Feast date: Sep 03

St. Gregory the Great, a central figure of the medieval western Church and one of the most admired Popes in history, is commemorated in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Catholic liturgy today, September 3.

Born near the middle of the sixth century into a noble Roman family, Gregory received a classical education in liberal arts and the law. He also had strong religious formation from his devout family, particularly from his mother, Silvia, also a canonized saint. By around age 30, Gregory had
advanced to high political office in Rome, during what was nevertheless a period of marked decline for the city.

Some time after becoming the prefect of the former imperial capital, Gregory chose to leave the civil administration to become a monk during the rise of the Benedictine order. In reality, however, the new monk's great career in public life was yet to come.

After three years of strict monastic life, he was called personally by the Pope to assume the office of a deacon in Rome. From Rome, he was dispatched to Constantinople, to seek aid from the emperor for Rome's civic troubles, and to aid in resolving the Eastern church's theological controversies. He returned to Rome in 586, after six years of service as the Papal representative to the eastern Church and empire.

Rome faced a series of disasters caused by flooding in 589, followed by the death of Pope Pelagius II the next year. Gregory, then serving as abbot in a monastery, reluctantly accepted his election to replace him as the Bishop of Rome.

Despite this initial reluctance, however, Pope Gregory began working tirelessly to reform and solidify the Roman liturgy, the disciplines of the Church, the military and economic security of Rome, and the Church's spreading influence in western Europe.

As Pope, Gregory brought his political experience at Rome and Constantinople to bear, in the task of preventing the Catholic Church from becoming subservient to any of the various groups struggling for control of the former imperial capital. As the former abbot of a monastery, he strongly supported the Benedictine movement as a bedrock of the western Church. He sent missionaries to England, and is given much of the credit for the nation's conversion.

In undertaking these works, Pope Gregory saw himself as the “servant of the servants of God.” He was the first of the Bishops of Rome to popularize the now-traditional Papal title, which referred to Christ's command that those in the highest position of leadership should be “the last of all and the servant of all.”

Even as he undertook to consolidate Papal power and shore up the crumbling Roman west, St. Gregory the Great maintained a humble sense of his mission as a servant and pastor of souls, from the time of his election until his death in 604.

The Vatican newspaper has republished a brief 1950 article by Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), the French Jesuit philosopher and paleontologist whose support for eugenics continued even after the Holocaust.

Father Teilhard’s text, “Macchine combinatorie e super-cervelli” [Combining Machines and Super-Brains], appeared on page 10 of the newspaper’s September 1 edition. It was introduced by a longer article by Father Antonio Spadaro, SJ, undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, who lauded what he saw as the text’s prophetic nature.

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, OFM Cap, the president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, joined Protestant clergy from South Korea and Colombia in leading the global opening prayer service for the Season of Creation.

The Season of Creation, an ecumenical initiative, begins on September 1—the World Day of Prayer for Creation in the Orthodox churches (since 1989) and the Catholic Church (since 2015)—and concludes on October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and Pope Francis lent their support to observance of the season, as has Pope Leo.

Father Augustine Dauda Amadu, a priest who ministered in Sierra Leone, was brutally murdered by armed robbers in his residence on the night of August 29-30.

The priest ministered in Kenema, a city of 155,000 in the West African nation.

A Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner who lived under Taliban rule told a Vatican spokesman that the “scale of the Taliban’s oppression is almost unimaginable.”

“Women and girls are banned from education, work and any form of public and political participation,” Malala Yousafzai said in an interview with Alessandro Gisotti, a vice director of the Editorial Directorate at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication.

“They are controlling every part of a woman’s life, including if she can go to a park, how loud her voice can be, how she dresses,” she added. “This is more than gender discrimination; it is gender apartheid.”

In a message for the Season of Creation, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines emphasized that the care of creation is a moral and spiritual responsibility.

“We cannot ignore the grave threats facing our world today climate change, environmental destruction, and the reckless exploitation of resources,” said Cardinal Pablo Vigilio David. “These burdens fall most heavily on the poor and vulnerable. To care for creation, therefore, is not only an ecological duty but a moral and spiritual responsibility, a path of justice, peace, and love.”

Pope Leo XIV named Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe as his special envoy to the September 6 commemoration of the 650th anniversary of the elevation of the Archdiocese of Galyc (later Lviv) to the status of a metropolitan archdiocese.

The Diocese of Halicz (Galyc) was established in 1361 and raised to archdiocesan status in 1375. It was renamed the Archdiocese of Lviv in 1412 and is Ukraine’s leading Latin-rite see.

In a letter dated August 6 and released September 1, Pope Leo asked Cardinal Sepe to “convey Our spiritual love and closeness to all the Christian faithful and people of good will gathered there in this most difficult time that Ukraine is experiencing. You will exhort all in the precept of maintaining charity even more diligently in families and in public circumstances, as well as to cultivate a living Christian hope in daily life and, finally, to earnestly seek from God the desired gift of peace.”

Archbishop Diego Ravelli, the Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, announced on September 1 that Pope Leo XIV will celebrate six public Masses in October, the first four in St. Peter’s Square, and the last two in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Leo will preside at Masses for the Jubilee of the Missionary World and Jubilee of Migrants (October 5), Jubilee of Consecrated Life (October 9), Jubilee of Marian Spirituality (October 12), the canonization of seven blesseds (October 19), the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies (October 26), and students of pontifical universities (October 27).

Pope Leo XIV received members of the Opera San Francesco, a Milan-based charity founded by Venerable Antonio Pietro Cortinovis, a Capuchin Franciscan friar.

After recalling St. Francis of Assisi’s devotion to the poor, Pope Leo reflected on three “complementary and fundamental aspects of charity: assisting, welcoming and promoting.”

“Assisting means making oneself present to the needs of others,” the Pope said. Welcoming consists in “making room for the other in one’s heart, in one’s life, giving time, listening, support, prayer,” while “promoting” entails a genuine care for the other’s good, “without expecting compensation and without imposing conditions.”

“Together with all Christians, today we celebrate the 10th World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, opening the Season of Creation, which lasts until October 4, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi,” Pope Leo XIV tweeted on September 1 (background).

Referring to the saint’s famed canticle, the Pope added, “In the spirit of the Canticle of Brother Sun, let us praise God and renew our commitment not to ruin His gift but to care for our common home.”