Given the importance of music in the liturgical life and renewal of this parish, it is very fitting that this window, as well as the one dedicated to St. Cecilia, should adorn St. Martin of Tours Church. These windows are in the two chapels at the rear of the seating area of the church, and face out onto Shelby Street. The St. Gregory window is in the chapel named for that saint, on the north side of the church, and is entered through the doors by the Infant of Prague statue. 

Gregory was born in Rome in the year 540. His father was a wealthy Roman aristocrat named Gordianus and his mother was St. Silvia, whose feast day is November 3. Gregory was appointed to a prestigious public office at the age of 23, but shortly later he resigned and gave his fortune to the poor. He founded six monasteries on his estates in Sicily, and established a seventh - dedicated to San Andrea (Saint Andrew) - in his mansion on the Caelian Hill. He lived there as a monk until the Pope called him from his seclusion and made him one of the seven deacons of Rome. Gregory later served the Church as the Pope's representative (a position now called papal nuncio) to the imperial court at Constantinople. There, in a controversy with an Eastern cleric, he defended the doctrine on the resurrection of the body. In 585 he returned to Rome, and became the Abbot of San Andrea monastery. 

Gregory had a great desire to rekindle the light of the Faith in England, and was given permission to go there by Pope Pelagius II. Only three days into his missionary journey he was recalled to Rome by the Pontiff, after the populace demanded the return of the beloved abbot. Pelagius died shortly later, and the clergy and people of Rome quickly elected Gregory to succeed him on St. Peter's throne. Gregory loved the solitude of monastic life, and did not want this great responsibility. It is said that he had to be seized and carried by Roman citizens to the old St. Peter's Basilica, where he was consecrated Pope on September 3, 590. Recognizing this was the work of the Holy Spirit, he vigorously reigned as the Vicar of Christ on Earth for the next 14 years. 

Many pagans were converted to the Faith during Gregory's pontificate, including the Arian Lombards and the French and Spanish Goths. He forbade the compulsory baptism of Jews and protected their legal right to worship in synagogues. He sent St. Augustine of Canterbury to England in 596, fulfilling his wish to bring that land's pagans and disorganized Christians into communion with Rome. 

Pope Gregory reorganized the vast Church-owned lands throughout the Italian peninsula, laying the foundation for an independent papal state that would endure for more than a thousand years. He initiated important hierarchical and liturgical reforms, and wrote great encyclical letters to the pastors of the Church. Although he was a great defender of the papal dignity, he humbly referred to himself as "Servus servorum Dei" ("the Servant of the Servants of God"), a title still used by the Pope. He died on March 12, 604. Rome has honored him with the title of Doctor of the Church, and he is revered as St. Gregory "the Great". Because of his great pastoral care of the Church, he is the patron of pastors. For his role in establishing the chant, he is invoked by musicians. As is the case with most saints, his feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, or rather, of his dies natalis - his Heavenly birthday. 

His name will live forever in the Church because of his reordering of the Church's liturgical plainsong, known now as Gregorian Chant. It is his institution of the chant that is the subject of this window. 

Like all of the saints depicted in the windows of St. Martin's Church, around Gregory's head is a nimbus, also known as a halo. The nimbus is a symbolic aura, usually depicted as a gold circle or disk, that radiates from holy beings in the traditional art of the Church. They were first used in pagan art to identify personages who were considered divine, sacred, or holders of great dignity. The Greeks depicted nimbuses on some of their gods in antiquity, and haloes also appeared on the heads of deified emperors on Roman coins. As early as the 2nd century Christ was portrayed with a nimbus in the art of the catacombs. Within a few centuries, the Virgin Mary, angels, and saints would also be shown exuding this aura of holiness. 

Unlike many traditional papal portraits, Gregory is not depicted here with the papal tiara (also known as the triregno or triple crown), the three-barred papal cross, or the Keys; nor is he wearing the Fisherman's Ring. He does, however, wear the pallium (Latin for "cover" or "mantle" ), a garment used in the Church since the early 4th century to denote the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the wearer. This is the band bearing six crosses (only three are visible here) which is draped around Gregory's neck. A pallium is made from the wool of lambs which are blessed on January 21, the Feast of Saint Agnes (her name is the feminine diminutive of agnus - Latin for lamb), and is said to symbolize the lost sheep carried back to the flock on the neck of the devoted shepherd. Thus, it represents the pastoral role of the wearer, who must care for his sheep (that is, the faithful) and keep them from getting lost in sin. Newly made pallia are blessed by the Pope and are laid overnight on the tomb of St. Peter. They are then kept in a silver coffer within a niche near the tomb until needed. Catholic patriarchs, primates, and archbishops each receive a pallium from the Pontiff after taking an oath of allegiance to him and the Holy Church. They wear it with their sacred vestments, but only within their own diocese. The Pope, however, may wear the pallium at all times and in all places, because his jurisdiction is universal. In fact, when the Holy Father visits an archbishop, the latter may not wear this garment in the Pope's presence. In one of many reforms initiated during his pontificate, Gregory banished an old custom which required archbishops to pay a monetary tribute for reception of the pallium (this practice was occasionally reinstated by later Popes before the Middle Ages). Today's pallium is thinner and shorter than the one depicted here, although this older style may come back into use: Pope John Paul II wore this larger style when he opened the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica to begin the Jubilee Year of 2000. 

The saintly Pope Gregory is seen here surrounded by young persons, who are learning the chant from its very architect. These youthful singers hold scrolls of music, while Gregory leads them with a baton (he is the patron of singers and teachers). A Romanesque arch is in the background. 

Two of the men behind Gregory have received the tonsure (from the Latin tondere - "to shear" ). It was once standard practice for Catholic males to have their hair ceremonially shorn when entering the clerical order. The tonsured man became a partaker in the common privileges and obligations of the clerical state, then received preparations for Holy Orders. This practice has Biblical precedence: In the Old Testament, the nazirites ritually shaved their heads after completing their period of dedication to the Lord {see Numbers 6:18}, and in the New Testament, St. Paul's hair was shorn after taking a vow on his way to Ephesus {see Acts 18:18}. A shaved head was a badge of slavery among the Greeks and Romans, and was thus adopted by early Christian monks as a symbol of their humility, their service to God, and their desire to be as Christ, who "took the form of a slave {Phillippians 2:7}." The custom was taken up by secular clergy in the 5th or 6th century. There were at least three types of tonsure; the young men in this window bear the Roman (or St. Peter's) tonsure, with all the head shaved except for a circle of hair. This practice, once required by Canon Law, has largely fallen out of use by the clergy. 

Above St. Gregory and his students, filling the upper portion of the window, is a golden, leafy canopy topped by stylistic spires, all held up by columns on each side of the scene.  All of the windows of St. Martin’s Church, except for the two 16th century windows, bear this or a similar decorative scheme.  These touches beautifully and colorfully fill the extra space above each scene in these tall windows.  This is another hallmark of the Munich Style, which in turn was inspired by similar designs which be found on windows dating back to the 1300s.
Gregorian Chant was restored early in the 20th century by another sainted Pope, Pius X.  He desired to see the mediocre music which was beginning to be used in the Mass replaced with congregational singing of the chant.  The Second Vatican Council, in the article De musica sacra (section on sacred music) of its Sacrosanctum concilium (the litugical constitution), emphasized that Gregorian Chant is “specifically suited to the Roman liturgy”, and that it “should be given pride of place in liturgical services.”  The Council encouraged all the laity to learn to participate in singing it.  Following the desires of the Council Fathers, Gregorian Chant is alive and well here at St. Martin of Tours Parish.

While in this chapel, you may want to read the description of the Last Supper window, which is also housed here.

- Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877)

- Marcus Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (348-413) 
translated by John Mason Neale (1818-1866)