When Gregory became the pope, he left behind many things.

Gregory was traveling in the Roman marketplace one day when he saw a slave-trader with a number of fair-haired British slaves. He asked what their nationality was and was told "They are Angles."

He assembled a group of forty monks to go and be missionaries to Britain and put them under the leadership of Augustine of Canterbury (of course, he wouldn't be known as Augustine of Canterbury for many more years). The group of monks delayed in Gaul and talked among themselves about the stories they had heard about the British--surely, they were a savage people that sacrificed humans and behaved like animals. These stories frightened the monks and they corresponded with Gregory about their fears. Gregory's response was: "My very dear sons, it is better never to undertake any high enterprise than to abandon it when once begun. So with the help of God you must carry out this holy task." The party of missionary monks proceeded further and brought the Kingdom of God into the British world. All the while, Augustine was corresponding with Gregory with many anxious questions. Being the sound leader that he was, Gregory responded by answering the questions and forming the mind of Augustine to

Gregory's service to the Church was of considerable magnitude even though he would have preferred to remain a humble monk. Instead, he was a humble and wise pope who led the people of God forward into the world. Bede--a British Christian of note--would write, "For while other popes devoted themselves to building churches and enriching them with costly ornaments, Gregory's sole concern was to save souls." Bede and the British claimed Gregory as their own because of his great efforts to save the people he loved even though he never left Rome. He was not called to the life of the missionary but, rather, the life of a leader whose vision crosses waters and guides the called in their calling.
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