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Saint Gregory the Great in a gold cope, the dove of the Holy Spirit at his ear, painted by Jacopo Vignali about 1630

Saint Gregory the Great

The monk made pope who sent Augustine and forty monks to the English

Patron of
musicians, teachers, England, epilepsy
Western calendar
3 September
Orthodox calendar
12 March, as Gregory the Dialogist, Pope of Rome (25 March on the old calendar)

Gregory was born into a noble Roman family around 540 and was prefect of the city by thirty, but he turned the family villa on the Caelian hill into a monastery and became a monk. In a time of flood, famine and plague the people of Rome made him pope, and he gave the harvest of the Church's lands away free, saying, "I hold the office of steward to the property of the poor." He sent forty monks under Augustine to the English, called himself the "servant of the servants of God", and when he died in 604 the people named him Gregory the Great.

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It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

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We began with the saints people search for most, by name, by need and by date, along with the apostles and the saints Orthodox Christians look for. Then we made sure every day of the year has at least one saint. That gives 378 so far, and we keep adding the saints readers ask for.

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