Gregory of Ostia, St.

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GREGORY OF OSTIA, ST.

Bishop and papal legate; d. Logroño, Navarre, Spain, May 9, 1044. Little is known for certain of Gregory before his election to the See of ostia except that he was a benedictine monk and abbot of the monastery of SS. Cosmas and Damian in Rome from 998 to 1004. He was undoubtedly a man of both learning and holiness and was favored by Pope benedict ix. Under this pope he was elected bishop of Ostia in 103334 and was employed either as the librarian of the Roman Church or as chancellor. In 1039 Benedict appointed him papal legate to the Kingdom of Navarre in Spain. He is often invoked against attacks by locusts and other harmful insects, since he reportedly freed the Kingdom of Navarre from a plague of locusts by a simple sign of the cross. His cult was approved for Navarre in 1754.

Feast: May 9.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum May 2:463465. Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis 1:3670. a. mercati and a. pelzer, Dizionario ecclesiastico 2:262. a. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige 2:165.

[r. e. geiger]