Dialogues (Pope Gregory I)

Miniature of Gregory the Great writing, from a 12th-century copy of his Dialogues

The Dialogues (Latin : Dialogi) of Gregory the Great, completed in 593 ^[1] , is a collection of four books.

The first three are of miracles, signs, wonders, and healings done by the holy, mostly men, in Italy.

Notably the second book focuses on the life of Benedict of Nursia (more commonly known as Saint Benedict) ^[2] , and "... is the fullest source for this subject" ^[1] .

"[The] fourth book of the Dialogues is primarily a treatise to prove the existence of invisible realities, mainly the soul and the afterlife." ^[3]

Summary

Writing in Latin in a time of plague and war, Gregory structured his work as a conversation between himself and Peter, a deacon. ^[4] .

"It is clear from the general preface in Book 1 that St. Gregory's chief reason for writing the Dialogues was to honor the memory of the saints of Italy and to edify and instruct his fellow countrymen. He wanted them to realize that they were living in a land of saints and that great miracles were as numerous among the Fathers(sic) of Italy as they had been among the Fathers of the Desert and elsewhere." ^[5]

Reception

The Dialogues were the most popular of Gregory's works during the Middle Ages, and in modern times have received more scholarly attention than the rest of his works combined. ^[6] From this, the author himself is sometimes known as Gregory the Dialogist. ^[7]

Pope Zachary (r. 741–752) translated the Dialogues into Greek. ^[8]

References

1. McClure, J (2018). Gregory I, the Great. The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity: Oxford University Press.
2. Meyvaert, Paul (2004). "The Authentic Dialogues of Gregory the Great". Sacris Erudiri. 43: 55–130. doi:10.1484/j.se.2.300121.
3. Keskiaho, J. (2020). "Visions and the Afterlife in Gregory's Dialogues". In Pollard, R.M. (ed.). Imagining the Medieval Afterlife. Cambridge University Press. p. 226.
4. Moorhead, John (2002). "The figure of the deacon Peter in the Dialogues of Gregory the Great". Augustinianum. 42 (2): 469–479. doi:10.5840/agstm20024227.
5. Zimmerman, ODO John (1959). Saint Gregory the Great: Dialogues. New York: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN   9780813211398.p.iv
6. Moorhead, John (July 2003). "Taking Gregory the Great's Dialogues Seriously". The Downside Review. 121 (424): 197–210. doi:10.1177/001258060312142404. S2CID   169438580.
7. Demacopoulos, George (2010). "Gregory the Great and a Post-Imperial Discourse": 120–137. doi:10.7916/D88S505K.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
8. Ivan Havener (1989), "The Greek Prologue to the Dialogues of Gregory the Great: The Critical Text", Revue bénédictine, 99 (1–2): 103–117, doi:10.1484/J.RB.4.01416 .

External links

Text

• A critical edition of the entire Dialogues in Latin with a Greek translation, in Sancti Gregorii Papae I, cognomento Magni, opera omnia jam olim ad manuscriptos codices Romanos, Gallicanos, Anglicanos emendata, aucta, & illustrata notis, studio & labore Monachorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, e Congregatione Sancti Mauri, published by Carobolus and Pompeiatus in Venice in 1769.
• Partial text of the Dialogues, as of 2022 ^[update] including the preface and book 2, at the Bibliotheca Augustana

Translations

• Gardner, Edmund Garratt (1911). The dialogues of Saint Gregory, surnamed the Great; pope of Rome & the first of that name. Divided into four books, wherein he entreateth of the lives and miracles of the saints in Italy and of the eternity of men's souls. London: Warner.
• Zimmerman, ODO John (1959). Saint Gregory the Great: Dialogues. New York: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN   9780813211398.
• Zimmerman, John (2021). Saint Gregory the Dialogist: The Dialogues - Miracles of the Italian Fathers. Arizona: SAGOM Press. ISBN   9781945699382.

Audiobook

• The Life of St. Benedict public domain audiobook at LibriVox