[Gregory II., St.], born at Rome and bred a Benedictine; is celebrated for his zeal in promoting the independence of the Church and the supremacy of the see of Rome, and for his defence of the use of images in worship.
[Gregory III.], born in Syria; was successor of Gregory II., and carried out the same policy to the territorial aggrandisement of the Holy See at a time when it might have been overborne by secular invasions.
[Gregory VII., Hildebrand], born in Tuscany; bred up as a monk in a life of severe austerity, he became sensible of the formidable evils tending to the corruption of the clergy, due to their dependence on the Emperor for investiture into their benefices, and he set himself with all his might to denounce the usurpation and prohibit the practice, to the extent of one day ex-communicating certain bishop who had submitted to the royal claim and those who had invested them; his conduct roused the Emperor, Henry IV., who went the length of deposing him, upon which the Pope retaliated with a threat of excommunication; it ended in the final submission of Henry at [Canossa] (q. v.); the terms of submission imposed were intolerable, and Henry broke them, elected a Pope of his own, entered Rome, was crowned by him, and besieged Gregory in San Angelo, from which Guiscard delivered him to retire to Salerno, where he died, 1035; he was a great man and a good Pope.
[Gregory IX., Ugolino], born in Campania; had during his pontificate contests with the Emperor Barbarossa, whom he twice over excommunicated; was the personal friend of St. Francis of Assisi, whom he canonised; died at a very advanced age.
[Gregory XIII.], born in Bologna; was skilled in canon law; distinguished himself in the Council of Trent, and by his zeal against the Protestants; celebrated the Bartholomew Massacre by public thanksgivings in Rome, and reformed the calendar.
[Gregory XVI.], born at Belluno; occupied the Papal chair at a time of great civil commotion, and had much to do to stem the revolutionary movements of the time; developed ultramontanist notions, and paved the way for the hierarchical policy of his successor Pio Nono.
[Gregory Nazianzen, St.], bishop of Constantinople, born in Cappadocia; studied in Athens, where he became the friend of St. Basil, and held discussions with Julian, afterwards emperor and apostate, who was also studying there; had been bishop of Nazianzus before he was raised by Theodosius to the bishopric of Constantinople, which he held only for a year, at the end of which he retired into solitude; he was the champion of orthodoxy, a defender of the doctrine of the Trinity, and famed for his invectives against Julian; he has left writings that have made his name famous, besides letters, sermons, and poems (328-389). Festival, May 9.
[Gregory of Nyssa, St.], one of the Fathers of the Greek Church, brother of St. Basil, and bishop of Nyssa, in Cappadocia; he was distinguished for his zeal against the Arians, and was banished from his diocese at the instance of the Emperor Valens, who belonged to that sect, but returned to it after his death; he was an eminent theologian and a valiant defender of orthodoxy, on, according to Harnack, something like Hegelian lines (332-400). Festival, March 9.
[Gregory of Tours, St.], bishop of Tours, French theologian and historian, born at Clermont; was mixed up a good deal in the political strife of the time, and suffered not a little persecution; was the author of a "History of the Franks," the earliest of French chronicles, entitling him to be regarded as the "Father of Frankish History"; his history contains a great number of valuable documents, though it is written in a barbarous style, and not unfrequently evinces a lack of moral sensibility (540-594).
[Gregory Thaumaturgus, St.], a theologian of the Greek Church, and a convert and disciple of Origen; became bishop of Neo-Cæsarea in Pontus; was present at the Council of Antioch; numerous conversions from paganism are ascribed to him, as well as numerous miracles; d. 270. Festival November 12.