Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

774 25. monasticism
– a point to bear in mind when we consider the Pachomian corpus or the
vitae of Gallic wonder-workers.
Nevertheless, Gregory did have points to make that were peculiar to
himself. One should not underestimate the complexity of his motives. Like
his Pastoral Care, the Dialogues bear the stamp of the former prefect; of a
man used to the exercise of authority and skilful in political as well as moral
rhetoric. The audience of the work was not merely ascetic, or even clerical:
Gregory wished to present images of practical sanctity to Lombards as well
as Romans, to the powerful of the visible world, with whom he felt he had
now to collaborate. So his portrait of Benedict is somewhat marked by that
context. The irony was that, whether in religious or political terms, neither
Benedict nor Gregory could foresee with accuracy, let alone control, the
Lombard future.
Central to the Dialogues, nevertheless, as to much else from Gregory’s
pen, was a more intimate concern for the relation between contemplation
and action. That could be taken partly, although only partly, as a distinction
between monastery and world. He wrestled with the problem of how one
might make spiritual insight available to a busier society, without losing the
tranquillity and perception of the contemplative state. (As for Benedict –
by no means averse, as we shall see, to concern for the outside world – he
believed that sustained attention to the realm of the spirit would automatically
school a monk to usefulness in the service of others.)
The bishop of Rome was also preoccupied with the issue of authority
and leadership. Who was fit to take the helm in yet another set of circumstances?
– for the Lombards, occupying the vacuum left by Gothic collapse,
had done so amidst widespread destruction, which heralded, in
Gregory’s view, the imminent end of the world. 106 Perhaps it was that sense
of urgency that explained his determination to extend the boundaries of
Christendom as far as he could, encouraging at least the beginnings of a
missionary fervour among western churchmen. Monks had been no more
enthusiastic for such an enterprise previously than any other leaders in the
church. Their pastoral endeavours among desert tribesmen or mountain
villagers had represented only tiny movements on the Mediterranean map.
In the seventh century, by contrast, Columbanus and other exiles – peregrini
pro Christo – were to develop a quite new enthusiasm for distant travel, even
beyond the current boundaries of the empire, dragging disciples of
Benedict and other pioneers in their wake. To that extent, at least, they provided
circumstances in which a more deliberately pastoral policy, such as
that of Gregory himself, could find support and promise growth. 107
Finally, we would not expect a pope to be indifferent to the economic
fortunes of the west, who administered estates under his own jurisdiction
106 Dial. iii.38.3 especially; see also iii.37.21; iv.43.2. That sense of doom is widespread in Gregory’s
writings, especially in the Moralia and his commentary on Kings.
107 Note the judicious caution of Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms 311–15.
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