The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
Pope Benedict IX (1032-1044; 1045; 1047-1048)
Creation of 1034 (II)


(14) 1. GREGORIO, O.S.B. (?-1044)

Birth. (No date or place found). He is also listed as Gregorius IV, Gregorio Ostiense, Gregorio di Ostia, Gregory of Ostia and Gregorio de la Berrueza.

Education. Entered the Order of Saint Benedict (Benedictines).

Priesthood. Ordained (no further information found). Abbot of the monastery of Ss. Cosma e Damiano ad Micam auream, Rome.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal bishop of Ostia in 1034 (or 1037?)(1). Consecrated (no information found). Librarian of the Holy Roman Church ca. 1034. Legate in Navarra and Old Castilla; he took Dominic, future saint, with him. He is said to have performed numerous miracles in those areas, especially in defense of crops threatened by pests, against which he was frequently invoked.

Death. May 9, 1044, Logroño, Navarra; Domingo de la Calzada and Juan de Ortega, his disciples and future saints, were present at his death. Buried in the Ermita de San Gregorio, Logroño, where he lived and died (2).

Sainthood. He was sanctified shortly after his death. His feast is celebrated on May 9. He is venerated throughout Navarra and Rioja. His biography was written by Abbot Costantino Gaetani of S. Baronzio and edited in Rome.

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1792, I, pt. 2, 100-102; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, I, col. 779-780, no. V; Cristofori, Francesco. Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Tipografia de Propaganda Fide, 1888, p. 2; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1927. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1928, p. 133, no. 3; Gams, Pius Bonifatius. Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae. 3 v. in 1. Graz : Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1957, p. V.

Links. Biographical information, in English; his image and biography, in Italian; images and biography, in Spanish; Arqueta relicario de San Gregorio Ostiense , in Spanish; images and biography, in Spanish (including his statue in wood from the 15th century); iconography and biography, in Spanish, by Javier Pérez Escohotado, "Santo Domingo de la Calzada, ingeniero en la tierra" (4), p. 54-57, in Cimbra, which practically denies the existence of the cardinal; and his image, retable in painted tiles, 1857, Museo Arqueológico de Alcoy, Alicante, Spain.

(1) This is according to Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, I, col. 779. Cristofori, Cronotasi dei cardinali di Santa Romana Chiesa, p. 2; and Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae, p. 5, say that he was created cardinal in 1037 (?).
(2) This is according to his first biography in Spanish, linked above, which also says that he was created cardinal by Pope John XVIII. His second biography in Spanish, also linked above, says that presently his remains repose in the basilica of his name, erected in mount Piñalba, over the ermita of San Salvador, in the small Navarran town of Sorlada, in the valley of Berrueza, for which the cardinal is also known as San Gregorio de la Berrueza.

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