Gregoire \gra-'gwar\, Henri (b. Dec. 4, 1750, Veho, Lorraine, France—d. May 20, 1831, Paris) French prelate who defended of the Constitutional Church in the French Revolution as well as the rights of Jews and blacks. Elected to the National Assembly (1789), he worked to unite the clergy with the Third Estate. Initially opposed to the Civil Con¬ stitution of the Clergy, he later became the Constitutional bishop of Loir- et-Cher (1790). In the de-Christianizing campaign of 1793-94, he continued to wear clerical dress and profess his faith openly. After the collapse of the Jacobin regime, he was a leader in restoring freedom of worship and reorganizing the church. He opposed Napoleon’s regime and the Concordat of 1801 that ended the Constitutional Church. He sup¬ ported the independent republic of Haiti created in 1804. He served as adviser to the Jewish council convened by Napoleon in 1807.
Gregorian calendar Solar dating system now in general use. It was proclaimed in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a reform of the Julian cal¬
endar. By the Julian reckoning, the solar year comprised 36514 days. The addition of a “leap day” every four years was intended to maintain cor¬ respondence between the calendar and the seasons; however, a slight inaccuracy in the measurement of the solar year caused the calendar dates of the seasons to regress almost one day per century. By Pope Gregory’s time, the Julian calendar was 10 days out of sync with the seasons; in 1582, to bring the vernal equinox (and thus Easter) back to its proper date, 10 days were dropped (October 5 became October 15). Most of Catholic Europe soon adopted the new calendar; Great Britain and its colonies (1752) and Russia (1918) followed much later. The Gregorian calendar differs from the Julian only in that no century year is a leap year unless it is exactly divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600, 2000). A further refinement, the designation of years evenly divisible by 4,000 as common (not leap) years, will keep the calendar accurate to within one day in 20,000 years.
Gregorian chant Liturgical music of the Roman Catholic church con¬ sisting of unaccompanied melody sung in unison to Latin words. It is named for Pope Gregory I, who may have contributed to its collection and codification and who was traditionally represented as having received all the melodies directly from the Holy Spirit. Of the five bodies of medi¬ eval Latin liturgical music, it is the dominant repertoire, and the name is often used broadly to include them all. Gregorian chant apparently derived principally from Jewish cantillation, with other elements entering from the Eastern Church (see Byzantine chant) and elsewhere. Chant has tradi¬ tionally been performed at the mass and the canonical hours (the eight prayer services traditionally held daily in monasteries). Its texts come pri¬ marily from the biblical psalms, metrical hymns, and texts specific to the mass and the hours. The melodies are classified as belonging to one or another of the eight church modes. Chant rhythm is not strictly metrical, and its notation does not indicate rhythm. Since the Second Vatican Coun¬ cil, the performance of chant has diminished greatly. See also cantus fir- MUS.
Gregory I, Saint known as Gregory the Great (b. c. 540, Rome—d. March 12, 604, Rome) Pope (590-604) and doctor of the church. A Roman patrician, by age 32 he had attained the office of urban prefect. He then felt called to the religious life. He built several monas¬ teries and served as a papal representative before being elected pope in 590, to which he only reluctantly assented. He became the architect of the medieval papacy, seeking, among other things, to curb corruption by cen¬ tralizing the papal administration. In 598 he won temporary peace with the Lombards, and he allowed the Byzantine usurper Phocas to make per¬ manent peace with them in 602. Eager to convert pagan peoples, Gregory sent Augustine of Canterbury on a mission to England (596). Under Gre¬ gory, Gothic Arian Spain see Arianism) became reconciled with Rome. He laid the basis for the Papal States. He was a strong opponent of slavery, and he extended tolerance to Jews. He wrote the Pastoral Rule, a guide for church government, and other works. His extensive recodification of the liturgy and chant led to his name being given to Gregorian chant. He is remembered as one of the greatest of all the medieval popes.
Gregory VII, Saint orig. Hildebrand (b. 1020, near Soana, Papal States—d. May 25, 1085, Salerno, Principality of Salerno; canonized 1606; feast day May 25) Pope (1073-85). Educated in a monastery in Rome where his uncle was abbot, he rose to become a cardinal and arch¬ deacon of Rome and was finally chosen pope in 1073. One of the great medieval reformers, Gregory attacked simony and clerical marriage and insisted that his papal legates had authority over local bishops. He is remembered chiefly for his conflict with Emperor Henry IV in the Inves¬ titure Controversy. Gregory’s excommunication of the emperor gave rise to a bitter quarrel that ended when Henry begged for forgiveness in a memorable scene at Canossa, Italy, in 1077. A renewed quarrel led Gre¬ gory to excommunicate the emperor again in 1080, and Henry’s forces took Rome in 1084. Gregory was rescued by Robert Guiscard, but the devastation of Rome forced the pope to withdraw to Salerno, where he died.
Gregory IX orig. Ugo di Segni (b. before 1170—d. Aug. 22, 1241, Rome) Pope (1227—41) who founded the papal Inquisition. In 1227 he excommunicated Frederick II when the emperor delayed in keeping his pledge to lead a Crusade. Gregory ordered an attack on the kingdom of Sicily in the emperor’s absence, but his forces were defeated. In 1234 he published the Decretals, a code of canon law that remained fundamental to Catholicism until World War I. Attacking heresy in southern France and northern Italy, he strengthened the Inquisition. Frederick’s invasion
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Gregory X ► Grenadines I 803
of Sardinia, a papal fief, led Gregory to renew his excommunication (1239); he sought support in northern Italy but died before the struggle was resolved.
Gregory X orig. Tebaldo Visconti (b. c. 1210, Piacenza, Lombardy [Italy]—d. Jan. 10, 1276, Arezzo, Tuscany) Pope (1271-76). He kept the Holy Roman Empire from disintegrating, by securing the election of Rudolf I as emperor. Rudolf in return promised to lead a new Crusade and renounced claims in Rome and the papal territories. In 1274 Gregory issued a new constitution reforming the assembly of cardinals that elects a new pope. He also initiated a Crusade and worked to unify the Greek and Roman churches. He was beatified Sept. 12, 1713. His feast days are January 28 and February 4.
Gregory XIII orig. Ugo Buoncompagni (b. June 7, 1502, Bolo¬ gna, Romagna—d. April 10, 1585, Rome, Papal States) Pope (1572-85) who promulgated the Gregorian calendar. After teaching at the Univer¬ sity of Bologna, he served as a delegate to the Council of Trent, became a cardinal in 1565, and was elected pope in 1572. A promoter of the Counter-Reformation, he sought to execute the reform decrees of the coun¬ cil. He compiled the Index librorum prohibitorum and founded several col¬ leges and seminaries, delegating their direction to the Jesuits. Aided by an astronomer and a mathematician, he corrected the errors in the Julian calendar and issued the Gregorian calendar (1582), which was later adopted worldwide.
Gregory, Augusta, Lady orig. Isabella Augusta Persse (b.
March 5, 1852, Roxborough, County Galway, Ire.—d. May 22, 1932, Coole) Irish playwright and theatre manager, an important figure in the Irish Literary Renaissance. With William Butler Yeats, she helped found the Irish Literary Theatre (1898) and the Abbey Theatre (1904). She wrote many dialect comedies based on Irish peasant life, including those col¬ lected in Seven Short Plays (1909). She also translated plays by Moliere and others into an Anglo-Irish dialect that she called “Kiltartan” and translated and arranged Irish sagas into continuous narratives, published as Cuchulain of Muirthemne (1902) and Gods and Fighting Men (1904).