The Roman Church in the Seventh Century: the Legacy of Gregory I
Peter Llewellyn
The posthumous reputation of Gregory the Great presents a sharp but possibly insufficiently appreciated contrast. On one hand, there is Anglo-Saxon historical tradition which, through Carolingian world and eleventh-century reformers, has prevailed to present day. Aldhelm Malmesbury Anonymous Whitby, ‘the teacher English’, ‘our own St. Gregory’, ‘this apostolic saint ours’ who ‘on Day Judgement … will bring us, English nation whom he taught, us Lord’. By mission had brought into community Christian nations was seen as initiator new missionary apostolate which Bede's contemporaries were consciously perpetuating on Continent; source for life Benedict major interest those made peculiarly their Benedict's monasticism. He in sense immediate founder all things; an age losing perspective secular its horizons shrank, principal link chain authority legitimacy extended back Peter. His legend prestige founding spreads assumes diverse forms unlikely places.
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History