San Gregorio al Celio: The Monastery That Converted England

Why is it significant?

Climb the wide flight of steps and stop in front of the pale baroque facade, with the traffic of Via di San Gregorio humming behind you. It looks like one more grand Roman church. But if you happen to be English, or speak English, this is quietly one of the most important doorways in your history.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Climb the wide flight of steps and stop in front of the pale baroque facade, with the traffic of Via di San Gregorio humming behind you. It looks like one more grand Roman church. But if you happen to be English, or speak English, this is quietly one of the most important doorways in your history.

In the sixth century, this hillside belonged to a rich Roman family. Their son, Gregory, had been prefect of the city, the highest civil office in Rome. Around 575 he gave it all up, turned the family house into a monastery dedicated to Saint Andrew, and became a monk. A few years later, very much against his wishes, he was made pope. History calls him Gregory the Great.

The story told by the English monk Bede goes like this. Walking through the market one day, Gregory saw fair-haired boys for sale as slaves. He asked who they were. Angles, he was told. Not Angles, he replied, but angels... Whether or not he ever said it, in 596 he sent the prior of this very monastery, a monk called Augustine, north with a party of around forty brothers. They landed in Kent, baptised its king, and Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

So the line of archbishops that still leads the Church of England begins with a man who walked out of this door. That is why archbishops of Canterbury keep coming back. In 2016 Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby prayed vespers together in this church, using Gregory's own story as their meeting point. Beside the church stand three small chapels. In one, frescoes by Domenichino and Guido Reni face each other across the room, two rivals painting the same saint's martyrdom side by side.

In another, the chapel of Saint Barbara, there is an ancient marble table where Gregory is said to have fed twelve poor men every day. Legend says that one day a thirteenth guest sat down, and Gregory realised he had served an angel. Now walk to the steep, narrow lane that climbs beside the church, the Clivo di Scauro, and go up under its arches. You are about to walk on an ancient Roman street.