own order;
but, as the question is confessed to be doubtful, it is clear that these
powerful monks are in the wrong. See Butler's Lives of the Saints,
vol. iii. p. 145; a work of merit: the sense and learning belong to the
author--his prejudices are those of his profession.]

[Footnote 68: Monasterium Gregorianum in ejusdem Beati Gregorii aedibus
ad clivum Scauri prope ecclesiam SS. Johannis et Pauli in honorem St.
Andreae, (John, in Vit. Greg. l. i. c. 6. Greg. l. vii. epist. 13.) This
house and monastery were situate on the side of the Caelian hill
which fronts the Palatine; they are now occupied by the Camaldoli: San
Gregorio triumphs, and St. Andrew has retired to a small chapel Nardini,
Roma Antica, l. iii. c. 6, p. 100. Descrizzione di Roma, tom. i. p.
442--446.]

The pontificate of Gregory the Great, which lasted thirteen years, six
months, and ten days, is one of the most edifying periods of the history
of the church. His virtues, and even his faults, a singular mixture
of simplicity and cunning, of pride and humility, of sense and
superstition, were happily suited to his station and to the temper of
the times. In his rival, the patriarch of Constantinople, he condemned
the anti-Christian title of universal bishop, which the successor of
St. Peter was too haughty to concede, and too feeble to assume; and
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Gregory was confined to the triple
character of Bishop of Rome, Primate of Italy, and Apostle of the West.
He frequently ascended the pulpit, and kindled, by his rude, though
pathetic, eloquence, the congenial passions of his audience: the
language of the Jewish prophets was interpreted and applied; and the
minds of a people, depressed by their present calamities, were directed
to the hopes and fears of the invisible world. His precepts and example
defined the model of the Roman liturgy; [69] the distribution of the
parishes, the calendar of the festivals, the order of processions, the
service of the priests and deacons, the variety and change of sacerdotal
garments. Till the last days of his life, he officiated in the canon of
the mass, which continued above three hours: the Gregorian chant [70]
has preserved the vocal and instrumental music of the theatre, and the
rough voices of the Barbarians attempted to imitate the melody of the
Roman school. [71] Experience had shown him the efficacy of these solemn
and pompous rites, to soothe the distress, to confirm the faith, to
m