ST. GREGORY VII, POPE, ST. BEDE THE VENERABLE, BENEDECTINE, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH, ST. MARY MAGDALENE DE' PAZZI, VIRGIN, May 25

ST. GREGORY VII, POPE

Pope/St. Gregory VII was one of the great church reformers. Educated in Rome, Hildebrand was chaplain to Gregory VI, whose exile he shared. When Gregory VI died in 1047, Hildebrand entered a monastery where he remained until Leo IX called him to Rome to serve as treasurer of the church. Elected pope in 1073, Hildebrand took the name Gregory in honor of St. Gregory the Great and began to institute reforms against simony, clerical marriage May 25

ST. BEDE THE VENERABLE, BENEDECTINE, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

Venerable Bede, Roman Catholic Monk and Doctor of The Church. He is considered one of the most learned men of his time and a major influence on English literature. His best-known work is HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA, a history of the English Church and people, which he completed in 731. It is an account of Christianity in England up to 729 and is a primary source of early English history. Called "the Venerable" to acknowledge his wisdom and learning, the title was formalized at the Council of Aachen in 853. He was a careful scholar and distinguished stylist, the "father" of English history, the first to date events anno domini (A.D.), and in 1899, was declared the only English doctor of the Church. Feastday May 25

ST. MARY MAGDALENE DE' PAZZI, VIRGIN

St. Maria Magdalen Dei Pazzi, Roman Catholic Discalced Carmelite mystic and healer. Feast May 25