Church Father · c. AD 540–604

Gregory the Great

Bishop of Rome; the last of the Latin "Doctors of the Church" from antiquity and a major transitional figure into the medieval West. The Pastoral Rule (Regula Pastoralis) on the duties of bishops was influential for centuries afterward; his Register of Letters is a large administrative correspondence documenting papal governance, missionary activity (including the mission to England), and relations with Constantinople — read individual letters for what they actually claim about authority, not as a single systematic treatise.

Brief introduction from the source collection. A full library biography has not yet been prepared.