St Gregory the Great
The Popes in Rome have quite an extensive wardrobe of things only they are allowed to wear. One item of papal headgear that popes used to wear was called the papal tiara. A bit like the mitre worn by a bishop, but more ornate and made of metal. It is encircled with three golden crowns stacked one on top of the other. The statue of St Peter in the Abbey Church is wearing one. Pope Gregory is seen wearing the tiara in the colourful east window, bottom row, second saint from the left.
Why did Popes wear three crowns at once? Well, we all know busy people who wear more than one hat. For the pope, the three crowns represented his three vocations: as bishop, as ruler of the papal states, and as representative of Christ on earth. Our present Pope Francis who was elected Pope ten years ago today has never worn a papal tiara; in fact, the last one was auctioned off in the 1960s and the money given to charity. I’m sure Pope Francis would agree with Gregory on many things, including bringing the faith to the peripheries (as he did with the Angles). Pope Gregory chose to be known as Servus servorum Dei – Servant of the servants of God.
Gregory saw service as the bedrock of the Church. Jesus said to Peter in the gospel: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. What an immense responsibility thrust upon St Gregory’s shoulders becoming successor of St Peter in the year 590. He wanted a life of prayer, he felt torn between his contemplative gifts and duty to the Church. But the tension between prayer and duty, infused with love, leads to service; like a stretched guitar string ready to twang.
At a time of transition in Rome, Gregory organised the church and the city, expanding Christianity further afield, even to the belligerent Angles. Meanwhile he prayed, led worship, and shepherded the flock entrusted to his care. We are told that he cooked for hungry families himself and had the food delivered. Such Gregorian legacy lives on in Rome today. Beneath the Basilica of St Gregory the Great on Rome’s Caelian hill are grottos used as a homeless shelter, to feed and house the hungry and cold. By the time of his death, Gregory had given so much to the poor that the papal treasury was nearly empty. He wrote: the proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist. In other words if you love, you show it by your deeds.
Being Pope was not merely a career option for Gregory, he didn’t choose it, he was chosen. His life of service was more than a day job, putting on his professional hat in the morning, and taking it off at night. The heavy tiara worn on the papal head is symbolic of the church being carried by the rock on which the church is built. The tiara’s triple crown is really a thorny trio that rewards the wearer with blood, sweat and tears. Gregory wanted to hand over to you not only the Good News but his whole life as well. He wrestled tirelessly to safeguard all of humanity from the dark gates of the underworld and shepherd all to eternal salvation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Christ is made the sure foundation, Christ, our head and cornerstone. Gathered here in the Basilica of St Gregory the Great, let us liken the rocky foundations of this building to our beloved patron saint. May the rising columns represent the hundreds of Gregorian monks and teachers who have constructed the edifice of Benedictine and Gregorian life we enjoy. It is as if those who have gone before us through their service have raised up the upturned boat crowning the nave – the barque of Peter carrying all to heaven, where choirs of angels lead you into paradise. In the words of the school song; Let Gregory’s light cast its brightness and peace illumine his children. And finally, as the school song begins: Patriae domus decorum diligamus filii: We sons and daughters must love the glory of our Father’s house, and its walls fitted together with living stones.
Pope St Gregory the Great; pray for us.