacon named Peter on the miracles of Italian saints. The genuineness of the work has been questioned, chiefly on account of the anile legends with which it is filled. But the evidence of the authorship is generally admitted to be sufficient ;

[blocks in formation]

Aquisgr. A.D. 836, cap. ii. 4, &c.

Hincmar, t. ii. p. 389; Dupin, v. 134-5; Lau, 315.

e Paul. Warnefr. Hist. Langob. iv. 5 (Patrol. xcv.). In this circumstance Dean Milman sees the best apology for the legends which Gregory has stamped with his authority. "They might be, if not highly coloured, selected with less scruple, to impress the Lombard queen with the wonder-working power of the Roman clergy, and of the orthodox monks and bishops of Italy," i.

427.

See, for example, the story as to Theodoric, vol. i. p. 520.

g Dupin, v. 137-8; Schröckh, xvii. 322-5; Lau, 316-8; Bähr, ii. 448.

and it is to be noted to Gregory's praise that he repeatedly warns Peter against attaching too much value to the miracles which are related with such unhesitating credulity. In the fourth book, the state of the soul after death is discussed. Peter asks why it is that new revelations are now made on the subject, and is told that the time is one of twilight between the present world and that which is to come; and that, consequently, such revelations are now seasonable. The doctrine of Purgatory is here advanced more distinctly than in any earlier writing. The oriental idea of a purifying fire, through which souls must pass at the day of judgment, had been maintained by Origen; but at a later time the belief in a process of cleansing between death and judgment was deduced from St. Paul's words, that "the fire shall try every man's work," and that some shall be "saved as by fire;"" and it was supposed that by such means every one who died in the orthodox faith, however faulty his life might have been, would eventually be brought to salvation. St. Augustine earnestly combated this error, and maintained that the probation of which the Apostle spoke consisted chiefly in the trials which are sent on men during the present life. He thought, however, that, for those who in the main had been servants of Christ, there might perhaps be a purging of their remaining imperfections after death; and, although he was careful to state this opinion as no more than a conjecture, his authority caused it to be soon more confidently held. Gregory lays it down that as every one departs hence, so is he presented in the judgment; yet that we must believe that for some slight transgressions there is a purgatorial fire before the judgment day.a In proof of this are alleged the words of our Lord in St. Matthew xii. 32, from which it is inferred, as it had already been inferred by Augustine, that some sins shall be forgiven "in the world to come;" and the doctrine is confirmed by tales of visions in which the spirits of persons suffering in purgatory had appeared, and had entreated that the eucharistic sacrifice might be offered in order to their relief. A work in which religious instruction was thus combined with the attractions of romantic fiction naturally became

[blocks in formation]

very popular. Pope Zacharias (A.D. 741-752) rendered it into his native Greek; it was translated into Anglo-Saxon under Alfred's care, by Werfrith, bishop of Worcester;" and among the other translations was one into Arabic."

[ocr errors]

Gregory has been accused of having destroyed or mutilated the monuments of ancient Roman greatness in order that they might not distract the attention of pilgrims, and of having, from a like motive, burnt the Palatine library," and endeavoured to exterminate the copies of Livy's History." These stories are now rejected as fictions invented during the middle ages with a view of doing honour to his zeal; but it is unquestionable that he disliked and discouraged pagan literature. In the epistle prefixed to his 'Morals' he professes himself indifferent to style, and even to grammatical correctness, on the ground that the words of inspiration ought not to be tied down under the rules of Donatus." And in a letter to Desiderius, bishop of Vienne, who was reported to have given lessons in "grammar," he does not confine his rebuke to the unseemliness of such employment for a member of the episcopal order, but declares that even a religious layman ought not to defile his lips with the blasphemous praises of false deities. However this contempt of secular learning may be excused in Gregory himself, it is to be regretted that his authority did much to foster a contented ignorance in the ages which followed.d

His

In other respects the pope's opinions were those of his age, controlled in some measure by his practical good sense. reverence for the authority of the Church may be inferred from

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

y Joh. Sarisb., Polycraticus, ii. 26; viii. 19 (Patrol, excix. 461, 792). In the first of these passages the authors of the Art de Vérifier les Dates' (iii. 279) contend, with seeming reason, that we ought to read reprobata lectionis scripta' (not probate"), and to understand astrological books, which were so styled in the Digest. But in the other passage, John says distinctly: "Fertur Gregorius bibliothecam combussise gentilem, quo divinæ paginæ gratior esset locus, et major auctoritas, et diligentia studiosior."

The earliest authority for this is Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence in the 15th century. Bayle, art. Grégoire I., n. N.

a See Bayle, notes L, M, N; Gibbon,

iv. 268; Giesel. I. ii. 389. Schröckh's dislike of Gregory, however, inclines him to believe the tale as to the library, xvi. 59.

c

b Ad Leand. 5. Ep. xi. 54. See Bayle, note M; Neander, v. 207; Lau, 304. The Benedictines wish to suppose that Gregory did not blame the thing but the manner. But the work from which they quote a sanction of profane learning is spurious, and the passage in the epistle to Leander rather favours the opposite view. (Lau, 20.) Desiderius was murdered by Brunichild's contrivance in 607, and has been canonised. Vita S. Desider. ap. Bouquet, iii. 484.

d

Fleury, xxxvi. 35; Giesel. I. ii. 388. The letter is cited as an authority by Atto of Vercelli in the 10th century. De Pressuris Eccles. p. ii. (Patrol. cxxxiv. 75).

It

his repeated declarations, that he regarded the first four general councils as standing on the same level with the four Gospels. has been argued from some passages in his works that he held the doctrine of transubstantiation in the Eucharist; but his words, although sometimes highly rhetorical, do not seem to affirm any other than a spiritual presence of the Saviour's body and blood in the consecrated elements.

After what has been said of his character and history, it is hardly necessary to state that Gregory was a zealous friend to monachism. He protected the privileges and property of monastic societies against the encroachments of the bishops, and in many cases he exempted monks from episcopal jurisdiction as to the management of their affairs, although he was careful to leave the bishops undisturbed in the right of superintending their morals. But, notwithstanding his love for the monastic life, he detected and denounced many of the deceits which may be compatible with asceticism; perhaps his disagreements with John "the Faster" may have aided him to see these evils the more clearly. With reference to the edicts of Justinian which had sanctioned the separation of married persons for the sake of the monastic profession, he plainly declares that such an act, although allowed by human laws, is forbidden by the law of God.' Nor, although he contributed to extend the obligation to celibacy among the clergy, was his zeal for the enforcement of it violent or inconsiderate; thus, in directing that the sub-deacons of Sicily should in future be restrained from marriage, he revoked an order of his predecessor by which those who had married before the introduction of the Roman rule were compelled to separate from their wives.

A veneration for relics is strongly marked in Gregory's writings. It was his practice to send, in token of his especial favour, presents of keys, in which were said to be contained some filings of St. Peter's chains. These keys were accompanied by a prayer, that that which had bound the Apostle for martyrdom might loose the receiver from all his sins;' and to some of them miraculous histories were attached." The Empress Constantina—instigated,

Epp. i. 25; iii. 10. See above, p. 13. As Dialog. iv. 58, quoted in Præf. Bened. p. 29. See Schröckh, xvii. 305; Lau, 483-4.

Epp. ii. 42; vi. 11; vii. 12; viii. 15, 34; ix. 111; Conc. Rom. A.D. 601, ap. Greg. t. iii. 1340-2; Schröckh, xvii.

301-3.

h Neand. v. 206; Lau, 126.

Ep. xi. 45 (col. 1161). See vol. i. p. 552.

Ep. i. 44. (col. 506.) His regulations on this subject are summed up by Theiner, i. 355, seq.

1 Ep. vi. 6; vii. 28, and elsewhere, with some variety of form. Ep. vii. 26.

m

« AnteriorContinuar »