St. Gregory was born in Rome, in Italy. His father was a politician and his mother is a saint, St. Celia. Gregory studied philosophy and when he was still quite young, became the governor of Rome.

When his father died, Gregory made his large house into a monastery. For many years he lived as a good and holy monk (priest).

Then Pope Pelagius made him one of the seven ministers of the Church in Rome. When the pope died, Gregory was chosen to take his place.

He was so holy and wise; everyone knew he would be a good pope. But Gregory was so humble that he did not want that honor at all and disguised himself and hid in a cave. The people soon found him and made him pope anyway.

For fourteen years he ruled the Church. Even though he was always sick, Gregory was one of the greatest popes the Church has ever had.

He wrote many books and was a wonderful preacher. He cared for people all over the world. In fact, he considered himself the servant of all. He was the first pope to use the title “servant of the servants of God.” All the popes since have used this title.

St. Gregory took special, loving care of poor people and strangers. Every day he used to feed them a good dinner. He was also very sensitive and understanding when people were treated badly.

Once, when he was still a monk, he saw some blond English boys up for sale in the slave market of Rome. The saint felt a great desire to go to England to bring the love of Jesus to those pagans (who did not believe in God). When he became pope, one of the first things he did was to send some of his best monks to teach the English people and help bring them to Jesus.

This holy pope suffered a lot in the last few years of his life, yet he continued working for his beloved Church until the very end.

Lawrence was born in Venice, in Italy. His mother sometimes thought her son’s dreams were too big. He always told her that he wanted to become a saint.

When he was nineteen years old, he wished to serve God in a special way and asked his uncle, a holy priest of the community of St. George for advice.

“Do you have the courage to turn down the joys of the world and to live a life of penance?” asked his uncle. Lawrence was quiet for a long time. Then he looked up at a crucifix and said, “You, O Lord, are my hope. In this cross there is comfort and strength.”

His mother wanted him to marry, but Lawrence joined the community of St. George as a priest. His first job was to go out among the people of his city and ask for donations to support the St. George community.

Lawrence was not ashamed to beg. He realized that the offerings of money or goods would help God’s work. He even went to his own home and asked for charity.

His mother would try to fill up his sack with food, so that he could return to the monastery early without having to go all over town. But Lawrence would only take two loaves of bread from his mother and then go off to the next house. In this way, he learned how to make little sacrifices and grew very dear to God.

One day a friend of his came to try and make Lawrence leave the monastery. Instead, the saint spoke of how short life is and how wise it is to live for heaven. His friend was very impressed and decided to become a religious himself.

Later, Lawrence was made a bishop, even though he was not happy about it. His people soon learned what a kind and holy man their bishop was and crowds came to him for help every day.

When he was dying, he refused to lie on a soft bed. “That shall not be!” he exclaimed humbly. “My Lord was stretched out on a hard and painful tree.” St. Lawrence Justinian died in 1455.