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In the Eye of the Storm: A Biography of Gregory the Great
Rome in the year A.D. 590. A plague is tearing through the city. Pope Pelagius II is dead. Outside the walls, Lombard soldiers are raising their swords. What can save the Eternal City? All eyes, and all hopes, are on the next pope. Veteran writer Sigrid Grabner tells the dramatic story of Pope Gregory I—a poor monk known now to history as Saint Gregory the Great. Born to a noble family and trained in Roman law, Gregory had been prefect of the city of Rome as a young man, but he gave up his power and wealth to walk in the footsteps of Saint Benedict. Everything changed when he was raised, against his will, to the highest office in Christendom and found himself, as he wrote to one friend, "in the eye of a storm"; at the helm of an "old and rotten ship". Although Gregory sensed only his inadequacy, he not only steered Rome clear of a shipwreck, but laid the foundations for the future of Europe. In fourteen years as pope, he instituted sweeping financial reforms, ensured legal protection for the poor, developed a system of musical notation, wrote influential works of theology, quieted the Byzantines and the warring Lombards, and led a citywide pilgrimage to the church of Saint Mary Major that, tradition says, brought an end to the plague. Grabner''s vivid narrative of the life of Pope Gregory I reads like a novel, evoking the landscape of early medieval Italy with humanity and realism. It brings us face-to-face with a man who, for all his weakness, became an instrument in the hand of God and let himself be made great.
279 pages, Paperback
Published November 30, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 26, 2022
A very engaging and exciting biography of a holy man who led the Church at an interesting time in her history and in the history of the world. The book told the story of St. Gregory’s life in a very compelling way, with quotes from his writings interspersed throughout, and great background on what was going on in the world during that time to make it all the more understandable. A good read for both the personal witness and the historical value!
March 26, 2022
Before reading this I knew some of the highlights of his life and even the little I knew I had a good idea while he was remembered as the great. His life and actions are really amazing beyond turning back the Mongol warlord from Rome. There are other stories of equal weight along with so many details of his life taken from the wealth of his letters and other documents. This was translated into English, but it still reads as a novel providing so many insights.
July 26, 2022
This is a credible (if hagiographic) biography of St Pope Gregory 1 (the great/magnus). The book opens up not only his life, but the early dark ages and decline of the Roman Empire through which he lived. This book is a great introduction to his life and times, but as of any book, not the only one you would want to read.
February 12, 2022
An absolutely fascinating book. It's appealing as a biography, a history, and as a story of faith. My only complaint is that the author dismisses his musical contribution (or lack thereof) to Gregorian chant in just a couple of lines, without any explanation. Regardless, I will revisit this book again and again for enjoyment and inspiration.
February 9, 2025
I expected to enjoy this biography/hagiography of Gregory the Great, but I did not expect to find so much comfort and help during this time from this book. Gregory overall so many aspects of a failed Rome both before and after he was Pope. He witnessed the devastation of the fall of a great empire, asked poignant questions about why evil happens in the world, and still did good in his community. I saw many correlations between Rome and his day and the United States in my day. Pope Gregory approach life as service to others, even through his pain and suffering. Pope Gregory did what he could day by day to make Rome better has he awaited the coming of Christ. I highly recommend this book.
January 20, 2022
This was a very enjoyable biography of St. Gregory the Great. For me, it was a slice of the history of the Church, of Rome, of Italy, of a very unsettled time. I am greatly impressed by St. Gregory and I may now have to crack open his writings. I have his Epistles and his book on Pastoral Care. This book has ignited a desire to know even more about him.
August 13, 2024
Gregory the Great is (arguably) one of the most interesting of the early medieval popes. Pushed by the necessities of erratic food supplies and constant wars threatening his city, he took on the civil leadership which began the rise of the papacy to the secular heights which it achieved in the high middle ages.
That is an ironic achievement for a monk who seems to have been genuinely unworldly and disinterested in secular power. As a young man he had already risen to the highest civil office in Rome, so when he renounced his worldly life he knew exactly what he was turning from.
This book is written in a way which will likely please or displease readers, depending on how they like their history. There is an awful lot of subjective thought and emotion put into the mind of Gregory. When he tours his Sicilian estates he knows that monks who died 20 years earlier had faces ‘beaming with joy’ (p47). But how does he know that? When he leaves Constantinople we are told that he ‘felt more than friendship’ for Theoctista, the sister of the emperor (p124). How does the author know that to be true?
This kind of subjectivising is par for the course in historical novels, but it was a little jarring in places in a book which otherwise seemed to portray itself as historical. I think ideally the author needed to be a little clearer what kind of book he was writing. If historical, then there needed to be far more footnotes telling the reader how and why he thought what he did. If it is a historical novel, then it probably needed more ‘characters’ adding to give it more of a traditional story ark in terms of the wars and love interests of characters who are otherwise incidental to the story.
With occasional references to modern characters such as Ghandi and Edith Stein (p133) the book tries to make itself relevant to modern readers, but it could have done more to explore the theology of Gregory. For example, he is often cited as querying the canonicity of the books of Maccabees. That is arguably a misunderstanding of something he says, but points like that do not even get a mention.
One of the other distinguishing features of Gregory is that we possess more than 800 of his letters. This is one of the largest corpus of medieval letters that we have. The book cites them and quotes from them in places, but it would have been good to hear more from them.
Overall this is a difficult book to grade as there is a very real question of reader ‘taste.’ Those who like a more historical novel style may well think it is 5 star. Those who like a more factual historical account will probably pitch around 3 star.
That is an ironic achievement for a monk who seems to have been genuinely unworldly and disinterested in secular power. As a young man he had already risen to the highest civil office in Rome, so when he renounced his worldly life he knew exactly what he was turning from.
This book is written in a way which will likely please or displease readers, depending on how they like their history. There is an awful lot of subjective thought and emotion put into the mind of Gregory. When he tours his Sicilian estates he knows that monks who died 20 years earlier had faces ‘beaming with joy’ (p47). But how does he know that? When he leaves Constantinople we are told that he ‘felt more than friendship’ for Theoctista, the sister of the emperor (p124). How does the author know that to be true?
This kind of subjectivising is par for the course in historical novels, but it was a little jarring in places in a book which otherwise seemed to portray itself as historical. I think ideally the author needed to be a little clearer what kind of book he was writing. If historical, then there needed to be far more footnotes telling the reader how and why he thought what he did. If it is a historical novel, then it probably needed more ‘characters’ adding to give it more of a traditional story ark in terms of the wars and love interests of characters who are otherwise incidental to the story.
With occasional references to modern characters such as Ghandi and Edith Stein (p133) the book tries to make itself relevant to modern readers, but it could have done more to explore the theology of Gregory. For example, he is often cited as querying the canonicity of the books of Maccabees. That is arguably a misunderstanding of something he says, but points like that do not even get a mention.
One of the other distinguishing features of Gregory is that we possess more than 800 of his letters. This is one of the largest corpus of medieval letters that we have. The book cites them and quotes from them in places, but it would have been good to hear more from them.
Overall this is a difficult book to grade as there is a very real question of reader ‘taste.’ Those who like a more historical novel style may well think it is 5 star. Those who like a more factual historical account will probably pitch around 3 star.
February 21, 2025
‘In The Eye Of The Storm: A Biography of Gregory the Great’ (2009) by Sigrid Grabner, [Im Auge des Sturms. Gregor der Grosse: Eine Biographie] translated by Chase Faucheux. Sigrid Grabner is a writer and columnist based in Potsdam, Germany. Formerly a professor at Humboldt University, where she received a Ph.D. in art history, she has published more than ten books of history, biography, & historical fiction. She contributes regularly to the German-language periodical VATICAN Magazin. Chase Faucheux is an English instructor at Louisiana State University, & a freelance translator.
Church historians generally recognize 2 popes with the title “the Great”: St. Leo I (r440–461) & St. Gregory I (r590–604). Some Catholic historians add St. Nicholas I (858–867). Pope St. John Paul II’s recent canonization was cause for discussion over whether he, too, should be afforded this honorary title.
In the response to Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option one option presented is the Gregorian corollary.
Church historians generally recognize 2 popes with the title “the Great”: St. Leo I (r440–461) & St. Gregory I (r590–604). Some Catholic historians add St. Nicholas I (858–867). Pope St. John Paul II’s recent canonization was cause for discussion over whether he, too, should be afforded this honorary title.
In the response to Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option one option presented is the Gregorian corollary.
October 30, 2022
It is a decent book, but not my cup of tea. In the Eye of the Storm borders the genres of historical fiction/storytelling and biography, without sacrificing historical accuracy. Unfortunately, the storytelling winds up being somewhat mundane and the cool historical info is lost in the narrative. I would have preferred a commitment to one or the other, personally: commit to it being a history text, or commit to it being a novel of historical persons (i.e., flesh out the characters more).
March 4, 2023
Very good! I especially appreciated how the author took care to explain the historical context of St. Gregory’s life. His virtue shines all the more when the incredible dangers and difficulties of this era are vividly realized.
August 9, 2023
I would like to read some of Gregory's works after reading this.
January 17, 2024
Insightful and profound analysis of the life of St Gregory and his times.
April 6, 2024
Interesting read. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could. Since St. Gregory is a Doctor of the Church, I had hoped to be able to read more of his work, but there were only a few excerpts. The author spent more time summarizing and commenting on his works than presenting and analyzing them. I also found the author's frequent comments about Gregory's state of mind and feelings to be distracting.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews