Very little is known of this Spanish bishop, except that he was the author of some short works, of which one, named Cerbus, is lost. His "Epistles against the Novatians," his "Call to Penitence," and "Book on Baptism," addressed to catechumens, are extant. His son, Flavius Dexter, probably born before Pacian received episcopal orders, was an intimate friend of S. Jerome. Pacian died at an advanced old age in the reign of Theodosius.
S. GREGORY, B. OF NYSSA.
(ABOUT A.D. 390.)
[Roman Martyrology. Greek Menæa on Jan. 10th; the Coptic Church on Oct. 14th and Nov. 22nd. Authorities:—His own works; S. Gregory Nazianzen, in his letters; Socrates and Theodoret, in their Ecclesiastical Histories.]
S. GREGORY OF NYSSA. After Dominichino.
March 9.
S. Gregory was a younger brother of the great S. Basil, (June 14th,) and S. Macrina, (July 19th), and son of the holy Eusebius and Emmelia, who are commemorated on May 30th. Having lost his parents, he grew to reverence his brother Basil as a father, and his sister was to him as a mother, the instructress of his youth. He was educated in every accomplishment of the age, and became a rhetorician. He was married to a virtuous wife, named Theosebia, who is highly praised by S. Gregory Nazianzen in his ninety-fifth epistle, in after years, as "an honour to the church, an ornament of Christ, the utility of our age, the confidence of women, the fairest and most illustrious amidst the beauty of the brethren, truly holy wife of a priest, his peer in honour and worthy of the great mysteries." These expressions, though somewhat exaggerated, at least point Theosebia out as having been held in high honour by the great saint of Nazianzus. Gregory took the order of Reader, but instead of pressing forward to the diaconate and priesthood, showed an inclination to pursue a wholly secular avocation as a rhetorician, and this drew down on him a sharp reprimand from Gregory Nazianzen. Moved by this admonition, Gregory now resolved to turn his back upon worldly ambition, and devote himself wholly to the service of God. He was ordained bishop by his brother, S. Basil, in 371, when he was aged about thirty-two; and it is supposed by Baronius that Gregory lived with his wife in continence after his ordination, and that she was a deaconess. Nazianzen calls her his "holy and blessed sister," but this is slender ground for the conjecture. It must be remembered that the celibacy of the clergy, which is now required by the Western Church, with such advantage, was not a matter of rule for some centuries, and never prevailed in the Oriental Church. There cannot be much doubt as to the great benefit to the Church of a celibate priesthood, but it is a mistake to endeavour to force the facts of history to demonstrate that celibacy was of primitive obligation. It was always felt to be most seemly, and when Western Christendom became sufficiently organized to admit of the rule being made, the popes and councils did what was evidently for the good of the Kingdom of Christ in requiring the clergy to lead celibate lives.
The see of Gregory was Nyssa, a city of Cappadocia, of no great importance, but the brilliant qualities of the bishop, and his orthodoxy, made him soon conspicuous as a leader of the Catholics, and an object of great dread to the Arians, who prevailed on Demosthesus, the deputy-governor of the province, under the Arian Emperor Valens, to banish him. He spent eight years in exile, wandering from place to place, suffering everywhere persecution from the Arians. Shortly after the accession of Gratian, Gregory was restored to his see, and assisted at the Synod of Antioch, in 379, where he received the charge of visiting the scattered churches in Arabia. To enable him to execute this arduous work, the emperor Theodosius accorded to him the use of the government post-horses and chariots.