Dialogues (Pope Gregory I)

The Dialogues (Latin: Dialogi) of Gregory the Great is a collection of four books of miracles, signs, wonders, and healings done by the holy men of sixth-century Italy.

Miniature of Gregory the Great writing, from a 12th-century copy of his Dialogues

Summary

Writing in Latin in a time of plague and war, Gregory structured his work as a conversation between himself and Peter, a deacon.^[1] His focus is on miraculous events in the lives of monastics.

The second book is devoted to a life of Saint Benedict.^[2]

Reception

The Dialogues were the most popular of Gregory's works during the Middle Ages, and in modern times have received more scholarly attention than the rest of his works combined.^[3] From this, the author himself is sometimes known as Gregory the Dialogist.^[4]

Pope Zachary (r. 741–752) translated the Dialogues into Greek.^[5]