[Rank]
S. Gregory VII Papae et Confessoris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C4

[Rule]
vide C4;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
O God, the might of all them which put their trust in Thee, Who to keep Thy~
Church free, didst make Thy blessed Confessor and Bishop Gregory strong to~
wrestle and to suffer, grant unto us, following his example, and holpen by his~
prayers, that with us as with him, if they fight against us, they shall not~
prevail against us.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
Hildebrand, who reigned as Pope under the name of Gregory VII., was born at~
Saona in Tuscany. By his teaching, by his holiness, and by his graces of all~
kinds, he was a noble light of the Church, whose brightness hath shone~
throughout all lands. There is a story to the effect that when he was a little~
child without any schooling, he was playing at the feet of a carpenter who was~
planing wood, and that God guided his hand to arrange the shavings which fell~
into the form of letters, making the inspired words of David, He shall have~
dominion from sea to sea, (Ps. lxxi. 8,) a fore -shadowing, as it were, of that~
wide lordship over the earth which was afterwards his. He was taken to Rome, and~
brought up under the shelter of St Peter. As a young man he bitterly sorrowed~
over the oppression of the freedom of the Church by the laity, and over the~
corruption of the clergy themselves. He took the habit of a monk in the Abbey of~
Clugny, which was then in all the glory of the severest observance ot the Rule~
of St Benedict. There he served God's majesty with such warmth of earnestness~
that the saintly fathers of the convent chose him to be their Prior. But the~
Providence of God had greater things in store for him, whereby to make him a~
source of health to many, and he was brought away from Clugny. He was first~
elected Abbat of the monastery of St Paulwithout-the-walls at Rome, and~
afterwards created a Cardinal of the Roman Church. Under the Popes Leo IX.,~
Victor II., Stephen IX., Nicolas II., and Alexander II., he discharged great~
offices of trust, and the duties of a Legate, and Blessed Peter Damian, speaking~
of him at this time, calleth him a man of most holy and honest thoughts. When~
Pope Victor II. sent him as his Legate into France, he, by a miracle, forced the~
Bishop of Lyons, who was befouled by the pollution of simony, to acknowledge his~
sin; in the Council of Tours he wrung from Berenger a second abjuration of his~
heresy; and he prevailed against the schism of Cadolaus, and strangled it.

[Lectio5]
After the death of Alexander II., Hildebrand, against his own will and to his~
own grief, was, on the 22nd day of April, in the year of Christ 1073, chosen~
Pope by one common consent of all. Reigning as Gregory VII., he was as the sun~
shining upon the Temple of the Most High. (Ecclus. 1. 7.) Mighty both in word~
and deed, he toiled for the restoration of Ecclesiastical discipline, for the~
spread of the Faith, for the defence of the freedom of the Church, for the~
suppression of error and corruption, so that since the time of the Apostles~
there is said never to have been a Pope who bore more labour and trouble for the~
sake of God's Church, or contended more manfully for her liberties. He purged~
divers provinces of the pollution of simony. Like a brave soldier he withstood~
without dread the unrighteous contendings of the Emperor Henry IV., against whom~
he shrank not from setting himself as a wall of defence for the house of Israel.~
And when the said Henry fell into the depths of sin he cut him off from the~
communion of the faithful, and from his kingdom, and loosed the nations that~
were subject to him from their sworn allegiance.

[Lectio6]
While he was celebrating solemn Mass, godly men saw a dove descend from heaven*~
perch upon his right shoulder, and spread out its wings so as to veil his head, a~
testimony that it was not by reasonings of man's wisdom, but by the teachings of~
the Holy Ghost, that he was guided in his rule over the Church. When the armies~
of the infamous Henry encompassed Rome, and hedged her in on every side, a great~
fire which the enemy had raised became extinct, when Gregory made the sign of~
the Cross towards it. The Norman Duke, Robert Guiscard, at length delivered~
Gregory from the hand of Henry, and he departed from Rome, first to the Abbey of~
Monte Cassino, and thence onward to Salerno, to dedicate the Church of St~
Matthew the Apostle at that place. While he was preaching to the people there,~
on a certain day he was smitten with grievous pains, and fell into a sickness~
whereof he foresaw that he should never be healed. As he lay on his death-bed,~
Gregory's last words were : I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and~
therefore I am dying in exile. He was a man really holy, a visitor of sin, and a~
most leal soldier of the Church. It is past reckoning how many sufferings he~
manfully bore, and how much he wisely ordained in many Councils, which he~
gathered together in Rome. He had been Pope twelve years, when, (on the 25 th~
day of May,) in the year of salvation 1085, he went hence to be ever with the~
Lord. Both during his life and after his death he was marked by signs and~
wonders not a few. His holy body was honourably buried in the Cathedral Church~
of Salerno.
