Post #5935

SAINT GREGORY VII, POPE AND CONFESSOR Pope Gregory VII, born Ildebrando Aldobrandeschi, born in Soana near Grosseto in Tuscany, in 1020, great above all for doctrine, holiness and every other kind of virtue, admirably illustrated the whole Church of God. While playing near the feet of a carpenter who planed wood, it is said that by chance he formed those prophetic words of David with shavings: “he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” (Psalm 71:8); supporting the Lord by the hand of the child, signifying the highest authority in the world that he would one day possess. On his way to Rome, he was educated there under the protection of St. Peter in the convent of Santa Maria sull'Aventino.