MARCH 12, 2026 – LENT DAY 23 – ST. GREGORY THE GREAT.

• Pope St. Gregory the Great (604). Doctor of the Church, Patron or Patroness, Pope. Male Church music, musicians, and singers.. (Traditional)
• St. Theophanes the Chronicler (817). (Historical)

GREGORY was a Roman of noble birth, and while still young was Governor of Rome. On his father’s death he gave his great wealth to the poor, turned his house on the Colian Hill into a monastery, which now bears his name, and for some years lived as a perfect monk. The Pope drew him from his seclusion to make him one of the seven deacons of Rome; and he did great service to the Church for many years as what we now call Nuncio to the imperial court at Constantinople. While still a monk the Saint was struck with some boys who were exposed for sale in Rome, and heard with sorrow that they were Pagans. “And of what race are they?” he asked. “They are Angels.” “Worthy indeed to be Angels of God,” said he; “and of what province ?” “Of Deira,” was the reply. “Truly must we rescue them from the wrath of God. And what is the name of their king?” “He is called Ella.” “It is well,” said Gregory; “Alleluia must be sung in their land to God.” He at once got leave from the Pope, and had set out to convert the English, when the murmurs of the people led the Pope to recall him. Still the Anglos were not forgotten, and one of the Saint’s first cares as Pope was to send from his own monastery St. Augustine and other monks to England. On the death of Pope, Pelagius II, Gregory was compelled to take government of the Church, and for fourteen years his pontificate was a perfect model of ecclesiastical rule. He healed schisms, revived discipline; saved Italy by converting the wild Arian Lombards who were laying it waste; aided in the conversion of the Spanish and French Goths, who were also Arians; and kindled anew in Britain the light of the Faith which the English had put out in blood. He set in order the Church’s prayers and chant, guided and consoled her pastors with innumerable letters, and preached incessantly, most effectually by his own example. He died A.D. 604, worn out by austerities and toils; and the Church reckons him one of her four great doctors, and reveres him as St. Gregory the Great.

REFLECTION: The champions of faith prove the truth of their teaching no less by the holiness of their lives than by the force of their arguments. Never forget that to convert others you must first see to your own soul.

WORD OF THE DAY

PASSION SYMBOLS. Emblems of Christ’s Passion and Death are usually found grouped in illustrations around the Cross. More than a dozen such symbols are found in stone carvings in several English cathedrals. Used alone or together they are also represented frequently in Italian and Spanish art of the sixteenth century: the thirty pieces of silver, the scourge with leaded thongs, the pillar and cord, the reed scepter, the crown of thorns, the nails, the seamless robe and dice, the sponge, the lance, the ladder, and the winding sheet. The crown of thorns is an emblem of St. John of God, St. Louis of France, and St. Rose of Lima; St. Boniface and Sts. Gervase and Protase are shown with the scourge, St. Barnabas and St. Matthias with the lance. The empty Cross, draped with the winding sheet, is the universal emblem of the Crucifixion.

Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)

LENT MEDITATION DAY 23

Enjoy daily meditations this lent from Fr. Richard Clarke, SJ. Short and powerful, written in 1880 for busy lay people to reap rewards through lent. (includes audio): Lent Day 23: Thursday after the Third Sunday in Lent— Jesus in the Guard-room of Caiphas.

March is the Month of St. Joseph

Daily devotional meditations on Saint Joseph: March 12th — St. Joseph’s Third Sorrow.

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