September 3rd is a Name Day for our family–our sweet boy, numero quattro, Gregory’s day. This year will be the first time we do a celebration in honor of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, and I’m really looking forward to it!

What strikes me most about the saint in reading up on him is his humility. It seems everything he did was with humble purpose, with virtue, in striving to do the will of God and live to honor Him. In his 14 years as Pope St. Gregory saw Rome and the Church through famine and unrest, feeding the hungry and freeing prisoners out of the Church’s gardens and treasury. Within the Church St. Gregory held clergy to a standard of holiness and humility, set down liturgical reforms, and was influential in the creation of the Church’s chant form now known as Gregorian Chant. We celebrate the feast of this Saint, Pope, and Doctor of the Church on the day of his election to the papacy: September 3.

The plan: We’ll gather together during our afternoon snack time and go through the following:

Story and Prayer

I stumbled upon a legend and prayer when looking up prayers and ideas for this celebration on a blog from the Dominican Student Brothers in DC. Besides reading his short biography online from Loyola Press, we’ll also read the legend quoted in their blog and pray the Seven Prayers of St. Gregory the author translated there. It’s a beautiful story of a miracle of the True Presence and a series of short prayers meditating on the passion and resurrection.

Music

I plan to play examples of Gregorian chant as we go about the day, sharing it’s origins and connection to St. Gregory during our prayer and treat time.

Youtube, iTunes and Amazon music have many examples to play from!

Activity

Following St. Gregory’s example of feeding the hungry we’ll be donating, either with packed lunches our out of our “give” funds, to a local non-profit that provides lunches for young food-insecure children. 

Treat

“Gregorian Chant Parchment Cake”

This treat is simple in that it’s simply a white sheet cake, frosted with buttercream. The decoration will be the trickiest part, but even then, shouldn’t be hard! 

I plan to follow this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

Once frosted I’ll let the cake chill in the fridge for about half an hour. Once chilled, I’ll take the cake out to decorate. Using a skewer or toothpick and some red food coloring, I’ll draw the four-line staff across the cake. Then I’ll apply black sprinkles (confetti or pearls from Wilton) on the staff to look like the chant notations. If I’m feeling fancy I’ll try to recreate one of the illuminations typically found on the examples of Gregorian chant and write out a line or so. This year, the feast day falls on a Thursday, and that’s close to the end of the week…so fanciness may not be felt. Fatigue may overtake. In which case a sheet cake with red lines and black sprinkles will, in an abstract way, make the point and be enjoyed! Stay tuned for photographic evidence. I’m fully prepared for this to flop. Ha!

What are your plans to saints celebrations this month? I’d love to hear and see what you do in your homes! We plan to celebrate The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and The Archangels this month. I hope to share these with you in the coming weeks!