St. Gregory and the Gregorian Music

by E. G. P. Wyatt

In conclusion it is submitted that the evidence here put forward, though in some respects rather scanty, yet, in the absence of any strong evidence to the contrary, is quite sufficient to justify the tradition that St. Gregory was the organiser, reformer, and to some extent the author of the Antiphoner of the Mass. It is, of course, more difficult to say definitely what his work actually was in these three divisions, but a quite sufficient amount of certainty has been attained for us to realize the extent and the nature of the debt which succeeding ages have owed to the great Pope, and so far the attacks that have been made on the tradition have only resulted in setting it on a firmer and more definite basis.

THE PORTRAITS OF ST. GREGORY.

The oldest portrait of which we have a record is one of which a very full description was given by John the Deacon, Gregory’s biographer. This likeness was to be seen in John’s day (in the latter part of the ninth century) in Gregory’s house, which he had converted into a monastery, in a small room behind the brethren’s store-room or granary. It was surrounded by a circular plaster frame. Probably the whole figure was not represented; at all events, the following description which he gives stops at the hands.

“His figure was of ordinary height, and was well made; his face was a happy medium between the length of his father’s and the roundness of his mother’s face, so that with a certain roundness it seemed to be of a very comely length, his beard being like his father’s, of a rather tawny colour, and of moderate length. He was rather bald, so that in the middle of his forehead he had two small neat curls, twisted towards the right; the crown of his head was round and large, his darkish hair being nicely curled and hanging down as far as the middle of his ear; his forehead was high, his eyebrows long and elevated; his eyes had dark pupils, and though not large were open, under full eyelids; his nose from the starting-point of his curving eyebrows being thin and straight, broader about the middle, slightly aquiline, and expanded at the nostrils; his mouth was red, lips thick and sub-divided; his cheeks were well-shaped, and his chin of a comely prominence from the confines of the jaws; his colour was swarthy and ruddy, not, as it afterwards became, unhealthy looking; his expression was kindly; he had beautiful hands, with tapering fingers, well adapted for writing.”

The description goes on to say that Gregory wore the penula (cloak) of chestnut colour, and over it the sacred pall, and that in his hands he carried the book of the Gospel. We learn, further, that he did not have the round nimbus, but a rectangular or square one, with which it was the custom to adorn the heads of portraits of eminent people in their life-time. John considers this a sure proof that the painting was executed during the life of the saint; if it had been done after his death, he would have been given a circular nimbus.

In the same monastery were portraits of his father and mother, Gordianus and Silvia. But of course all have been destroyed.

The portrait ([frontispiece]) here reproduced is a reconstruction from John the Deacon’s description, made by Angelo Rocca, Bishop of Tagaste, and a noted archæologist of his time (1597). He combined the three portraits in one.

Another reconstruction from John the Deacon’s description may be seen in Rassegna Gregoriana for June, 1903. This follows the description more closely than does that of Rocca.

At a later date there grew up the custom of representing St. Gregory always with a dove. According to John the Deacon it was already customary in his day (c. 872). This is seen in our second illustration ([opposite page 11]), taken from the Antiphoner of the monk Hartker of St. Gall (date between 986 and 1011). This illustration has the characteristics found in the greater number of representations of Gregory; the dove (the symbol of the Holy Ghost) is represented as inspiring him, and he is dictating to the scribe, who is said to be the deacon Peter. The veneration felt for his writings, and in particular those of the ecclesiastical chant, was such that they were felt to be due directly to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Here the Pope is represented as wearing an alb, a dalmatic, a planeta and over it the sacred pall, and on his left forearm, a maniple.

The third picture ([opposite page 16]) is prefixed to two Coronation Services in a miscellaneous volume formerly belonging to Christ Church, Canterbury, on a page now numbered 8. The pages 9-18 comprise a Coronation Service of the x./xi. century, and on pp. 19-29 there follows another service of the xiiith century. On p. 30 is another picture, probably of German workmanship, representing a man writing. Each seems to be independent of its surrounding leaves; there seems no connection between the two, unless it be that they depict the same person.