Saint Gregory VII

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Gregory VII. St. Gregory was born during the year 1025.

During St. Gregory’s lifetime, the church was dealing with a lot of different issues due to the fact that the papacy was the pawn for many different Roman families.

During the year 1049, stuff began to change when Pope Leo IX, who was a reformer, was elected. Pope Leo IX decided to bring a young monk named Hildebrand to Rome. Hildebrand was his counselor and special representative for many important missions. Hildebrand later became known as Gregory VII.

Many different things were occurring within the church, however, three main evils were affecting the Church during that time. The three evils include; simony which is the buying and selling of sacred things, secondly the unlawful marriage of the clergy; and lastly, the lay investiture which was when kings and nobles were able to control the appointment of Church officials.

St. Gregory directed his reformer’s attention to each one of these matter because he wanted to get rid of them. St. Gregory confronted these issues first as a counsellor to the popes and later as pope himself.

St. Gregory was a very powerful writer. In many of St. Gregory’s papal letters he stresses the important and impactful role of the bishop of Rome as the vicar of Christ and he even mentioned that the bishop of Rome is the visible center of unity in the Church.

St. Gregory is highly known for his very long dispute with the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV over who had the right to control the selection of bishops and abbots.

St. Gregory stood strong for his beliefs and he stayed true to what was right and holy. St. Gregory resisted any possible attack that was on the liberty of the Church. Due to these things St. Gregory suffered greatly and died in exile.

One of St. Gregory’s most powerful messages is, “I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore, I die in exile.”

Over thirty years later the Church was finally able to overcome its struggle against lay investiture.

St. Gregory VII’s feast day is celebrated on May 25.

Prayer to St. Gregory

St. Gregory you lived a life completely devoted to helping make the Church a better place, St. Gregory help us to stay strong in our beliefs and help us to strengthen our devotion to Christ so that during every moment of trial that we may encounter we may overcome it thanks to Christ’s guidance and mercy. St. Gregory help us to gain the strength we need to stand up for what is right and help us to guide more people to Christ.

We ask this through Christ Our Lord and Mary Our Mother in Heaven

Amen

St. Gregory pray for us

St. Joseph pray for us

May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.

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Works Cited

Information (read from, not taken):

Franciscan Media. "St. Gregory VII. ”Saint Gregory VII | Franciscan Media. Accessed 23, May 2021.

Images:

St. Gregory VII. May 22, 2021. St. Gregory VII - Google Search.