The Medieval Church · c. 780
The Life of Gregory the Great
Paul the Deacon · c. 720 – c. 799
What it is
The Lombard historian's life of the pope who had sent the mission to the English and negotiated with his own people. It carries the story of the dove at Gregory's ear dictating what he wrote, and the account of the slave boys in the Roman market.
Why it lasted
The version of Gregory the Middle Ages inherited, and the source of the dove that appears beside him in every later portrait — an image that turned an administrator who complained constantly about his workload into a figure of pure inspiration.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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