Saint Gregory of Amnice

As soon as he was of an age to devote himself to the study of letters, his education was entrusted to skilled tutors. Gifted with rare talents, he made such rapid progress in the schools that, while still young, he deserved to be placed in the ranks of the remarkable philosophers and theologians of that time. Despite his profound humility, Gregory's brilliant qualities soon drew the attention and admiration of his fellow citizens. Thus, when th e Bish Amnice Episcopal city of Gregory located near the Euphrates. op of Amnice died, they believed he was clearly raised up to be the successor of the one whose loss they mourned, and the voice of the people called him to the episcopal see of that city.

The holy young man had only low sentiments of himself: he was astonished, he was frightened, he refused this sublime dignity; he feared succumbing under the weight of the obligations imposed by the fullness of the priesthood. The Apostle Saint Paul said that, to hold the pastoral staff in one's hand, one must be the living image of Jesus Christ. This oracle filled Gregory with a holy dread and decided him to take flight, to escape the honorable violence that alarmed his weakness. But God had spoken through the mouth of the clergy and the faithful; Gregory's refusal was useless; it only increased the confidence they had in him. His compatriots pursued him into his retreat, brought him back into their midst, and forced him to yield to their ardent desires. No sooner had he pronounced, in a voice broken by sobs, that, as heaven willed it, he would be their bishop, than cries of joy resounded from all sides. The Christians solemnly thanked the Lord for having offered them such an enlightened guide; they began to pray for the elect; and the Bishop of Caesarea laid his hands upon him at Erivan, the see of Saint Gregory, martyred under the reign of Diocletian.

Abundant blessings rewarded the new bishop for the immense sacrifice he had imposed upon himself, and justified, at the same time, the choice of the people. At his voice, the empire of the demon was seen to crumble, and upon its ruins rose the empire of Je sus Christ. The C L’Église d’Amnice Episcopal city of Gregory located near the Euphrates. hurch of Amnice shone with a bright radiance; the number of its children increased rapidly, and, as in the first centuries of Christianity, they had but one heart and one soul. After fulfilling the most sublime functions of the Apostle, he would visit, as a father and a friend, the hospitals and the prisons; he lightened the chains of the captive, and softened the infirmities of the sick; he never left the dwelling of the unfortunate without leaving behind joy, peace, and the alms that relieve misery. He experienced so much happiness in being among the poor that he had made his palace their asylum. Following the example of the divine Master, he distributed food to them, which, more than once, multiplied miraculously under his hand. But this calm prosperity of the Church of Amnice was not of long duration. A sudden irruption of the Romans and the barbarians, who attempted to restore, at any cost, says the historian Eusebius, the worship of idols throughout Armenia, came to cast trouble and desolation into this city. Irritated by the resistance of the Christians who had taken up arms to defend their homes and their faith, the pagans put everything to fire and sword in the region. During this storm, Gregory did not hesitate: he always knew how to face the peril to strengthen his people against apostasy. Heaven blessed his efforts, and none of those committed to his care had the misfortune of denying their faith. But his dear episcopal city was given over to pillage and turned into a heap of ashes. His courage, above these deplorable events, did not falter for a single instant. The holy bishop continued to keep in touch with the remnants of his scattered flock, until his zeal, having stirred up against him personally the hatred of the enemies of religion, he was urgently entreated to flee this theater of carnage and horror.

He therefore left his retreat, followed by a few priests exposed, with him, to the greatest dangers. But he did not go far; like the good shepherd, he ran after the wandering sheep to bring them back to the fold; he went from rock to rock to evangelize the poor; he urged, he implored, he brought the good news of salvation to all, and the pagans, yielding to the power of grace, came to his feet to abjure their errors and give glory to the Most High. Gregory's charity had smoothed over the obstacles that had kept them separated from the faithful of Amnice, their brothers. Thus, new conversions crowned his incessant labors. The apostle was thinking of taking his steps and his powerful word further, when his numerous conversions marked him for the fury of the barbarians, masters of Amnice. A price was put on his head, and his companions, John, Paul, Mark, and Polycarp, were actively sought. They then took counsel among themselves as to where they would seek refuge, since it was no longer possible to undertake anything without harming the mission of the mountains. With hearts broken by sorrow, they resolved to entrust themselves to the waters of the great river to then descend to the Indies. Their intention was to go and weep at the tomb of the glorious a postle Saint saint Thomas Apostle of the Indies whose tomb is visited by Gregory. Thomas, and to place under his high protection their unhappy homeland, thus delivered to the most terrible assaults of the infernal spirit.

Scarcely at sea, they were assailed by a furious storm; but God, who had saved them from the rage of the barbarians, did not wish to swallow them up in the abyss. His thoughts are not our thoughts; he only diverted these heroes from their course to offer a new field for their indefatigable zeal, and new tribulations for their sublime constancy. Cast upon an unknown land, our pilgrims boldly set out on a tortuous path whose end they did not know, and, contrary to their expectations, they arrived in an idolatrous tribe, not far from the place where they had landed.

Convinced that heaven had pushed him in a direction opposite to the goal of his journey to procure the salvation of these infidels, Saint Gregory immediately worked for their conversion. The gentleness of his voice, the calm of his features, his resignation in the midst of setbacks won all hearts and disposed them to embrace the doctrine he taught. In a short time, the proselytes became numerous, and the pious Pontiff was able to give them baptism; they trampled their ancient divinities underfoot, adoring the Holy Trinity in whose name they had just been regenerated. Gregory did not leave them until they were thoroughly instructed in Christian doctrine, and until he had made them perfect men in the science of salvation. Before his departure, he dedicated a temple to the Most High, and offered, with thanksgiving, on this purified land, the only victim of pleasing odor.

After three months of such well-used stay, the bishop of Amnice and his companions continued their pilgrimage. God sent his angels to guard them in their ways; it was given to them to walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and to trample underfoot the lion and the dragon; evil did not approach them, and they arrived safe and sound in Nobie. Our five travelers met in this place a tribe already converted which received them with truly hospitable charity, and well capable of making them forget the privations of the road. They breathed with unspeakable happiness the pure air of this Christian country: it was a foretaste of the charms and delights that awaited them in Mylapore, the obje ct of the Méliapour Pilgrimage site in India housing the relics of Saint Thomas. ir desires. A little recovered from their extreme fatigue, they therefore resumed their march with new courage, hoping that God, so good to those who serve him, would be willing to grant them what they had come so far to seek: the happiness of venerating the relics of the first apostle of the Indies.

Having finally arrived at Meliapour or Cœlimenes, on this side of the Ganges, they ran to prostrate themselves before the sa cred bones o saint Thomas Apostle of the Indies whose tomb is visited by Gregory. f the glorious Saint Thomas; they watered them with their tears, pressed their lips with respect and love upon the precious reliquary, and fervently implored the assistance of the famous wonder-worker for themselves and for their unfortunate fellow citizens. Thus refreshed in priestly vigor by the sight of the body of this generous martyr, struck by a spear at the door of the holy place whose entrance he was defending against the sacrificers of idols, and encouraged by his great examples, they thought of taking the road back to Amnice; they hoped to soften the evils of their dear homeland by announcing to it the powerful help they had just secured for it through their long and laborious pilgrimage. Alas! Heaven had ordained it otherwise. Delivered from monsters, our zealous pilgrims fell into the power of the emissaries of a barbarian king, who loaded them with chains and led them to their master, even more inhuman than his servants. This chief ordered them to be locked in a dark dungeon, made them endure all kinds of torture, and finally condemned them to death.

Neither these torments nor the prospect of the final execution shook the firmness of the generous captives. They knew that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and that at this price alone can one conquer it; that tribulations are the ordinary lot of the Saints here below, and that martyrdom is the shortest path that surely leads to true glory. These pious thoughts filled them with joy; like Saint Thomas, they would have, they told themselves, the happiness of shedding their blood for the faith; they therefore prayed to him to obtain for them the heroism that triumphs over death. But God, content with the sacrifice they had made in their hearts, did not wish to see in them anything but martyrs of charity; not only did He deliver them, but He glorified them in the presence of the one who, in the eyes of the people, had covered them with opprobrium.

While the tyrant was dictating the fatal decree, his son, the heir presumptive to the crown, was suddenly struck by an unknown illness; his death seemed inevitable. The queen, persuaded that the gods were punishing the father's cruelty in the person of the son, begged her husband to retract the sentence; she herself ran to the dungeon to announce the happy news to the innocent prisoners; she prayed to Gregory to accept his freedom and to solicit, from the God he adored, the healing of this son, her only consolation and all her joy. The holy confessor, even more desirous of procuring for this child the life of the soul than the life of the body, asked heaven for a miracle, and he was heard. He then made known to the mother and the young prince the One who holds the destinies of mortals in His hands; he instructed them in the evangelical doctrine, and, before leaving them, he regenerated them in the waters of baptism.

The new peril from which Gregory and his companions had just escaped further increased their confidence in God, who protected them in such a visible manner, and, under the safeguard of His providence, they set out on their way without fear. The Pontiff did not tire of preaching the Gospel wherever he passed. His zeal led him one day to the palace of an idolatrous tribal chief who wished to hear him. Convinced that this man, powerful in works and in words, taught divine dogmas, this chief converted and his subjects imitated him. He even accredited his benefactor to five other kings, who, following his example, embraced the Christian faith, drawing after them the provinces subject to their dominion.

These princes had found in the knowledge of the truths of the faith and in the participation in our holy Mysteries, a happiness far superior to all the delights of their court. It was therefore to testify their gratitude to the Lord that they resolved to leave their States for some time and to go, under the humble habit of pilgrims, to visit the places sanctified by the life and death of the Son of God.

Gregory, to whom no sacrifice seemed impossible when it concerned the glory of his God and the salvation of souls, charmed moreover to find such holy dispositions in his spiritual sons, consented to prolong his exile, to lead these newborns of the Church to the places where she herself was born. The journey, although long, was happy; they arrived without accident in Jerusalem. At the sight of this queen of nations, widowed of her glory, covered in ruins, subjected to foreign domination, trampled underfoot by the Roman legions, Gregory and all his noble retinue wept over the strange blindness of the Jews, who had dared to deliver the author of life to death, and, in fact, to bring upon themselves such great misfortunes. They visited, in recollection and sadness, all the places sanctified by the Passion of the God Savior: the Garden of Gethsemane, witness to his sweat of blood; the house of Pilate, where he appeared, crowned with thorns, a reed in his hand; that sorrowful way by which, exhausted by sufferings and fatigues, he climbed to Calvary, succumbing under the burden of his heavy cross. Then, after having satisfied their devotion in these places of painful memories, they traveled to Bethlehem, to Tabor, to the famous valley of Jehoshaphat, and, filled with joy at having fulfilled their vow, they thought of the return. The princes, recalled to their States by the need of their peoples, could not delay their departure any longer; but it was impossible for Gregory, who had fallen ill in Jerusalem, following the great fatigues he had endured in his long travels, to set out with them.

During their stay in the holy city, Gregory and his companions had received sad and distressing news about the state of the Church of Amnice.

Armenia was still in the power of the idolaters, and the edicts of proscription launched against the ministers of Jesus Christ had not been withdrawn. The sorrow that Gregory felt from this increased his illness, and he was soon reduced to the extremity. Seeing him in this desperate situation, his clerics redoubled their prayers and promised to go on a pilgrimage to Rome, if God would restore this health which was so dear to them, and return their guide and their father to them. The Lord accepted this vow of filial affection. Some time later, the holy Pontiff recovered his health, and immediately, they headed towards Rome, where the glory of ancient Jerusalem seemed to have taken refuge. The eternal city was edified by the long visits of our pious travelers to the tombs of the Apostles, to whom it owes its new splendor. Pope Anastasius, whose virtues Saint Jerome exalts , then occupi pape Anastase Pope who received Gregory in Rome. ed the chair of Peter; he received Gregory with the distinction that his virtues and his misfortunes deserved.

At that time, the Church of the West was no longer confined to Rome; it extended far into the Gauls, where a great number of bishops enhanced its splendor through their learning and the holiness of their lives. Among them shone the illustrio us Martin of To Martin de Tours Spiritual model for Aquilin. urs, whose works and wonders were, even before his death, known to the whole world. Marveling at all that fame published about this holy Pontiff and the flourishing Churches of the Gauls, Gregory yielded to the desire to visit them. But, scarcely had he left Italy when he learned that Martin, succumbing to the weight of age, his prolonged labors, and his austere penances, was approaching his final hour. This sad news did not, however, make him change his plan. Determined to pay the tribute of his veneration to the remains of the wonder-worker, if he did not enjoy the pleasure of finding him alive, he continued his journey and was able to arrive in Tours early enough to see the illustrious invalid.

Saint Gregory had some pious coll oquies with saint Martin Spiritual model for Aquilin. Saint Martin which greatly softened the pain he felt at having been for so long separated from the Church of Amnia, his spouse, delivered to the fury and ravages of the Romans and the Barbarians. Thus consoled and fortified by the wise counsels of the holy old man, he resumed the road to Italy, crossed the Gauls while evangelizing, and arrived in the Alps around the year 402.

The diocese of Gap was then governed by a bishop, a confessor of the faith. Gregory stayed with him for some time, and was part of the holy procession that accompanied him during the consecration of a church built by the Catholics in Allabon, today Tallard. The in Tallard Site of the final mission and death of Saint Gregory. habitants of Allabon did not all live under the laws of Christ: several of them were still given over to the superstitions of idolatry; the same was true of the surrounding populations. The bishop of Gap, full of regard for the exiles and knowing their apostolic zeal, encouraged Gregory and his companions to continue the work of conversion in these mountains, and he never ceased to honor them with the most cordial friendship. For two years, the Saint fulfilled, to the admiration of all, the functions of pastor or apostle in Tallard and the surrounding area, working with ardor, despite his great age and the austerities of his life, for the propagation of the Christian faith. Here, as everywhere, the Lord made his labors fruitful, and idolatry disappeared entirely from this valley. It was because people readily believed a white-haired bishop whose demeanor, conduct, and discourse announced that he sought not his own glory, but the glory of Him who sent him; they yielded without difficulty to one who came without any motive of self-interest, and who exposed himself to all sorts of perils to teach the right path that leads to eternal bliss.

Sometimes Gregory would sit, like Jesus, in the midst of children to instruct them and prepare them to shed their blood for the faith at the moment of trial, despite the weakness of their age. Sometimes he would go to care for the unfortunate, breathing the foul air of their dark dwellings, not fearing to dress their ulcers, not blushing to solicit the help of the rich for them; God alone was the motive for this charitable conduct; God alone strengthened him in his hardships; God alone made him radiant with joy in the midst of his most arduous labors; an immense love made him suffer everything for the glory of the sovereign Master. The faithful, at the sight of such heroism, raised their suppliant hands toward heaven to beseech Him to prolong the days of a pastor who had become their father, who made their life so sweet and their salvation so easy.

But this was the term that God had assigned to his extraordinary mission, after which He wished to crown him and put him in possession of supreme beatitude. He called him to Himself on September 21 of the year 404. Gregory died at the altar, struck by apoplexy, at the very moment he had just consumed the holy sacrifice; it is on this day that his feast is celebrated in T allard, Tallard Site of the final mission and death of Saint Gregory. and that from all the neighboring parishes, a great concourse gathers at the tomb of the Blessed one.

## CULT AND RELICS.

The pious bishop of Gap who, two years earlier, had consecrated the church of Tallard, came himself to pay the honors of burial to this much-regretted pastor. He consoled the faithful by showing them how fortunate they were to possess, in the mortal remains of the holy prefect, such a rich treasure. The voice of the people and the clergy, as was the custom then, acclaimed Gregory by the name of Blessed, and people came from afar to pray at his tomb. The Lord did not delay in justifying this cult, by allowing several miracles to occur there: the lame were straightened, the mute found their speech, the blind their sight; more than once, corpses placed upon this sacred tomb were recalled to life.

The town of Tallard, grateful to its benefactor, built a chapel in his honor, where his glorious remains were deposited, enclosed in a beautiful silver reliquary. The heretics of the 17th century, who ravaged this country with such fury in order to overthrow the Catholic cult, did not fail to attack those who had established it. They profaned the parish church and the chapel of Saint Gregory erected in the same place, removed the reliquary and the relics of the Saint; and, as if they feared the power of these inanimate bones, they wished to annihilate them. To execute this sacrilegious project, they lit a fire in the public square and threw them into it, in the sight of the faithful, who were heartbroken by this hideous outrage and demanded, with loud cries, vengeance for such an insult made to their piety. God, jealous of the glory of His Saints as of His own, granted this prayer: the sky, sparkling with lightning, covered itself with thick clouds: a great rain came to extinguish the fire of the pyre; it fell so abundantly that the streets of Tallard were transformed into torrents. However, the waters, while rolling in their floods everything they encountered, respected the bones of the Blessed one and left them dry. This prodigy covered the impious profaners with confusion; fearing that lightning would strike their heads to punish their crime instantly, they hastened to flee. A pious woman collected the holy relics and returned them, in the church, to the parish priest.

From century to century until our time, astonishing prodigies have illustrated the tomb of the blessed Gregory. The profound respect that all the religious inhabitants of the region bore him, the crowd that pressed there every year, with the consolation of being frequently answered, the spirit of fervor that animated the greatest number of pilgrims, coming to pay their duties to the zealous apostle to whom their fathers had owed their conversion, led to the solicitation, from Innocent X, of the beatification of Saint Gregory. The Pope, af ter canoni Innocent X Pope to whom the beatification was requested. cal examination, permitted that the honors due to the Blessed be rendered to this illustrious pontiff. Later, Clement XIII, by a brief dated September 5 of the year 1768, endorsed at Clément XIII Pope who granted indulgences for the cult of Saint Gregory. Gap by the Ordinary on May 11, 1770, granted, for seven years, a plenary indulgence, on the day of the feast of Saint Gregory, and also another day designated by the bishop of the diocese (this day was the first Sunday after September 21), to all the faithful of both sexes who, truly repentant, having confessed and received communion, will devoutly visit, within the Octave of the feast, the parish church of Saint Gregory, in Tallard, in the diocese of Gap, and who will pray there for the peace of Christian princes, the extirpation of heresies, and the exaltation of the holy Church, our mother. The bishops of Gap, for their part, favored this cult of Saint Gregory, and encouraged it not only by their words, but also by the authority of their example. Among all, Mgr Arthur de Lionne and Mgr de Pérouus, prelates of glorious memory, distinguished themselves, surrounding the holy relics of the blessed patron of Tallard with great veneration and entire confidence.

Excerpt from the Hagiological History of the Diocese of Gap, by Mgr Depéry.