Saint Gregory VII, Pope & Confessor
S. Gregorii VII Papae et Confessoris
Saint Gregory VII, the monk Hildebrand who became Bishop of Rome, laboured with great courage for the liberty and reform of the Church, and died in exile rather than betray the cause of justice.
Saint Gregory VII was born about the year 1020 in Tuscany, and was given the name Hildebrand. Formed from his youth in the monastic life and devoted to the discipline of the Church, he served several popes as a trusted counsellor before he was himself raised to the chair of Peter in the year 1073. He took the name Gregory, and is counted among the greatest of the reforming pontiffs.
A shepherd of reform
Saint Gregory came to the papacy in an age when the spiritual life of the Church was gravely burdened by abuses: the buying and selling of sacred offices, the neglect of clerical discipline, and the undue control of churchmen by worldly powers. With tireless zeal he set himself to restore the holiness and freedom of the Church, that she might serve God rather than the ambitions of men. He upheld the dignity of the priesthood, defended the right of the Church to govern her own spiritual affairs, and called pastors and people alike to a deeper integrity of life.
This labour for what he called the “liberty of the Church” brought him into long and painful conflict with the civil power of his day. He bore opposition, misunderstanding, and finally exile with the constancy of a man who feared God more than men. Driven from Rome in his last years, he died at Salerno in 1085. The words attributed to him on his deathbed have become famous: “I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore I die in exile.”
His witness today
The Church venerates Saint Gregory VII as a confessor — one who bore witness to Christ not by the shedding of blood, but by a life of unbending fidelity. The collect of his Mass calls him a man strengthened “for the defence of the liberty of the Church with the virtue of constancy,” and asks that, helped by his example and prayers, we too may bravely overcome all adversity. His feast on the twenty-fifth of May honours the courage that prefers exile to compromise, and the love of justice that endures to the end.
The Collect
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in Thee, who didst fill blessed Gregory, Thy Confessor and Supreme Pontiff, with the virtue of constancy for the defence of the liberty of the Church: grant us, by his example and intercession, bravely to overcome all that withstands us.
Deus, in te sperántium fortitúdo, qui beátum Gregórium Confessórem tuum atque Pontíficem, pro tuénda Ecclésiæ libertáte, virtúte constantiæ roborásti: da nobis, ejus exémplo et intercessióne, ómnia adversántia fórtiter superáre.
Patronage
He is venerated among the great reforming popes and is invoked as a patron of those who labour for the freedom and renewal of the Church.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar his feast is observed on 25 May as an optional memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Gregory VII?
His feast is kept on 25 May in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast.
Who was Saint Gregory VII?
He was the monk Hildebrand of Tuscany, elected Bishop of Rome in 1073. As pope he worked zealously to reform the Church and to defend her freedom, and died in exile at Salerno in 1085. He is honoured as a confessor.
What did he mean by the ‘liberty of the Church’?
He meant the Church’s freedom to govern her own spiritual life — the appointment of her ministers, the integrity of holy orders, and her mission — without being made subject to worldly powers. For this cause he endured great hardship and finally exile.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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