Today as a College, we celebrate the feast day of our Patron saint, St. Gregory the Great. He was commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregorian Mission, to convert the then-pagan Anglo-Saxons in England to Christianity.

His talents, however, kept him in Rome, running the city, trying to steer barbarian kings and queens of brutal and uncertain temper along the right path, re-organizing the Church’s finances and administration, and writing a much-admired book of practical advice for bishops and priests as well as homilies and commentaries on books of the Bible. He also revised the liturgy and left his name to Gregorian chant.

Lamed by arthritis at the end of his life, Gregory died in Rome and was buried in the basilica of St Peter. The first pope to call himself ‘servant of the servants of God’, he was recognized immediately as a saint.

We commend our College Proprietor, Board of Governors, Management, Staff, Students and Parents to the intercession of St Gregory the Great. Amen.