Gregory the Great
Pope Saint Gregory the Great is the patron of musicians, singers, and choirboys because the Church’s great body of liturgical plainchant — Gregorian chant — bears his name: tradition credits him with collecting, ordering, and standardizing the sacred melodies of the Roman liturgy, and medieval art famously shows the Holy Spirit, as a dove, dictating the chants into his ear. As one of the four great Latin Doctors and a tireless reformer who wrote a foundational manual for pastors, he is fittingly the patron of teachers and students as well. He is also invoked against plague, recalling the great pestilence in Rome at his accession in 590, when he led a penitential procession through the city begging for its end.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great served as Pope from 590 to 604 and is one of the four original Doctors of the Church. A former prefect of Rome who became a monk, he reformed the liturgy, organized the evangelization of England, and wrote influential works on pastoral care. Gregorian chant is named in his honor.
