aired. The
discipline both of monks and clergy was weakened. Bishops had become
negligent in their duties; many churches orphaned or destroyed. But at the
end of his pontificate things had so improved that he might well be termed
the reformer of Church discipline. He watched with great care over the
conduct and administration of the bishops. In this the officers called
_defensors_, that is, who administered the patrimony of the Church in
the different provinces, helped him greatly in carrying out his commands.
In the war with the Lombards, many episcopal sees had been wasted, and many
of their bishops expelled. Gregory provided for them, either in naming them
visitors of his own, or in calling in other bishops to their support. He
rebuilt many churches which had been destroyed. He carefully maintained the
property of churches: he would not allow it to be alienated, except to
ransom captives or convert heathens. The Roman Church had then large
estates in Africa, Gaul, Sicily, Corsica, Dalmatia, and especially in the
various provinces of Italy. These were called the Patrimony of Peter. They
consisted in lands, villages, and flocks. In the management of these
Gregory's care did not disdain the minutest supervision. His strong sense
of justice did not prevent his being a merciful landlord, and especially he
cared for the peasantry and cultivators of the soil.

The monastic life which in his own person he had so zealously practised, as
Pope he so carefully watched over that he has been called the father of the
monks. He encouraged the establishment of monasteries. Many he built and
provided for himself out of the Roman Church's property. Many which wanted
for maintenance he succoured. He issued a quantity of orders supporting the
religious and moral life of monks and nuns. He invited bishops to keep
guard over the discipline of monasteries, and blamed them when
transgressions of it came to light. But he also protected monasteries from
hard treatment of bishops, and, according to the custom of earlier Popes,
exempted some of them from episcopal authority.

In restoring schismatics to unity he was in general successful. He wrought
such a union among the bishops of Africa that Donatism lost influence more
and more, and finally disappeared. He dealt with the obstinate Milanese
schism which had arisen out of the treatment of the Three Chapters. He won
back a great part of the Istrians. He had more trouble with the two
archbishops