Pope Gregory the Great 540 AD – 604 AD

Gregory the Great was a Roman pope, theologian, and one of the four Latin Doctors of the Church. After service as prefect of Rome and as papal envoy to Constantinople, he was elected pope in 590 and led the Roman Church through the upheavals of the Lombard invasions and the dissolution of late Roman civic order. His Pastoral Rule, a manual of episcopal leadership, became one of the most read books of the Latin Middle Ages, while the Moralia in Job is a vast spiritual commentary on the book of Job. He sent the mission of Augustine of Canterbury that initiated the Christianization of England.