Anniversary Of San Girgor Il-Kibir's Death - 1400 Years - Ta' Kercem, Gozo, Malta
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 36° 02.436 E 014° 13.724
33S E 430523 N 3988726
This statue of San Girgor Il-Kibir (Saint Gregory the Great), the patron saint of the parish church, was erected in 2004 to commemorate the 1400th anniversary of his death.
Waymark Code: WMYE3H
Location: Malta
Date Posted: 06/04/2018
Views: 1
San Girgor Il-Kibir (Saint Gregory The Great) was Pope of the Catholic Church from 3 September 590 to 12 March 604 AD. He is famous for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregorian Mission, to convert the then-pagan Anglo-Saxons in England to Christianity. Gregory is also well known for his writings, which were more prolific than those of any of his predecessors as Pope. The epithet Saint Gregory the Dialogist has been attached to him in Eastern Christianity because of his Dialogues. English translations of Eastern texts sometimes list him as Gregory "Dialogos", or the Anglo-Latinate equivalent "Dialogus".
A Roman senator's son and himself the Prefect of Rome at 30, Gregory tried the monastery but soon returned to active public life, ending his life and the century as pope. Although he was the first pope from a monastic background, his prior political experiences may have helped him to be a talented administrator, who successfully established papal supremacy. During his papacy, he greatly surpassed with his administration the emperors in improving the welfare of the people of Rome, and he successfully challenged the theological views of Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople before the emperor Tiberius II. Gregory regained papal authority in Spain and France and sent missionaries to England. The realignment of barbarian allegiance to Rome from their Arian Christian alliances shaped medieval Europe. Gregory saw Franks, Lombards, and Visigoths align with Rome in religion. He also combated against the Donatist heresy, popular particularly in North Africa at the time.
Throughout the Middle Ages, he was known as "the Father of Christian Worship" because of his exceptional efforts in revising the Roman worship of his day. His contributions to the development of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, still in use in the Byzantine Rite, were so significant that he is generally recognized as its de facto author.
Gregory is a Doctor of the Church and one of the Latin Fathers. He is considered a saint in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, and some Lutheran denominations. Immediately after his death, Gregory was canonized by popular acclaim. The Protestant reformer John Calvin admired Gregory greatly, and declared in his Institutes that Gregory was the last good Pope. He is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers.
San Girgor is patron saint of Ta' Kercem parish church. uniquely this church has two patron saints, the second being Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
The statue shows San Girgor seated in his papal robes, using a quill pen to write in a book. His mitre is at his feet. It has the following inscription.
SAN GIRGOR IL-KBIR
PROTETTUR TA' L-GHAWDXIN ITLOB GHALINA
FIS-SENA TAL-MULEJ 2004
GhELUQ L-1400 SENA
MILL-MEWT TA' SAN GIRGOR
BIT-THABRIK TA'
MONS. GIRGOR GRECH
DAN IL-MAFKAR TQIEGHED
English translation
SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT
PROTECTOR OF GOZO PRAY FOR US
YEAR OF THE LORD 2004
COMMEMORATING THE 1400th ANNIVERSARY
OF THE DEATH OF SAINT GREGORY
THE STATUE
ERECTED BY
MONS. GIRGOR GRECH