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St. Gregory of Spoleto
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Saints and feasts
St. Gregory of Spoleto
Martyr
Gregory was a priest of Spoleto remembered for prayer and Christian teaching. Butler’s traditional account records his refusal to sacrifice and his death during persecution.
The reading
ⓘ Butler source
Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XII (December), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; December 24, “St Gregory of Spoleto, Martyr,” pp. 361-362.
Gregory was a Christian priest at Spoleto. Butler’s notice remembers his fasting, prayer and instruction of others in the faith. His teaching brought him to the attention of officials charged with suppressing the Christians.
The traditional acts describe his examination before Flaccus and the command that he sacrifice to the gods. Gregory confessed his faith in the God who made him and refused the promised friendship and favours that would have followed compliance. The account concludes with his torture and death by beheading.
His relics were honoured in a church bearing his name at Spoleto. Butler identifies the older acts behind the narrative and records the continuing remembrance of the martyr. The tradition joins the priest’s ministry of prayer and teaching to the confession he maintained when called before his persecutors.
Historical note
An original Novena Regina reading adapted and summarized from the cited pre-1962 source. This is not a transcription of Butler’s words.
Gregory of Spoleto is distinct from the popes and bishops named Gregory. The trial narrative is attributed to the traditional acts cited by Butler.
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