Editing Pope Gregory I (section)

==Works==
===Liturgical reforms===
John the Deacon wrote that Pope Gregory I made a general revision of the liturgy of the [[Pre-Tridentine Mass]], "removing many things, changing a few, adding some". In his own letters, Gregory remarks that he moved the ''[[Pater Noster]]'' (Our Father) to immediately after the [[Roman Canon]] and immediately before the [[Fraction (religion)|Fraction]].{{sfn|Eden|2004|p=487}} This position is still maintained today in the Roman Liturgy. The pre-Gregorian position is evident in the [[Ambrosian Rite]]. Gregory added material to the ''[[Roman Canon#Hanc Igitur|Hanc Igitur]]'' of the Roman Canon and established the nine ''[[Kyrie]]s'' (a vestigial remnant of the [[litany]] which was originally at that place) at the beginning of [[Mass (Catholic Church)|Mass]]. He forbade deacons to perform any of the musical portions of the Mass other than singing the Gospel.{{sfn|Huddleston|1909}}

[[Sacramentary|Sacramentaries]] directly influenced by Gregorian reforms are referred to as ''Sacrementaria Gregoriana''. Roman and other [[Latin liturgical rites|Western liturgies]] since this era have a number of prayers that change to reflect the feast or liturgical season; these variations are visible in the [[collect]]s and [[Preface (liturgy)|preface]]s as well as in the Roman Canon itself.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09296a.htm Fortescue, Adrian. "Liturgical Books." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910</ref>

====Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts====
In the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and [[Eastern Catholic Churches]], Gregory is credited as the primary influence in constructing the more penitential [[Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts]], a fully separate form of the [[Divine Liturgy]] in the [[Byzantine Rite]] adapted to the needs of the season of [[Great Lent]]. Its [[Roman Rite]] equivalent is the [[Mass of the Presanctified]] used only on [[Good Friday]]. The [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac]] Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts continues to be used in the [[Malankara Rite]], a variant of the [[West Syrian Rite]] historically practiced in the [[Malankara Church]] of [[India]], and now practiced by the several churches that descended from it and at some occasions in the [[Assyrian Church of the East]].{{sfn|Chupungco|1997|p=17}}

====Gregorian chant====
{{main|Gregorian chant}}
[[File:Gregory I - Antiphonary of Hartker of Sankt Gallen.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Antiphonary]] of Hartker of the monastery of Saint Gall]]
The mainstream form of Western [[plainchant]], standardized in the late 9th century,{{sfn|Levy|1998|p=7}} was attributed to Pope Gregory I and so took the name of Gregorian chant. The earliest such attribution is in John the Deacon's 873 biography of Gregory, almost three centuries after the pope's death, and the chant that bears his name "is the result of the fusion of Roman and Frankish elements which took place in the Franco-German empire under [[Pepin the Short|Pepin]], [[Charlemagne]] and their successors".{{sfn|Murray|1963|pp=3-4}}

===Writings===
[[File:Window, Gregory the Great, Church of the Good Shepherd.jpg|thumb|right|upright|St. Gregory the Great window, Episcopal [[Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania)]] US]]
Gregory is commonly credited with founding the medieval papacy and so many attribute the beginning of medieval spirituality to him.<ref>Straw pg 4</ref>
Gregory is the only pope between the fifth and the eleventh centuries whose correspondence and writings have survived enough to form a comprehensive corpus. Some of his writings are:

* {{lang|la|[[Moralia in Job]]}}. This is one of the longest patristic works. It was possibly finished as early as 591. It is based on talks Gregory gave on the Book of Job to his "brethren" who accompanied him to Constantinople. The work as we have it is the result of Gregory's revision and completion of it soon after his accession to the papal office.{{sfn|Markus|1997|p=15}}
* ''[[Pastoral Care]]'' ({{lang|la|Liber regulae pastoralis}}), in which he contrasted the role of bishops as pastors of their flock with their position as nobles of the church: the definitive statement of the nature of the episcopal office. This was probably begun before his election as pope and finished in 591.
* ''[[Dialogues (Pope Gregory I)|Dialogues]]'', a collection of four books of miracles, signs, wonders, and healings done by the holy men, mostly monastic, of sixth-century Italy, with the second book entirely devoted to a popular life of [[Benedict of Nursia|Saint Benedict]].{{sfn|Gardner|1911|p=}}
* [[Sermon]]s, including:
** The 22 {{lang|la|Homilae in Hiezechielem}} (''Homilies on Ezekiel''), dealing with Ezekiel 1.1–4.3 in Book One, and Ezekiel 40 in Book 2. These were preached during 592–593, the years that the Lombards besieged Rome, and contain some of Gregory's most profound mystical teachings. They were revised eight years later.
** The {{lang|la|Homilae xl in Evangelia}} (''Forty Homilies on the Gospels'') for the liturgical year, delivered during 591 and 592, which were seemingly finished by 593. A papyrus fragment from this codex survives in the [[British Museum]], London, UK.<ref name=britishlibrary />
** {{lang|la|Expositio in Canticis Canticorum}}. Only two of these sermons on the Song of Songs survive, discussing the text up to Song 1.9.
* {{lang|la|In Librum primum regum expositio}} (''Commentary on 1 Kings''), which scholars now think that this is a work by 12th-century monk [[Peter of Cava]], who used no longer extant Gregorian material.
* Copies of some 854 letters have survived. During Gregory's time, copies of papal letters were made by scribes into a {{lang|la|Registrum}} (''Register''), which was then kept in the {{lang|la|scrinium}}. It is known that in the 9th century, when John the Deacon composed his ''Life'' of Gregory, the {{lang|la|Registrum}} of Gregory's letters was formed of 14 papyrus rolls (though it is difficult to estimate how many letters this may have represented). Though these original rolls are now lost, the 854 letters have survived in copies made at various later times, the largest single batch of 686 letters being made by order of [[Adrian I]] (772–795).{{sfn|Markus|1997|p=15}} The majority of the copies, dating from the 10th to the 15th century, are stored in the [[Vatican Library]].{{sfn|Ambrosini|Willis|1996|pp=63–64}}

Gregory wrote over 850 letters in the last 13 years of his life (590–604) that give us an accurate picture of his work.{{sfn|Markus|1997|p=i}} A truly autobiographical presentation is nearly impossible for Gregory. The development of his mind and personality remains purely speculative in nature.{{sfn|Markus|1997|p=2}}

Opinions of the writings of Gregory vary. "His character strikes us as an ambiguous and enigmatic one", historian [[Norman F. Cantor|Norman Cantor]] observed. "On the one hand he was an able and determined administrator, a skilled and clever diplomat, a leader of the greatest sophistication and vision; but on the other hand, he appears in his writings as a superstitious and credulous [[monk]], hostile to learning, crudely limited as a theologian, and excessively devoted to saints, [[miracle]]s, and [[relic]]s".<ref>Cantor (1993) page 157.</ref>

===Identification of three figures in the Gospels===
Gregory was among those who identified [[Mary Magdalene]] with [[Mary of Bethany]], whom John 12:1-8 recounts as having [[anointing of Jesus|anointed Jesus]] with precious ointment,<ref>{{bibleverse||John|12:1–8|ESV}}</ref> an event that some interpret as being the same as the [[Parable of the Two Debtors|anointing of Jesus]] performed by a woman that Luke (alone among the [[synoptic Gospels]]) recounts as a sinner.<ref>{{bibleverse|Luke|7:36–50|ESV}}; {{bibleverse|Matthew|26:6–13|ESV}}; {{bibleverse|Mark|14:3–9}}</ref> Preaching on the passage in the [[Gospel of Luke]], Gregory remarked: "This woman, whom Luke calls a sinner<ref>{{bibleverse||Luke|7:37|ESV}}</ref> and John calls Mary,<ref>{{bibleverse||John|12:3}}</ref> I think is the Mary from whom Mark reports<ref>{{bibleverse|Mark|16:9|ESV}}</ref> that seven demons were cast out."{{efn|name=HancVero}} Modern biblical scholars{{who|date=February 2021}} distinguish these as three separate figures/persons.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schenk |first=Christine |title=Crispina and her sisters: women and authority in early Christianity |date=2017 |publisher=Fortress press |isbn=978-1-5064-1188-0 |location=Minneapolis (Minn.) |pages=11}}</ref> However, within the general populace they are still believed to refer to the same person.{{sfn|Maisch|1998|p=156|loc=Ch.10}}