Thanks, Kendall.  That’s not a quote I would’ve thought of.  But Gregory the Great must surely have a special place in the hearts of Anglicans, since he dispatched his friend and fellow monk Augustine of Canterbury to England, with all that came of that historic mission.

As for Gregory quotes, I’m fond of the one, perhaps apocryphal, that has to do with Gregory’s delightful reaction upon seeing some Anglo-Saxon prisoners being sold as slaves in Rome.  He thought they had beautiful faces, IIRC, and asked what nationality they might be.  “Angles,” he was told.  To which he supposedly replied, “Not Angles, but angels!”  And the rest is history…

David Handy+

Two further thoughts about Pope Gregory.  Although our earliest manuscripts of church chant only go back to about two centuries after his time (Gregory died in AD 604), there may well be a historic connection between this tremendous Christian leader and what we commonly call “Gregorian Chant.”  As a lover of plainsong, I’d like to think so anyway.

What is certain, however, is that Gregory helped to popularize the Benedictine Rule, by which he himself lived as a monk.  And his effusive praise of the godliness, wisdom, and humility of St. Benedict (who died in AD 540) in the biography that Gregory wrote about his hero, definitely helped contribute to the rise of Benedictine monasticism to dominance in the Latin West.  And given the very strong influence of Benedictine monasticism on English Christianity (e.g., Canterbury Cathedral was always staffed by Benedictines up until the Reformation), that is another reason why we Anglicans can be profoundly grateful for the life and ministry of him who is justly called “Gregory the Great.”

David Handy+

Isn’t the quote from Job from his “friends” who were trying to convince Job that God worked by retribution theology?

Maybe I misunderstand… but adopting this as a prooftext might not speak to Gregory’s greatness.

Gregory preached that preaching should
1) Inspire with hope of heaven
2) Guide with moral exhortation in the way of Christ
3) Terrify with warnings of hell

Then Gregory was in good company:

Matthew 5:29-30   29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.  30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

  Along with many other passages.

To warn with the truth is not to terrify.