On the left:
| Ex hoc monasterio | |
| Prodierunt. | |
| S. | Gregorius, M. Fundator et Parens |
| S. | Eleutherius, A.B. Hilarion, A.B. |
| S. | Augustinus. Anglor. Apostol. |
| S. | Laurentius. Cantuar. Archiep. |
| S. | Mellitus. Londinen. Ep. mox. Archiep. Cantuar. |
| S. | Justus. Ep. Roffensis. |
| S. | Paulinus. Ep. Eborac. |
| S. | Maximianus. Syracusan. Ep. |
| SS. | Antonius, Merulus, et Joannes, Monachi. |
| St. | Petrus. A.B. Cantuar. |
| Marinianus. Archiep. Raven. | |
| Probus. Xenodochi. Jerosolymit. | |
| Curator. A. S. Gregori. Elect. | |
| Sabinus Callipodit. Ep. | |
| Gregorius. Diac. Card. S. Eustach. | |
| Hic. Etiam. Diu. Vixit. M. Gregori | |
| Mater. S. Silvia. Hoc. Maxime | |
| Colenda. Quod. Tantum. Pietatis | |
| Sapientiæ. Et. Doctrinæ. Lumen Pepererit. |
"Cette ville incomparable renferme peu de sites plus attrayants et plus dignes d'éternelle mémoire. Le sanctuaire occupe l'angle occidental du mont Cœlius.... Il est à égale distance du grand Cirque, des Thermes de Caracalla et du Colisée, tout proche de l'église des saints martyrs Jean et Paul. Le berceau du christianisme de l'Angleterre touche ainsi au sol trempé par le sang de tant de milliers de martyrs. En face s'élève le mont Palatin, berceau de Rome païenne, encore couvert des vastes débris du palais des Césars.... Où est donc l'Anglais digne de ce nom qui, en portant son regard du Palatin au Colisée, pourrait contempler sans émotion ce coin de terre d'où lui sont venus la foi, le nom chrétien et la Bible dont il est si fier. Voilà où les enfants esclaves de ses aïeux étaient recueillis et sauvés! Sur ces pierres s'agenouillaient ceux qui ont fait sa patrie chrétienne! Sous ces voûtes a été conçu par une âme sainte, confié à Dieu, béni par Dieu, accepté et accompli par d'humbles et généreux chrétiens, le grand dessein! Par ces degrés sont descendus les quarante moines qui ont porté à l'Angleterre la parole de Dieu, la lumière de l'Évangile, la succession apostolique et la règle de Saint-Benoît!"—Montalembert, Moines d'Occident.
Hard by was the house of Sta. Silvia, mother of St. Gregory, of which the ruins still remain, opposite to the church of S. Giovanni e Paolo, and in the little garden which still exists, we may believe that he played as a child under his mother's care. Close to his mother's home he founded the monastery of St. Andrew, where he dwelt for many years as a monk, employed in writing homilies, and in the enjoyment of visionary conversation with the Virgin, whom he believed to answer him in person from her picture before which he knelt. "To this monastery he presented his own portrait, with those of his father and mother, which were probably in existence 300 years after his death; and this portrait of himself probably furnished that peculiar type of physiognomy which we trace in all the best representations of him."[160] During the life of penance and poverty which was led here by St. Gregory, he sold all his goods for the benefit of the poor, retaining nothing but a silver bason given him by his mother. One day a poor shipwrecked sailor came several times to beg in the cell where he was writing, and as he had no money, he gave him instead this one remaining treasure. A long time after, St. Gregory saw the same shipwrecked sailor reappear in the form of his guardian angel, who told him that God had henceforth destined him to rule his church, and become the successor of St. Peter, whose charity he had imitated.[161]
"Un moine (A.D. 590) va monter pour la première fois sur la chaire apostolique. Ce moine, le plus illustre de tous ceux qui ont compté parmi les souverains pontifes, y rayonnera d'un éclat qu'aucun de ses prédécesseurs n'a égalé et qui rejaillera comme une sanction suprême, sur l'institut dont il est issu. Grégoire, le seul parmi les hommes avec le Pape Léon Ier qui ait reçu à la fois, du consentement universel, le double surnom de Saint et de Grand, sera l'eternel honneur de l'Ordre bénédictin comme de la papauté. Par son génie, mais surtout par le charme et l'ascendant de sa vertu, il organisera le domaine temporel des papes, il développera et régularisera leur souveraineté spirituelle, il fondera leur paternelle suprématie sur les royautés naissantes et les nations nouvelles qui vont devenir les grands peuples de l'avenir, et s'appeler la France, l'Espagne, l'Angleterre. A vrai dire, c'est lui qui inaugure le moyen âge, la société moderne et la civilisation chrétienne."—Montalembert.
The church of St. Gregory is approached by a cloistered court filled with monuments. On the left is that of Sir Edward Carne, one of the commissioners to obtain the opinion of foreign universities respecting the divorce of Henry VIII. from Catherine of Arragon, ambassador to Charles V., and afterwards to the court of Rome. He was recalled when the embassy was suppressed by Elizabeth, but was kept at Rome by Paul IV., who had conceived a great affection for him, and he died here in 1561. Another monument, of an exile for the catholic faith, is that of Robert Pecham, who died 1567, inscribed:
"Roberto Pecham Anglo, equite aurato, Philippi et Mariæ Angliæ et Hispan regibus olim a consiliis genere religione virtute præclaro qui cum patriam suam a fede catholica deficientem adspicere sine summo dolore non posset, relictis omnibus quæ in hac vita carissima esse solent, in voluntarium profectus exilium, post sex annis pauperibus Christi heredibus testamento institutis, sanctissime e vita migravit."
The Church, rebuilt in 1734, under Francesco Ferrari, has sixteen ancient granite columns and a fine Opus-Alexandrinum pavement. Among its monuments we may observe that of Cardinal Zurla, a learned writer on geographical subjects, who was abbot of the adjoining convent. It was a curious characteristic of the laxity of morals in the time of Julius II. (1503-13), that her friends did not hesitate to bury the famous Aspasia of that age in this church, and to inscribe upon her tomb: "Imperia, cortisana Romana, quæ digna tanto nomine, raræ inter homines formæ specimen dedit. Vixit annos xxvi. dies xii. obiit 1511, die 15 Augusti,"—but this monument has now been removed.
At the end of the right aisle is a picture by Badalocchi, commemorating a miracle on this spot, when, at the moment of elevation, the Host is said to have bled in the hands of St. Gregory, to convince an unbeliever of the truth of transubstantiation. It will be observed that in this and in most other representations of St. Gregory, a dove is perched upon his shoulder, and whispering into his ear. This is commemorative of the impression that every word and act of the saint was directly inspired by the Holy Ghost; a belief first engendered by the happy promptitude of Peter, his arch-deacon, who invented the story to save the beloved library of his master which was about to be destroyed after his death by the people, in a pitiful spirit of revenge, because they fancied that a famine which was decimating them, had been brought about by the extravagance of Gregory.[162] An altar beneath this picture is decorated with marble reliefs, representing the same miracle, and also the story of the soul of the Emperor Trajan being freed from purgatory by the intercession of Gregory. (Chap. IV.)