St. Gregory VII

St. Gregory VII – May 25th

This Pope’s name was Hildebrand and he was born in Italy. His uncle was the superior of a monastery in Rome and there the young boy was sent to be educated. Later, Hildebrand became a Benedictine monk in France, but soon he was called back to Rome. There he held very important positions under several Popes until he himself was made Pope.

For twenty-five years he had refused to let himself be elected. But when Pope Alexandra II died, all the Cardinals made up their minds to elect Hildebrand Pope. With one voice they dried out, "Hildbrand is the elect of St. Peter!" "They carried me to the throne," wrote the Saint afterwards, "and my protests did no good. For filled my heart and darkness was all around me."

These were truly dark times for the Catholic Church, because the kings and emperors were naming the men they wanted to be the Bishops and Cardinals and even Popes. Many of these were not very good men and so they gave bad example. The first thing Pope St. Gregory did was to pray for days. Then he asked others to pray with him, because he knew that without prayer, nothing can be done. Afterwards, he began to act to make the clergy better and to keep the civil rulers out of the affairs of the Church. This was a very difficult work because the rulers were all against any change. However, some gave in. But the Emperor Henry IV of Germany caused Pope Gregory great sufferings. He was a young man, sinful, and greedy for gold. He would not stop trying to run the affairs of the Church, and he even sent his men to capture the Pope. But the people of Rome rescued the Saint from prison, and Gregory put the Emperor out of the Church. Henry set up another man as Pope. Of course this man was not the real Pope, but Henry tired to make people think he was. Then, once again the Emperor sent his armies to capture the Saint. Gregory was obliged to leave Rome. He retired to Salerno, where he died. His last words were, "I have loved justice and hated evil. That is why I am dying in exile."

Let us learn from this great Saint that the first thing to do in our difficulties is to pray.