Background
The son of a prominent family in the territory of the Arverni in south-central France, Gregory was born on November 30, 538. His father had been a Roman senator, and relatives of his mother had held high offices in the Church.
( Gregory of Tours served as bishop of Tours, then a city...)
Gregory of Tours served as bishop of Tours, then a city in the Frankish kingdom, from 563 to 594. Acclaimed by the French as the father of our history on account of his History of the Franks, he also wrote stories about holy men and women and about wondrous events he experienced, witnessed, or knew as miracles. In our times many people deny the existence of miracles, while others use the term so loosely that it becomes almost meaningless. Must a true miracle transcend natural laws? Gregorys lively stories relate what he regarded as the visible results of holy power, direct or mediated, and its role in the lives of his contemporaries. His conversational narratives, which are largely without self-conscious stylistic effects, present unique, often moving, glimpses into his world. For Gregory, the frontiers between interior and exterior, God and matter, word or gesture and its referent, remained fluid. Lives and Miracles includes the texts of The Life of the Fathers, The Miracles of the Martyr Julian, and The Miracles of Bishop Martin.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067408845X/?tag=2022091-20
(The first translation into English of one of Gregory's ei...)
The first translation into English of one of Gregory's eight books of miracle stories, which contains a series of anecdotes about the lives and cults of martyrs.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0853232369/?tag=2022091-20
The son of a prominent family in the territory of the Arverni in south-central France, Gregory was born on November 30, 538. His father had been a Roman senator, and relatives of his mother had held high offices in the Church.
As a boy, he studied not only the Bible and the lives of the Christian martyrs but also the secular literature of his time.
At 25 he became a deacon in the Church. In 573, while he was in Tours to seek a cure at the tomb of St. Martin for a mysterious sickness he had contracted, Gregory was asked by the people to stay and become their bishop. Two years later the city of Tours came under the control of Chilperic, a cruel and callous king of the Franks, a man who enforced his orders by blinding those who disobeyed him. For 9 years Gregory matched wits with Chilperic, trying to protect his people from the King's brutality. Chilperic did not dare attack the bishop openly because Gregory had too much support among the people. Over the years the two leaders learned to live together in an uneasy peace. When a visiting bishop, appalled at the stories of Chilperic's atrocities, asked Gregory what he saw on top of the King's palace, Gregory wearily replied, "A roof. " The other bishop said, with some fervor, "I see the naked sword of the wrath of God. " In his last 10 years as bishop after Chilperic had died in 584, Gregory was involved in a great deal of political and diplomatic activity.
He kept peace and order in the church of Tours, reacting with a quiet firmness to those monks and nuns who occasionally proved troublesome. Gregory also found time to write. He produced a history of the Frankish people which, despite its being overly long and crudely written, has become the principal source of knowledge about the history, language, religion, and social customs of that people. Gregory wrote from a partisan, Christian point of view, excusing the crimes of those kings who favored the Church and pointing out the defects in the others. Gregory also wrote on miracles and on the lives of the saints, frequently revealing a personal belief which was close to superstition. His liturgical manual, in which he described how the hours for the various prayers can be figured from the arrangement of the stars, is another valuable relic of his age. Gregory died on November 17, 594, and was quickly accepted by the people of Tours as a saint.
(The first translation into English of one of Gregory's ei...)
( Gregory of Tours served as bishop of Tours, then a city...)
Quotations:
"Lord, if your people need me, I will not refuse the work. Your will be done. "
"Hitherto I have served you as a soldier; allow me now to become a soldier to God. Let the man who is to serve you receive your donative. I am a soldier of Christ; it is not permissible for me to fight. "
"Refusing further service as a Roman soldier: I am a soldier of Christ: combat is not permitted to me. "