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Pope Gregory I

Pope Gregory I (Gregorius I; c. 540 – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregorian mission, to convert the then largely pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Gregory is also well known for his writings, which were more prolific than those of any of his predecessors as pope. The epithet Saint Gregory the Dialogist has been attached to him in Eastern Christianity because of his Dialogues. English translations of Eastern texts sometimes list him as Gregory "Dialogos" from the Greek διάλογος (dialogos, conversation), or the Anglo-Latinate equivalent "Dialogus".

A Roman senator's son and himself the prefect of Rome at 30, Gregory lived in a monastery that he established on his family estate before becoming a papal ambassador and then pope. Before becoming Pope, he challenged the theological views of Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople before the emperor Tiberius II. Although he was the first pope from a monastic background, his prior political experiences may have helped him to be a talented administrator. During his papacy, his administration greatly surpassed that of the emperors in improving the welfare of the people of Rome. Gregory regained papal authority in Spain and France and sent missionaries to England, including Augustine of Canterbury and Paulinus of York. The realignment of barbarian allegiance to Rome from their Arian Christian alliances shaped medieval Europe. Gregory saw Franks, Lombards, and Visigoths align with Rome in religion. He also combated the Donatist heresy, popular particularly in North Africa at the time.

Throughout the Middle Ages, he was known as "the Father of Christian Worship" because of his exceptional efforts in revising the Roman worship of his day. His contributions to the development of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, still in use in the Byzantine Rite, were so significant that he is generally recognized as its de facto author.

Gregory is one of the Latin Fathers and a Doctor of the Church. He is considered a saint in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, various Lutheran denominations, and other Protestant denominations. Immediately after his death, Gregory was canonized by popular acclaim. The Protestant reformer John Calvin admired Gregory greatly and declared in his Institutes that Gregory was the last good pope. He is the patron saint of musicians and teachers.

Early life
Gregory was born around 540 in Rome, then recently reconquered by the Eastern Roman Empire from the Ostrogoths. His parents named him Gregorius, which according to Ælfric of Eynsham in An Homily on the Birth-Day of S. Gregory, "is a Greek Name, which signifies in the Latin Tongue, Vigilantius, that is in English, Watchful". The medieval writer who provided this etymology did not hesitate to apply it to the life of Gregory. Ælfric states, "He was very diligent in God's Commandments."

Gregory was born into a wealthy noble Roman family with close connections to the church. His father, Gordianus, a patrician who served as a senator and for a time was the Prefect of the City of Rome, also held the position of Regionarius in the church, though nothing further is known about that position. Gregory's mother, Silvia, was well-born, and had a married sister, Pateria, in Sicily. His mother and two paternal aunts, Trasilla and Emiliana, are honored by Catholic and Orthodox churches as saints. Gregory's grandfather had been Pope Felix III, the nominee of the Gothic king, Theodoric. Gregory's election to the throne of St. Peter made his family the most distinguished clerical dynasty of the period.

The family owned and resided in a villa suburbana on the Caelian Hill, fronting the same street (now the Via di San Gregorio) as the former palaces of the Roman emperors on the Palatine Hill opposite. The north of the street runs into the Colosseum; the south, the Circus Maximus. In Gregory's day the ancient buildings were in ruins and were privately owned. Villas covered the area. Gregory's family also owned working estates in Sicily and around Rome. Gregory later had portraits done in fresco in their former home on the Caelian and these were described 300 years later by John the Deacon. Gordianus was tall with a long face and light eyes. He wore a beard. Silvia was tall, had a round face, blue eyes and a cheerful look. They had another son whose name and fate are unknown.

Gregory was born into a period of upheaval in Italy. From 542 the so-called Plague of Justinian swept through the provinces of the empire, including Italy. The plague caused famine, panic, and sometimes rioting. In some parts of the country, over a third of the population was wiped out or destroyed, with heavy spiritual and emotional effects on the people of the empire. Politically, although the Western Roman Empire had long since vanished in favor of the Gothic kings of Italy, during the 540s Italy was gradually retaken from the Goths by Justinian I, emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire ruling from Constantinople. As the fighting was mainly in the north, the young Gregory probably saw little of it. Totila sacked and vacated Rome in 546, destroying most of its population, but in 549 he invited those who were still alive to return to the empty and ruined streets. It has been hypothesized that young Gregory and his parents retired during that intermission to their Sicilian estates, to return in 549. The war was over in Rome by 552, and a subsequent invasion of the Franks was defeated in 554. After that, there was peace in Italy, and the appearance of restoration, except that the central government now resided in Constantinople.

Like most young men of his position in Roman society, Gregory was well educated, learning grammar, rhetoric, the sciences, literature, and law; he excelled in all these fields. Gregory of Tours reported that "in grammar, dialectic and rhetoric ... he was second to none". He wrote correct Latin but did not read or write Greek. He knew Latin authors, natural science, history, mathematics and music and had such a "fluency with imperial law" that he may have trained in it "as a preparation for a career in public life". Indeed, he became a government official, advancing quickly in rank to become, like his father, Prefect of Rome, the highest civil office in the city, when only thirty-three years old.

The monks of the Monastery of St. Andrew, established by Gregory at the ancestral home on the Caelian, had a portrait of him made after his death, which John the Deacon also saw in the 9th century. He reports the picture of a man who was "rather bald" and had a "tawny" beard like his father's and a face that was intermediate in shape between his mother's and father's. The hair that he had on the sides was long and carefully curled. His nose was "thin and straight" and "slightly aquiline". "His forehead was high." He had thick, "subdivided" lips and a chin "of a comely prominence" and "beautiful hands".

In the modern era, Gregory is often depicted as a man at the border, poised between the Roman and Germanic worlds, between East and West, and above all, perhaps, between the ancient and medieval epochs.

Monastic years
On his father's death, Gregory converted his family villa into a monastery dedicated to Andrew the Apostle (after his death it was rededicated as San Gregorio Magno al Celio). In his life of contemplation, Gregory concluded that "in that silence of the heart, while we keep watch within through contemplation, we are as if asleep to all things that are without."

Gregory had a deep respect for the monastic life and particularly the vow of poverty. Thus, when it came to light that a monk lying on his death bed had stolen three gold pieces, Gregory, as a remedial punishment, forced the monk to die alone, then threw his body and coins on a manure heap to rot with a condemnation, "Take your money with you to perdition." Gregory believed that punishment of sins can begin, even in this life before death. However, in time, after the monk's death, Gregory had 30 Masses offered for the man to assist his soul before the final judgment. He viewed being a monk as the "ardent quest for the vision of our Creator." His three paternal aunts were nuns renowned for their sanctity. However, after the eldest two, Trasilla and Emiliana, died after seeing a vision of their ancestor Pope Felix III, the youngest soon abandoned the religious life and married the steward of her estate. Gregory's response to this family scandal was that "many are called but few are chosen." Gregory's mother, Silvia, is herself a saint.

Eventually, Pope Pelagius II ordained Gregory a deacon and solicited his help in trying to heal the schism of the Three Chapters in northern Italy. However, this schism was not healed until well after Gregory was gone.

Apocrisiariate (579–585)

In 579, Pelagius II chose Gregory as his apocrisiarius (ambassador to the imperial court in Constantinople), a post Gregory would hold until 586. Gregory was part of the Roman delegation (both lay and clerical) that arrived in Constantinople in 578 to ask the emperor for military aid against the Lombards. With the Byzantine military focused on the East, these entreaties proved unsuccessful; in 584, Pelagius II wrote to Gregory as apocrisiarius, detailing the hardships that Rome was experiencing under the Lombards and asking him to ask Emperor Maurice to send a relief force. Maurice, however, had long ago determined to limit his efforts against the Lombards to intrigue and diplomacy, pitting the Franks against them. It soon became obvious to Gregory that the Byzantine emperors were unlikely to send such a force, given their more immediate difficulties with the Persians in the East and the Avars and Slavs to the North.

According to Ekonomou, "if Gregory's principal task was to plead Rome's cause before the emperor, there seems to have been little left for him to do once imperial policy toward Italy became evident. Papal representatives who pressed their claims with excessive vigor could quickly become a nuisance and find themselves excluded from the imperial presence altogether". Gregory had already drawn an imperial rebuke for his lengthy canonical writings on the subject of the legitimacy of John III Scholasticus, who had occupied the Patriarchate of Constantinople for twelve years prior to the return of Eutychius (who had been driven out by Justinian). Gregory turned to cultivating connections with the Byzantine elite of the city, where he became extremely popular with the city's upper class, "especially aristocratic women". Ekonomou surmises that "while Gregory may have become spiritual father to a large and important segment of Constantinople's aristocracy, this relationship did not significantly advance the interests of Rome before the emperor". Although the writings of John the Deacon claim that Gregory "labored diligently for the relief of Italy", there is no evidence that his tenure accomplished much towards any of the objectives of Pelagius II.

Gregory's theological disputes with Patriarch Eutychius would leave a "bitter taste for the theological speculation of the East" with Gregory that continued to influence him well into his own papacy. According to Western sources, Gregory's very public debate with Eutychius culminated in an exchange before Tiberius II where Gregory cited a biblical passage in support of the view that Christ was corporeal and palpable after his Resurrection; allegedly as a result of this exchange, Tiberius II ordered Eutychius's writings burned. Ekonomou views this argument, though exaggerated in Western sources, as Gregory's "one achievement of an otherwise fruitless apokrisiariat". In reality, Gregory was forced to rely on Scripture because he could not read the untranslated Greek authoritative works.

Gregory left Constantinople for Rome in 585, returning to his monastery on the Caelian Hill. Gregory was elected by acclamation to succeed Pelagius II in 590, when the latter died of the plague spreading through the city. Gregory was approved by an Imperial iussio from Constantinople the following September (as was the norm during the Byzantine Papacy).

Controversy with Eutychius
In Constantinople, Gregory took issue with the aged Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople, who had recently published a treatise, now lost, on the General Resurrection. Eutychius maintained that the resurrected body "will be more subtle than air, and no longer palpable". Gregory opposed and used the palpability of the risen Christ in Luke 24:39 as evidence. As the dispute could not be settled, the Byzantine emperor, Tiberius II Constantine, undertook to arbitrate. He decided in favor of palpability and ordered Eutychius' book to be burned. Shortly after both Gregory and Eutychius became ill; Gregory recovered, but Eutychius died on 5 April 582, at age 70. On his deathbed Eutychius recanted impalpability and Gregory dropped the matter.

Papacy
Gregory was more inclined to remain retired into the monastic lifestyle of contemplation. In texts of all genres, especially those produced in his first year as pope, Gregory bemoaned the burden of office and mourned the loss of the undisturbed life of prayer he had once enjoyed as a monk. When he became pope in 590, among his first acts was writing a series of letters disavowing any ambition to the throne of Peter and praising the contemplative life of the monks. At that time, for various reasons, the Holy See had not exerted effective leadership in the West since the pontificate of Gelasius I. The episcopacy in Gaul was drawn from the great territorial families, and identified with them: the parochial horizon of Gregory's contemporary, Gregory of Tours, may be considered typical; in Visigothic Spain the bishops had little contact with Rome; in Italy the territories which had de facto fallen under the administration of the papacy were beset by the violent Lombard dukes and the rivalry of the Byzantines in the Exarchate of Ravenna and in the south.

Pope Gregory had strong convictions on missions: "Almighty God places good men in authority that He may impart through them the gifts of His mercy to their subjects. And this we find to be the case with the British over whom you have been appointed to rule, that through the blessings bestowed on you the blessings of heaven might be bestowed on your people also." He is credited with re-energizing the Church's missionary work among the non-Christian peoples of northern Europe. He is most famous for sending a mission, often called the Gregorian mission, under Augustine of Canterbury, prior of Saint Andrew's, where he had perhaps succeeded Gregory, to evangelize the pagan Anglo-Saxons of Britain. It seems that the pope had never forgotten the Anglo-Saxon slaves whom he had once seen in the Roman Forum. The mission was successful, and it was from England that missionaries later set out for the Netherlands and Germany. The preaching of non-heretical Christian faith and the elimination of all deviations from it was a key element in Gregory's worldview, and it constituted one of the major continuing policies of his pontificate. Pope Gregory the Great urged his followers on the value of bathing as a bodily need.

It is said he was declared a saint immediately after his death by "popular acclamation".

In his official documents, Gregory was the first to make extensive use of the term "Servant of the Servants of God" (servus servorum Dei) as a papal title, thus initiating a practice that was to be followed by most subsequent popes.

Alms
The Church had a practice from early times of passing on a large portion of the donations it received from its members as alms. As pope, Gregory did his utmost to encourage that high standard among church personnel. Gregory is known for his extensive administrative system of charitable relief of the poor at Rome. The poor were predominantly refugees from the incursions of the Lombards. The philosophy under which he devised this system is that the wealth belonged to the poor and the church was only its steward. He received lavish donations from the wealthy families of Rome, who, following his own example, were eager, by doing so, to expiate their sins. He gave alms equally as lavishly both individually and en masse. He wrote in letters: "I have frequently charged you ... to act as my representative ... to relieve the poor in their distress" and "I hold the office of steward to the property of the poor".

In Gregory's time, the Church in Rome received donations of many different kinds: consumables such as food and clothing; investment property: real estate and works of art; and capital goods, or revenue-generating property, such as the Sicilian latifundia, or agricultural estates. The Church already had a system for circulating the consumables to the poor: associated with each of the main city churches was a deacon. He was given a building from which the poor could apply for assistance at any time.

The circumstances in which Gregory became pope in 590 were of ruination. The Lombards held the greater part of Italy. Their depredations had brought the economy to a standstill. They camped nearly at the gates of Rome. The city itself was crowded with refugees from all walks of life, who lived in the streets and had few of the necessities of life. The seat of government was far from Rome in Constantinople and appeared unable to undertake the relief of Italy. The pope had sent emissaries, including Gregory, asking for assistance, to no avail. In 590, Gregory could wait for Constantinople no longer. He organized the resources of the church into an administration for general relief. In doing so he evidenced a talent for and intuitive understanding of the principles of accounting, which was not to be invented for centuries. The church already had basic accounting documents: every expense was recorded in journals called regesta, "lists" of amounts, recipients and circumstances. Revenue was recorded in polyptici, "books". Many of these polyptici were ledgers recording the operating expenses of the church and the assets, the patrimonia. A central papal administration, the notarii, under a chief, the primicerius notariorum, kept the ledgers and issued brevia patrimonii, or lists of property for which each rector was responsible.

Gregory began by aggressively requiring his churchmen to seek out and relieve needy persons and reprimanded them if they did not. In a letter to a subordinate in Sicily he wrote: "I asked you most of all to take care of the poor. And if you knew of people in poverty, you should have pointed them out ... I desire that you give the woman, Pateria, forty solidi for the children's shoes and forty bushels of grain". Soon he was replacing administrators who would not cooperate with those who would and at the same time adding more in a build-up to a great plan that he had in mind. He understood that expenses must be matched by income. To pay for his increased expenses he liquidated the investment property and paid the expenses in cash according to a budget recorded in the polyptici. The churchmen were paid four times a year and also personally given a golden coin for their trouble.

Money, however, was no substitute for food in a city that was on the brink of famine. Even the wealthy were going hungry in their villas. The church now owned between 1300 and 1800 sqmi of revenue-generating farmland divided into large sections called patrimonia. It produced goods of all kinds, which were sold, but Gregory intervened and had the goods shipped to Rome for distribution in the diaconia. He gave orders to step up production, set quotas and put an administrative structure in place to carry it out. At the bottom was the rusticus who produced the goods. Some rustici were or owned slaves. He turned over part of his produce to a conductor from whom he leased the land. The latter reported to an actionarius, who reported to a defensor, who reported to a rector. Grain, wine, cheese, meat, fish, and oil began to arrive at Rome in large quantities, where it was given away for nothing as alms.

Distributions to qualified persons were monthly. However, a certain proportion of the population lived in the streets or were too ill or infirm to pick up their monthly food supply. To them Gregory sent out a small army of charitable persons, mainly monks, every morning with prepared food. It is said that he would not dine until the indigent were fed. When he did dine he shared the family table, which he had saved (and which still exists), with 12 indigent guests. To the needy living in wealthy homes he sent meals he had cooked with his own hands as gifts to spare them the indignity of receiving charity. Hearing of the death of an indigent in a back room he was depressed for days, entertaining for a time the conceit that he had failed in his duty and was a murderer.

These and other good deeds and charitable frame of mind completely won the hearts and minds of the Roman people. They now looked to the papacy for government, ignoring the state at Constantinople. The office of urban prefect went without candidates. From the time of Gregory the Great to the rise of Italian nationalism the papacy was the most influential presence in Italy.

Liturgical reforms
John the Deacon wrote that Pope Gregory I made a general revision of the liturgy of the Pre-Tridentine Mass, "removing many things, changing a few, adding some". In his own letters, Gregory remarks that he moved the Pater Noster (Our Father) to immediately after the Roman Canon and immediately before the Fraction. This position is still maintained today in the Roman Liturgy. The pre-Gregorian position is evident in the Ambrosian Rite. Gregory added material to the Hanc Igitur of the Roman Canon and established the nine Kyries (a vestigial remnant of the litany which was originally at that place) at the beginning of Mass. He also reduced the role of deacons in the Roman Liturgy.

Sacramentaries directly influenced by Gregorian reforms are referred to as Sacrementaria Gregoriana. Roman and other Western liturgies since this era have a number of prayers that change to reflect the feast or liturgical season; these variations are visible in the collects and prefaces as well as in the Roman Canon itself.

Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
In the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches, Gregory is credited as the primary influence in constructing the more penitential Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, a fully separate form of the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite adapted to the needs of the season of Great Lent. Its Roman Rite equivalent is the Mass of the Presanctified used only on Good Friday. The Syriac Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts continues to be used in the Malankara Rite, a variant of the West Syrian Rite historically practiced in the Malankara Church of India, and now practiced by the several churches that descended from it and at some occasions in the Assyrian Church of the East.

Gregorian chant
The mainstream form of Western plainchant, standardized in the late 9th century, was attributed to Pope Gregory I and so took the name of Gregorian chant. The earliest such attribution is in John the Deacon's 873 biography of Gregory, almost three centuries after the pope's death, and the chant that bears his name "is the result of the fusion of Roman and Frankish elements which took place in the Franco-German empire under Pepin, Charlemagne and their successors".

Writings
Gregory is commonly credited with founding the medieval papacy and so many attribute the beginning of medieval spirituality to him. Gregory is the only pope between the fifth and the eleventh centuries whose correspondence and writings have survived enough to form a comprehensive corpus. Some of his writings are:

 * Moralia in Job. This is one of the longest patristic works. It was possibly finished as early as 591. It is based on talks Gregory gave on the Book of Job to his 'brethren' who accompanied him to Constantinople. The work as we have it is the result of Gregory's revision and completion of it soon after his accession to the papal office.
 * Pastoral Care (Liber regulae pastoralis), in which he contrasted the role of bishops as pastors of their flock with their position as nobles of the church: the definitive statement of the nature of the episcopal office. This was probably begun before his election as pope and finished in 591.
 * Dialogues, a collection of four books of miracles, signs, wonders, and healings done by the holy men, mostly monastic, of sixth-century Italy, with the second book entirely devoted to a popular life of Saint Benedict.
 * Sermons, including:
 * The 22 Homilae in Hiezechielem (Homilies on Ezekiel), dealing with Ezekiel 1.1–4.3 in Book One, and Ezekiel 40 in Book 2. These were preached during 592–593, the years that the Lombards besieged Rome, and contain some of Gregory's most profound mystical teachings. They were revised eight years later.
 * The Homilae xl in Evangelia (Forty Homilies on the Gospels) for the liturgical year, delivered during 591 and 592, which were seemingly finished by 593. A papyrus fragment from this codex survives in the British Museum, London, UK.
 * Expositio in Canticis Canticorum. Only two of these sermons on the Song of Songs survive, discussing the text up to Song 1.9.
 * In Librum primum regum expositio (Commentary on 1 Kings), which scholars now think that this is a work by 12th century monk, Peter of Cava, who used no longer extant Gregorian material.
 * Copies of some 854 letters have survived. During Gregory's time, copies of papal letters were made by scribes into a Registrum (Register), which was then kept in the scrinium. It is known that in the 9th century, when John the Deacon composed his Life of Gregory, the Registrum of Gregory's letters was formed of 14 papyrus rolls (though it is difficult to estimate how many letters this may have represented). Though these original rolls are now lost, the 854 letters have survived in copies made at various later times, the largest single batch of 686 letters being made by order of Adrian I (772–795). The majority of the copies, dating from the 10th to the 15th century, are stored in the Vatican Library.

Gregory wrote over 850 letters in the last 13 years of his life (590–604) that give us an accurate picture of his work. A truly autobiographical presentation is nearly impossible for Gregory. The development of his mind and personality remains purely speculative in nature.

Opinions of the writings of Gregory vary. "His character strikes us as an ambiguous and enigmatic one," historian Norman Cantor observed. "On the one hand he was an able and determined administrator, a skilled and clever diplomat, a leader of the greatest sophistication and vision; but on the other hand, he appears in his writings as a superstitious and credulous monk, hostile to learning, crudely limited as a theologian, and excessively devoted to saints, miracles, and relics".

Identification of three figures in the Gospels
Gregory was among those who identified Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany, whom John 12:1-8 recounts as having anointed Jesus with precious ointment, an event that some interpret as being the same as the anointing of Jesus performed by a woman that Luke (alone among the synoptic Gospels) recounts as a sinner. Preaching on the passage in the Gospel of Luke, Gregory remarked: "This woman, whom Luke calls a sinner and John calls Mary, I think is the Mary from whom Mark reports that seven demons were cast out." Modern biblical scholars distinguish these as three separate figures/persons. However, within the general populace (and even some seminaries), they are still believed to refer to the same person.

Iconography

In art Gregory is usually shown in full pontifical robes with the tiara and double cross, despite his actual habit of dress. Earlier depictions are more likely to show a monastic tonsure and plainer dress. Orthodox icons traditionally show St. Gregory vested as a bishop holding a Gospel Book and blessing with his right hand. It is recorded that he permitted his depiction with a square halo, then used for the living. A dove is his attribute, from the well-known story attributed to his friend Peter the Deacon, who tells that when the pope was dictating his homilies on Ezechiel a curtain was drawn between his secretary and himself. As, however, the pope remained silent for long periods at a time, the servant made a hole in the curtain and, looking through, beheld a dove seated upon Gregory's head with its beak between his lips. When the dove withdrew its beak the pope spoke and the secretary took down his words; but when he became silent the servant again applied his eye to the hole and saw the dove had replaced its beak between his lips.

Ribera's oil painting of Saint Gregory the Great (c. 1614) is from the Giustiniani collection. The painting is conserved in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome. The face of Gregory is a caricature of the features described by John the Deacon: total baldness, outthrust chin, beak-like nose, whereas John had described partial baldness, a mildly protruding chin, slightly aquiline nose and strikingly good looks. In this picture also Gregory has his monastic back on the world, which the real Gregory, despite his reclusive intent, was seldom allowed to have.

This scene is shown as a version of the traditional Evangelist portrait (where the Evangelists' symbols are also sometimes shown dictating) from the tenth century onwards. An early example is the dedication miniature from an eleventh-century manuscript of Gregory's Moralia in Job. The miniature shows the scribe, Bebo of Seeon Abbey, presenting the manuscript to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry II. In the upper left the author is seen writing the text under divine inspiration. Usually the dove is shown whispering in Gregory's ear for a clearer composition.

The late medieval subject of the Mass of St. Gregory shows a version of a 7th-century story that was elaborated in later hagiography. Gregory is shown saying Mass when Christ as the Man of Sorrows appears on the altar. The subject was most common in the 15th and 16th centuries, and reflected growing emphasis on the Real Presence, and after the Protestant Reformation was an assertion of the doctrine against Protestant theology.

Famous quotes and anecdotes

 * Non, sed , si forent Christiani.– "They are not Angles, but angels, if they were Christian". Aphorism, summarizing words reported to have been spoken by Gregory when he first encountered pale-skinned English boys at a slave market, sparking his dispatch of St. Augustine of Canterbury to England to convert the English, according to Bede. He said: "Well named, for they have angelic faces and ought to be co-heirs with the angels in heaven." Discovering that their province was Deira, he went on to add that they would be rescued de ira, "from the wrath", and that their king was named Aella, Alleluia, he said.
 * Locusta, literally, "locust". However, the word sounds very much like "loco sta", meaning, "Stay in place!" Gregory himself wanted to go to England as a missionary and started out for there. On the fourth day of the journey, as they stopped for lunch, a locust landed on the edge of the Bible which Gregory was reading. He exclaimed, locusta! (locust). Reflecting on it, he understood it as a sign from Heaven whereby God wanted him to loco sta, that is, remain in his own place. Within the hour an emissary of the pope arrived to recall him.
 * "I beg that you will not take the present amiss. For anything, however trifling, which is offered from the prosperity of St. Peter should be regarded as a great blessing, seeing that he will have power both to bestow on you greater things, and to hold out to you eternal benefits with Almighty God."
 * Pro cuius amore in eius eloquio nec mihi parco – "For the love of whom (God) I do not spare myself from His Word." The sense is that since the creator of the human race and redeemer of him unworthy gave him the power of the tongue so that he could witness, what kind of a witness would he be if he did not use it but preferred to speak infirmly?
 * "For the place of heretics is very pride itself...for the place of the wicked is pride just as conversely humility is the place of the good."
 * "Whoever calls himself universal bishop, or desires this title, is, by his pride, the precursor to the Antichrist."
 * Non enim pro locis res, sed pro bonis rebus loca amanda sunt – "Things are not to be loved for the sake of a place, but places are to be loved for the sake of their good things." When Augustine asked whether to use Roman or Gallican customs in the Mass in England, Gregory said, in paraphrase, that it was not the place that imparted goodness but good things that graced the place, and it was more important to be pleasing to the Almighty. They should pick out what was "pia", "religiosa" and "recta" from any church whatever and set that down before the English minds as practice.
 * "For the rule of justice and reason suggests that one who desires his own orders to be observed by his successors should undoubtedly keep the will and ordinances of his predecessor." In his letters, Gregory often emphasized the importance of giving proper deference to last wills and testaments, and of respecting property rights.
 * "Compassion should be shown first to the faithful and afterwards to the enemies of the church."
 * "At length being anxious to avoid all these inconveniences, I sought the haven of the monastery... For as the vessel that is negligently moored, is very often (when the storm waxes violent) tossed by the water out of its shelter on the safest shore, so under the cloak of the Ecclesiastical office, I found myself plunged on a sudden in a sea of secular matters, and because I had not held fast the tranquillity of the monastery when in possession, I learnt by losing it, how closely it should have been held." In Moralia, sive Expositio in Job ("Commentary on Job," also known as Magna Moralia), Gregory describes to the Bishop Leander the circumstances under which he became a monk.
 * "Illiterate men can contemplate in the lines of a picture what they cannot learn by means of the written word."
 * Age quod agis (Do what you are doing). Through the centuries, this would become a repeated maxim of Catholic mystics and spiritual directors encouraging one to keep focus on what one is doing in trying to serve the Lord.
 * "Repentance is weeping for what one has done and not doing what one weeps for."

Relics
The relics of Saint Gregory are enshrined in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Lives
In Britain, appreciation for Gregory remained strong even after his death, with him being called Gregorius noster ("our Gregory") by the British. It was in Britain, at a monastery in Whitby, that the first full-length life of Gregory was written, c. 713, by a monk or, possibly, a nun. Appreciation of Gregory in Rome and Italy itself, however, did not come until later. The first vita of Gregory written in Italy was not produced until Johannes Hymonides (aka John the Deacon) in the 9th century.

Monuments
The namesake church of San Gregorio al Celio (largely rebuilt from the original edifices during the 17th and 18th centuries) remembers his work. One of the three oratories annexed, the oratory of Saint Silvia, is said to lie over the tomb of Gregory's mother.

In England, Gregory, along with Augustine of Canterbury, is revered as the apostle of the land and the source of the nation's conversion.

Throne
An ancient marble chair, which is believed to be the chair of Pope Gregory the Great, is kept in the church San Gregorio Magno al Celio in Rome.

Music
Italian composer Ottorino Respighi composed a piece named St. Gregory the Great (San Gregorio Magno) that features as the fourth and final part of his Church Windows (Vetrate di Chiesa) works, written in 1925.

Feast day
The current General Roman Calendar, revised in 1969 as instructed by the Second Vatican Council, celebrates Saint Gregory the Great on 3 September. Before that, it assigned his feast day to 12 March, the day of his death in 604. Following the imposition of Pope John XXIII's Code of Rubrics in 1961, celebration of Saint Gregory's feast day was made practically impossible, as John XXIII's reforms forbade the full observance of most feasts during Lent, during which 12 March invariably falls. For this reason, Saint Gregory's feast day was moved to 3 September, the day of his episcopal consecration in 590, as part of the liturgical reforms of Pope Paul VI. The Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite continue to commemorate Saint Gregory on 12 March which is during Great Lent, the only time when the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, which names Saint Gregory as its author, is used.

Other churches also honour Gregory the Great:

 * The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod remember him with a commemoration on 3 September,
 * The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America remember him with a commemoration on 12 March,
 * The Episcopal Church of the United States honors him on 12 March
 * The Anglican Church of Canada remember him with a Memorial on 3 September.
 * Gregory the Great is remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 3 September.

A traditional procession is held in Żejtun, Malta, in honour of Saint Gregory (San Girgor) on Easter Wednesday, which most often falls in April, the range of possible dates being 25 March to 28 April. The feast day of Saint Gregory also serves as a commemorative day for the former pupils of Downside School, called Old Gregorians. Traditionally, OG ties are worn by all of the society's members on this day.

Modern editions

 * Homiliae in Hiezechihelem prophetam, ed. Marcus Adriaen, CCSL 142 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1971)
 * Dialogorum libri quattuor seu De miraculis patrum italicorum: Grégoire le Grand, Dialogues, ed. Adalbert de Vogüé, 3 vols., Sources crétiennes 251, 260, 265 (Paris, 1978–1980) – also available via the Brepols Library of Latin Texts online database at Library of Latin Texts – online (LLT-O)

 * Moralia in Iob, ed. Marcus Adriaen, 3 vols. CCSL 143, 143A, 143B (Turnhout: Brepols, 1979-1985)

Translations

 * The Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great, trans. Edmund G. Gardner (London & Boston, 1911).
 * Pastoral Care, trans. Henry Davis, ACW 11 (Newman Press, 1950).
 * The Book of Pastoral Rule, trans. with intro and notes by George E. Demacopoulos (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2007).
 * Reading the Gospels with Gregory the Great: Homilies on the Gospels, 21–26, trans. Santha Bhattacharji (Petersham, Massachusetts, 2001) (translations of the 6 Homilies covering Easter Day to the Sunday after Easter).
 * The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. with intro and notes by John R. C. Martyn (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2004). (3 volume translation of the Registrum epistularum.)
 * Gregory the Great: On the Song of Songs, CS244 (Collegeville, Minnesota, 2012).

title: Pope Gregory I


text:
Anita Harding

Anita Elizabeth Harding (17 September 1952 – 11 September 1995) was an Irish-British neurologist, and Professor of Clinical Neurology at the Institute of Neurology of the University of London. She is known for the discovery with Ian Holt and John Morgan-Hughes of the "first identification of a mitochondrial DNA mutation in human disease and the concept of tissue heteroplasmy of mutant mitochondrial DNA", published in Nature in 1986. In 1985 she established the first neurogenetics research group in the United Kingdom at the UCL Institute of Neurology.

Biography
Born in Ireland, Harding was educated at the King Edward VI High School for Girls and the Royal Free Hospital Medical School, where she qualified in 1975. She married neurology professor P.K. Thomas two years later, and trained as a neurologist. She pursued further clinical training at Hammersmith Hospital and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and worked with laboratories in Cardiff and the United States to learn the burgeoning field of neurogenetics. In 1985 she established the first neurogenetics research group in the United Kingdom at the UCL Institute of Neurology (UCLIN) in Queen Square, London while still a lecturer at that institution. In 1986 she was a senior lecturer at the UCLIN; a position she held for nine years.

In 1988 Harding played an instrumental role in the establishment of the European Neurological Society. She died of colorectal cancer, 6 days before her 43rd birthday and shortly before she was to take up the Chair in Clinical Neurology at the UCLIN. A person with great charm and wit, she referred to herself as the "wobbly doctor". On learning of her terminal condition, she is reported to have said ''"[A]t least I won't have to buy Windows 95".

In 1996, she was posthumously awarded the ABN Medal by the Association of British Neurologists. In 2019, the journal Nature named their custom typeface in her honor.

Work
Harding made several significant contributions in the field of inherited neurologic disorders. Her major achievements were: She also worked extensively on the population genetics of disorders with ethnic distribution. She has published over 200 articles, and edited 3 books. Together with Dr. Mary Davis, Anita Harding established one of the biggest service labs for molecular analysis of neurogenetic disorders in the UK.
 * Classification of the peripheral neuropathies and hereditary ataxias, the first identification of a mitochondrial DNA mutation in human disease (in Kearns–Sayre syndrome)
 * Identification of trinucleotide repeats in degenerative neurologic diseases (e.g. Huntington's disease).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Anita Harding


text:
Tony Buzan

Anthony Peter "Tony" Buzan (2 June 1942 – 13 April 2019) was an English author and educational consultant.

Buzan popularised the idea of mental literacy, radiant thinking, and a technique called mind mapping, inspired by techniques used by Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, and Joseph D. Novak's "concept mapping" techniques.

Early life
Buzan was born in Palmers Green, Enfield, Middlesex, and was an alumnus of Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver. His brother is the academic Barry Buzan. Buzan completed his undergraduate studies in psychology, English, mathematics and science at the University of British Columbia, and was a charter student at Simon Fraser University in 1965–66 where he spent a year as a graduate student and the inaugural president of the Simon Fraser Student Society. During his time at SFU, Buzan became very involved in Mensa, going on to become editor of the International Journal of Mensa.

Career
He was a promoter of mnemonic systems and mind mapping techniques. He launched his own software programme to support mind mapping called iMindMap in December 2006 with Welsh entrepreneur, Chris Griffiths. The Buzan Organisation holds trademarks on the phrase "Mind Maps" in the context of self-improvement educational courses in the UK, the USA and Germany. The trademark does not appear in the records of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

Following his 1970s series Use Your Head for the BBC, many of his ideas were set down in a series of five books: Use Your Memory, Master Your Memory, Use Your Head, The Speed Reading Book and The Mind Map Book. He was author or co-author of more than 80 books altogether. His five BBC books had, by 2003, sold over 3 million copies.

As a popular psychology author, Tony Buzan wrote on subjects relating to the brain, "genius quotient (GQ)", spiritual intelligence, memory, creativity and speed reading. He was the founder and President of the Brain Foundation (not to be confused with various medical-related bodies with the same name) and also the Brain Trust Charity, the World Memory Championships and the World Championships of the Brain. He was a co-founder of London's Mind Body Spirit Festival as well as the Mind Sports Olympiad, and World Brain Day.

He died aged 76 at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford of a heart attack.

Selected bibliography

 * Spore One – Structure in Hyperspace, 25 September 1972, ISBN 0-85115-016-0
 * Use Your Head, January 1974, ISBN 0-563-10790-1
 * Speed Memory, 27 January 1977, ISBN 0-7153-7365-X
 * Make the Most of Your Mind, February 1984, ISBN 0-671-49519-4
 * Speed Reading, 20 May 1971, ISBN 0-7221-2119-9
 * Use Your Perfect Memory, Plume Penguin Group, January 1991, ISBN 0-452-26606-8
 * Use Both Sides of Your Brain, Plume Penguin Group, Jan 1991, ISBN 0-452-26603-3
 * The Mind Map Book, 6 September 1993, ISBN 0-563-36373-8
 * Concordea, December 2006
 * Requiem For Ted, December 2006
 * Use Your Memory, BBC Publications, ISBN 1-4066-1018-6
 * Master Your Memory, BBC Publications, ISBN 1-4066-1022-4
 * The Memory Book, BBC Publications, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4066-4426-5
 * Mind Maps for Business, BBC Publications, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4066-4290-2
 * Brain Training for Kids, Proactive Press, 2012, ISBN 978-1-908934-00-0
 * The Most Important Graph in the World, Proactive Press, 2012, ISBN 978-1-908934-01-7
 * Modern Mind Mapping for Smarter Thinking e-book, Proactive Press, March 2013

title: Tony Buzan


text:
Battle of the Chesapeake

The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 1781. The combatants were a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves and a French fleet led by Rear Admiral François Joseph Paul, the Comte de Grasse. The battle was strategically decisive, in that it prevented the Royal Navy from reinforcing or evacuating the besieged forces of Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. The French were able to achieve control of the sea lanes against the British and provided the Franco-American army with siege artillery and French reinforcements. These proved decisive in the Siege of Yorktown, effectively securing independence for the Thirteen Colonies.

Admiral de Grasse had the option to attack British forces in either New York or Virginia; he opted for Virginia, arriving at the Chesapeake at the end of August. Admiral Graves learned that de Grasse had sailed from the West Indies for North America and that French Admiral de Barras had also sailed from Newport, Rhode Island. He concluded that they were going to join forces at the Chesapeake. He sailed south from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, outside New York Harbor, with 19 ships of the line and arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake early on 5 September to see de Grasse's fleet already at anchor in the bay. De Grasse hastily prepared most of his fleet for battle—24 ships of the line—and sailed out to meet him. The two-hour engagement took place after hours of maneuvering. The lines of the two fleets did not completely meet; only the forward and center sections fully engaged. The battle was consequently fairly evenly matched, although the British suffered more casualties and ship damage, and it broke off when the sun set. The British tactics have been a subject of debate ever since.

The two fleets sailed within view of each other for several days, but de Grasse preferred to lure the British away from the bay where de Barras was expected to arrive carrying vital siege equipment. He broke away from the British on 13 September and returned to the Chesapeake, where de Barras had since arrived. Graves returned to New York to organize a larger relief effort; this did not sail until 19 October, two days after Cornwallis surrendered.

"[The] Battle of the Chesapeake was a tactical victory for the French by no clearcut margin, but it was a strategic victory for the French and Americans that sealed the principal outcome of the war."

Background
During the early months of 1781, both pro-British and rebel separatist forces began concentrating in Virginia, a state that had previously not had action other than naval raids. The British forces were led at first by the turncoat Benedict Arnold, and then by William Phillips before General Charles, Earl Cornwallis, arrived in late May with his southern army to take command.

In June, Cornwallis marched to Williamsburg, where he received a confusing series of orders from General Sir Henry Clinton that culminated in a directive to establish a fortified deep-water port (which would allow resupply by sea). In response to these orders, Cornwallis moved to Yorktown in late July, where his army began building fortifications. The presence of these British troops, coupled with General Clinton's desire for a port there, made control of the Chesapeake Bay an essential naval objective for both sides.

On 21 May, Generals George Washington and Rochambeau, respectively the commanders of the Continental Army and the Expédition Particulière, met at the Vernon House in Newport, Rhode Island to discuss potential operations against the British and Loyalists. They considered either an assault or siege on the principal British base at New York City, or operations against the British forces in Virginia. Since either of these options would require the assistance of the French fleet, then in the West Indies, a ship was dispatched to meet with French Lieutenant général de Grasse who was expected at Cap-Français (now known as Cap-Haïtien, Haiti), outlining the possibilities and requesting his assistance. Rochambeau, in a private note to de Grasse, indicated that his preference was for an operation against Virginia. The two generals then moved their forces to White Plains, New York, to study New York's defenses and await news from de Grasse.

Arrival of the fleets
De Grasse arrived at Cap-Français on 15 August. He immediately dispatched his response to Rochambeau's note, which was that he would make for the Chesapeake. Taking on 3,200 troops, De Grasse sailed from Cap-Français with his entire fleet, 28 ships of the line. Sailing outside the normal shipping lanes to avoid notice, he arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on August 30, and disembarked the troops to assist in the land blockade of Cornwallis. Two British frigates that were supposed to be on patrol outside the bay were trapped inside the bay by De Grasse's arrival; this prevented the British in New York from learning the full strength of de Grasse's fleet until it was too late.

British Admiral George Brydges Rodney, who had been tracking De Grasse around the West Indies, was alerted to the latter's departure, but was uncertain of the French admiral's destination. Believing that de Grasse would return a portion of his fleet to Europe, Rodney detached Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood with 14 ships of the line and orders to find de Grasse's destination in North America. Rodney, who was ill, sailed for Europe with the rest of his fleet in order to recover, refit his fleet, and to avoid the Atlantic hurricane season.

Sailing more directly than de Grasse, Hood's fleet arrived off the entrance to the Chesapeake on 25 August. Finding no French ships there, he then sailed for New York. Meanwhile, his colleague and commander of the New York fleet, Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves, had spent several weeks trying to intercept a convoy organized by John Laurens to bring much-needed supplies and hard currency from France to Boston. When Hood arrived at New York, he found that Graves was in port (having failed to intercept the convoy), but had only five ships of the line that were ready for battle.

De Grasse had notified his counterpart in Newport, Barras, of his intentions and his planned arrival date. Barras sailed from Newport on 27 August with 8 ships of the line, 4 frigates, and 18 transports carrying French armaments and siege equipment. He deliberately sailed via a circuitous route in order to minimize the possibility of a battle with the British, should they sail from New York in pursuit. Washington and Rochambeau, in the meantime, had crossed the Hudson on 24 August, leaving some troops behind as a ruse to delay any potential move on the part of General Clinton to mobilize assistance for Cornwallis.

News of Barras' departure led the British to realize that the Chesapeake was the probable target of the French fleets. By 31 August, Graves had moved his five ships of the line out of New York Harbor to meet with Hood's force. Taking command of the combined fleet, now 19 ships, Graves sailed south, and arrived at the mouth of the Chesapeake on 5 September. His progress was slow; the poor condition of some of the West Indies ships (contrary to claims by Admiral Hood that his fleet was fit for a month of service) necessitated repairs en route. Graves was also concerned about some ships in his own fleet; Europe in particular had difficulty manoeuvring.

Battle lines form
French and British patrol frigates each spotted the other's fleet around 9:30 am; both at first underestimated the size of the other fleet, leading each commander to believe the other fleet was the smaller fleet of Admiral de Barras. When the true size of the fleets became apparent, Graves assumed that de Grasse and Barras had already joined forces, and prepared for battle; he directed his line toward the bay's mouth, assisted by winds from the north-northeast.

De Grasse had detached a few of his ships to blockade the York and James Rivers farther up the bay, and many of the ships at anchor were missing officers, men, and boats when the British fleet was sighted. He faced the difficult proposition of organizing a line of battle while sailing against an incoming tide, with winds and land features that would require him to do so on a tack opposite that of the British fleet. At 11:30 am, 24 ships of the French fleet cut their anchor lines and began sailing out of the bay with the noon tide, leaving behind the shore contingents and ships' boats. Some ships were so seriously undermanned, missing as many as 200 men, that not all of their guns could be manned. De Grasse had ordered the ships to form into a line as they exited the bay, in order of speed and without regard to its normal sailing order. Admiral Louis de Bougainville's Auguste was one of the first ships out. With a squadron of three other ships Bougainville ended up well ahead of the rest of the French line; by 3:45 pm the gap was large enough that the British could have cut his squadron off from the rest of the French fleet.

By 1:00 pm, the two fleets were roughly facing each other, but sailing on opposite tacks. In order to engage, and to avoid some shoals (known as the Middle Ground) near the mouth of the bay, Graves around 2:00 pm ordered his whole fleet to wear, a manoeuvre that reversed his line of battle, but enabled it to line up with the French fleet as its ships exited the bay. This placed the squadron of Hood, his most aggressive commander, at the rear of the line, and that of Admiral Francis Samuel Drake in the vanguard.

At this point, both fleets were sailing generally east, away from the bay, with winds from the north-northeast. The two lines were approaching at an angle so that the leading ships of the vans of both lines were within range of each other, while the ships at the rear were too far apart to engage. The French had a firing advantage, since the wind conditions meant they could open their lower gun ports, while the British had to leave theirs closed to avoid water washing onto the lower decks. The French fleet, which was in a better state of repair than the British fleet, outnumbered the British in the number of ships and total guns, and had heavier guns capable of throwing more weight. In the British fleet, HMS Ajax (1767) and HMS Terrible (1762), two ships of the West Indies squadron that were among the most heavily engaged, were in quite poor condition. Graves at this point did not press the potential advantage of the separated French van; as the French centre and rear closed the distance with the British line, they also closed the distance with their own van. One British observer wrote, "To the astonishment of the whole fleet, the French center were permitted without molestation to bear down to support their van."

The need for the two lines to actually reach parallel lines so they might fully engage led Graves to give conflicting signals that were interpreted critically differently by Admiral Hood, directing the rear squadron, than Graves intended. None of the options for closing the angle between the lines presented a favourable option to the British commander: any manoeuvre to bring ships closer would limit their firing ability to their bow guns, and potentially expose their decks to raking or enfilading fire from the enemy ships. Graves hoisted two signals: one for "line ahead", under which the ships would slowly close the gap and then straighten the line when parallel to the enemy, and one for "close action", which normally indicated that ships should turn to directly approach the enemy line, turning when the appropriate distance was reached. This combination of signals resulted in the piecemeal arrival of his ships into the range of battle. Admiral Hood interpreted the instruction to maintain line of battle to take precedence over the signal for close action, and as a consequence his squadron did not close rapidly and never became significantly engaged in the action.

Battle
It was about 4:00 pm, over 6 hours since the two fleets had first sighted each other, when the British—who had the weather gage, and therefore the initiative—opened their attack. The battle began with HMS Intrepid (1770) opening fire against the Marseillois, its counterpart near the head of the line. The action very quickly became general, with the van and center of each line fully engaged. The French, in a practice they were known for, tended to aim at British masts and rigging, with the intent of crippling their opponent's mobility. The effects of this tactic were apparent in the engagement: HMS Shrewsbury (1758) and HMS Intrepid, at the head of the British line, became virtually impossible to manage, and eventually fell out of the line. The rest of Admiral Drake's squadron also suffered heavy damage, but the casualties were not as severe as those taken on the first two ships. The angle of approach of the British line also played a role in the damage they sustained; ships in their van were exposed to raking fire when only their bow guns could be brought to bear on the French.

The French van also took a beating, although it was less severe. Captain de Boades of the Réfléchi was killed in the opening broadside of Admiral Drake's Princessa, and the four ships of the French van were, according to a French observer, "engaged with seven or eight vessels at close quarters." The Diadème, according to a French officer "was utterly unable to keep up the battle, having only four thirty-six-pounders and nine eighteen-pounders fit for use" and was badly shot up; she was rescued by the timely intervention of the Saint-Esprit.

The Princessa and Bougainville's Auguste at one point were close enough that the French admiral considered a boarding action; Drake managed to pull away, but this gave Bougainville the chance to target the Terrible. Her foremast, already in bad shape before the battle, was struck by several French cannonballs, and her pumps, already overtaxed in an attempt to keep her afloat, were badly damaged by shots "between wind and water".

Around 5:00 pm the wind began to shift, to British disadvantage. De Grasse gave signals for the van to move further ahead so that more of the French fleet might engage, but Bougainville, fully engaged with the British van at musket range, did not want to risk "severe handling had the French presented the stern." When he did finally begin pulling away, British leaders interpreted it as a retreat: "the French van suffered most, because it was obliged to bear away." Rather than follow, the British hung back, continuing to fire at long range; this prompted one French officer to write that the British "only engaged from far off and simply in order to be able to say that they had fought." Sunset brought an end to the firefight, with both fleets continuing on a roughly southeast tack, away from the bay.

The center of both lines was engaged, but the level of damage and casualties suffered was noticeably less. Ships in the rear squadrons were almost entirely uninvolved; Admiral Hood reported that three of his ships fired a few shots. The ongoing conflicting signals left by Graves, and discrepancies between his and Hood's records of what signals had been given and when, led to immediate recriminations, written debate, and an eventual formal inquiry.

Standoff
That evening, Graves did a damage assessment. He noted that "the French had not the appearance of near so much damage as we had sustained", and that five of his fleet were either leaking or virtually crippled in their mobility. De Grasse wrote that "we perceived by the sailing of the English that they had suffered greatly." Nonetheless, Graves maintained a windward position through the night, so that he would have the choice of battle in the morning. Ongoing repairs made it clear to Graves that he would be unable to attack the next day. On the night of 6 September he held council with Hood and Drake. During this meeting Hood and Graves supposedly exchanged words concerning the conflicting signals, and Hood proposed turning the fleet around to make for the Chesapeake. Graves rejected the plan, and the fleets continued to drift eastward, away from Cornwallis. On 8 and 9 September the French fleet at times gained the advantage of the wind, and briefly threatened the British with renewed action. French scouts spied Barras' fleet on 9 September, and de Grasse turned his fleet back toward the Chesapeake Bay that night. Arriving on 12 September, he found that Barras had arrived two days earlier. Graves ordered the Terrible to be scuttled on 11 September due to her leaky condition, and was notified on 13 September that the French fleet was back in the Chesapeake; he still did not learn that de Grasse's line had not included the fleet of Barras, because the frigate captain making the report had not counted the ships. In a council held that day, the British admirals decided against attacking the French, due to "the truly lamentable state we have brought ourself." Graves then turned his battered fleet toward New York, arriving off Sandy Hook on 20 September.

Aftermath
The British fleet's arrival in New York set off a flurry of panic amongst the Loyalist population. The news of the defeat was also not received well in London. King George III wrote (well before learning of Cornwallis's surrender) that "after the knowledge of the defeat of our fleet [...] I nearly think the empire ruined."

The French success left them firmly in control of the Chesapeake Bay, completing the encirclement of Cornwallis. In addition to capturing a number of smaller British vessels, de Grasse and Barras assigned their smaller vessels to assist in the transport of Washington's and Rochambeau's forces from Head of Elk to Yorktown.

It was not until 23 September that Graves and Clinton learned that the French fleet in the Chesapeake numbered 36 ships. This news came from a dispatch sneaked out by Cornwallis on 17 September, accompanied by a plea for help: "If you cannot relieve me very soon, you must be prepared to hear the worst." After effecting repairs in New York, Admiral Graves sailed from New York on 19 October with 25 ships of the line and transports carrying 7,000 troops to relieve Cornwallis. It was two days after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. General Washington acknowledged to de Grasse the importance of his role in the victory: "You will have observed that, whatever efforts are made by the land armies, the navy must have the casting vote in the present contest." The eventual surrender of Cornwallis led to peace two years later and British recognition of a new, independent United States of America.

Admiral de Grasse returned with his fleet to the West Indies. In a major engagement that ended Franco-Spanish plans for the capture of Jamaica in 1782, he was defeated and taken prisoner by Rodney in the Battle of the Saintes. His flagship Ville de Paris was lost at sea in a storm while being conducted back to England as part of a fleet commanded by Admiral Graves. Graves, despite the controversy over his conduct in this battle, continued to serve, rising to full admiral and receiving an Irish peerage.

Analysis
Many aspects of the battle have been the subject of both contemporary and historical debate, beginning right after the battle. On 6 September, Admiral Graves issued a memorandum justifying his use of the conflicting signals, indicating that "[when] the signal for the line of battle ahead is out at the same time with the signal for battle, it is not to be understood that the latter signal shall be rendered ineffectual by a too strict adherence to the former." Hood, in commentary written on the reverse of his copy, observed that this eliminated any possibility of engaging an enemy who was disordered, since it would require the British line to also be disordered. Instead, he maintained, "the British fleet should be as compact as possible, in order to take the critical moment of an advantage opening ..." Others criticise Hood because he "did not wholeheartedly aid his chief", and that a lesser officer "would have been court-martialled for not doing his utmost to engage the enemy."

One contemporary writer critical of the scuttling of the Terrible wrote that "she made no more water than she did before [the battle]", and, more acidly, "If an able officer had been at the head of the fleet, the Terrible would not have been destroyed." Admiral Rodney was critical of Graves' tactics, writing, "by contracting his own line he might have brought his nineteen against the enemy's fourteen or fifteen, [...] disabled them before they could have received succor, [... and] gained a complete victory." Defending his own behaviour in not sending his full fleet to North America, he also wrote that "[i]f the admiral in America had met Sir Samuel Hood near the Chesapeake", that Cornwallis's surrender might have been prevented.

United States Navy historian Frank Chadwick believed that de Grasse could have thwarted the British fleet simply by staying put; his fleet's size would have been sufficient to impede any attempt by Graves to force a passage through his position. Historian Harold Larrabee points out that this would have exposed Clinton in New York to blockade by the French if Graves had successfully entered the bay; if Graves did not do so, Barras (carrying the siege equipment) would have been outnumbered by Graves if de Grasse did not sail out in support.

According to scientist/historian Eric Jay Dolin, the dreaded hurricane season of 1780 in the Caribbean (a year earlier) may have also played a crucial role in the outcome of the 1781 naval battle. The Great Hurricane of 1780 in October was perhaps the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record. An estimated 22,000 people died throughout the Lesser Antilles with the loss of countless ships from many nations. The Royal Navy's loss of 15 warships with 9 severely damaged crucially affected the balance of the American Revolutionary War, especially during Battle of Chesapeake Bay. An outnumbered British Navy losing to the French proved decisive in Washington's Siege of Yorktown, forcing Cornwallis to surrender and effectively securing independence for the United States of America.

Memorial
At the Cape Henry Memorial located at Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Virginia, there is a monument commemorating the contribution of de Grasse and his sailors to the cause of American independence. The memorial and monument are part of the Colonial National Historical Park and are maintained by the National Park Service.

French line
Sources consulted (including de Grasse's memoir, and works either dedicated to the battle or containing otherwise detailed orders of battle, like Larrabee (1964) and Morrissey (1997)) do not list per-ship casualties for the French fleet. Larrabee reports the French to have suffered 209 casualties; Bougainville recorded 10 killed and 58 wounded aboard Auguste alone.

The exact order in which the French lined up as they exited the bay is also uncertain. Larrabee notes that many observers wrote up different sequences when the line was finally formed, and that Bougainville recorded several different configurations.

The 74-gun Glorieux and Vaillant, as well the other frigates, remained at the mouth of the various rivers that they were guarding.

title: Battle of the Chesapeake


text:
Jimmy Shea

James Edmound Shea Jr. (born June 10, 1968) is an American skeleton racer who won the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Biography
Shea was the third generation of his family to take part in Winter Games. His father competed in Nordic combined and cross-country skiing events in the 1964 Winter Olympics, and his grandfather, Jack Shea, won two gold medals in the 1932 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in speed skating. His grandfather also recited the athlete's oath at the 1932 opening ceremony. He was born and raised in West Hartford, Connecticut, and moved to Lake Placid, New York, in his late teens. He became the first American to win a World Cup race and a World Championship in the sport, and has won more World Cup victories than any other American. He retired in October 2005.

At the FIBT World Championships, Shea earned a complete set of medals in the men's skeleton event with a gold in 1999, a silver in 1997, and a bronze in 2000 (tied for bronze with Austria's Alexander Müller). His best overall seasonal finish in the men's Skeleton World Cup was third twice (1998–99, 2000–01).

Shea founded The Shea Family Foundation which raises money to help kids in sports. He currently serves on the Utah Board of Economic Development.

Shea has two daughters and a son and lives in Park City, Utah. In 2021, he was sentenced to two years of court-supervised probation for sexual misconduct.

2002 Olympics
Along with his father, Jim Shea Sr., he passed the Olympic Torch to Cammi Granato and Picabo Street who then passed it to the 1980 U.S. Men's Hockey Team, who then ignited the Olympic Cauldron.

title: Jimmy Shea


text:
User:Robert Merkel

User:Robert Merkel/GraphTest

I'm a lecturer in the Clayton School of IT at Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

If you want to know more about me, have a look at my blog.

My currently dormant project is adding details for Australia's largest companies (the ASX top 30):

Alumina Limited, Amcor Limited, AMP Limited, Australia And New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Australian Gas Light Company, AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited (part of the global AXA group), BHP Billiton, BlueScope Steel, Boral, Brambles Industries, Coca-Cola Amatil, Coles Myer, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, CSL Limited, CSR Limited, John Fairfax Holdings Limited, Foster's Group Limited, General Property Trust, Insurance Australia Group Limited, James Hardie Industries N.V., Lend Lease Corporation Limited, Macquarie Bank Limited, Macquarie Infrastructure Group (these two are related, obviously), Mayne Group Limited, Mirvac Group, National Australia Bank, Newcrest Mining Limited, News Corporation (there are two different sorts of shares due to the shell games Rupert plays to maintain control of the group), Orica Limited, Origin Energy Limited, Promina Group Limited, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (Kerry Packer's company), Qantas, QBE Insurance Group Limited, Rinker Group Limited, Rio Tinto Limited, Santos Limited, St George Bank Limited, Stockland, Suncorp-Metway Limited, Tabcorp Holdings Limited, Telecom Corporation Of New Zealand Limited, Telstra Corporation Limited, Wesfarmers Limited, Westfield Group, Westpac Banking Corporation, WMC Resources Limited, Woodside Petroleum, and Woolworths Limited.

title: User:Robert Merkel


text:
Burrows–Wheeler transform

The Burrows–Wheeler transform (BWT, also called block-sorting compression) rearranges a character string into runs of similar characters. This is useful for compression, since it tends to be easy to compress a string that has runs of repeated characters by techniques such as move-to-front transform and run-length encoding. More importantly, the transformation is reversible, without needing to store any additional data except the position of the first original character. The BWT is thus a "free" method of improving the efficiency of text compression algorithms, costing only some extra computation. The Burrows–Wheeler transform is an algorithm used to prepare data for use with data compression techniques such as bzip2. It was invented by Michael Burrows and David Wheeler in 1994 while Burrows was working at DEC Systems Research Center in Palo Alto, California. It is based on a previously unpublished transformation discovered by Wheeler in 1983. The algorithm can be implemented efficiently using a suffix array thus reaching linear time complexity.

Description
When a character string is transformed by the BWT, the transformation permutes the order of the characters. If the original string had several substrings that occurred often, then the transformed string will have several places where a single character is repeated multiple times in a row.

For example: The output is easier to compress because it has many repeated characters. In this example the transformed string contains six runs of identical characters: ,, , , , and , which together make 13 out of the 44 characters.

Example
The transform is done by sorting all the circular shifts of a text in lexicographic order and by extracting the last column and the index of the original string in the set of sorted permutations of.

Given an input string  (step 1 in the table below), rotate it N times (step 2), where   is the length of the   string considering also the red   character representing the start of the string and the red   character representing the 'EOF' pointer; these rotations, or circular shifts, are then sorted lexicographically (step 3). The output of the encoding phase is the last column  after step 3, and the index (0-based)   of the row containing the original string , in this case.

It is not necessary to use both  and , but at least one must be used, else we cannot invert the transform, since all circular permutations of a string have the same Burrows–Wheeler transform.

The following pseudocode gives a simple (though inefficient) way to calculate the BWT and its inverse. It assumes that the input string  contains a special character 'EOF' which is the last character and occurs nowhere else in the text.

function BWT (string s)    create a table, where the rows are all possible rotations of s     sort rows alphabetically return (last column of the table)

function inverseBWT (string s)    create empty table repeat length(s) times // first insert creates first column insert s as a column of table before first column of the table sort rows of the table alphabetically return (row that ends with the 'EOF' character)

Explanation
To understand why this creates more-easily-compressible data, consider transforming a long English text frequently containing the word "the". Sorting the rotations of this text will group rotations starting with "he " together, and the last character of that rotation (which is also the character before the "he ") will usually be "t", so the result of the transform would contain a number of "t" characters along with the perhaps less-common exceptions (such as if it contains "ache ") mixed in. So it can be seen that the success of this transform depends upon one value having a high probability of occurring before a sequence, so that in general it needs fairly long samples (a few kilobytes at least) of appropriate data (such as text).

The remarkable thing about the BWT is not that it generates a more easily encoded output—an ordinary sort would do that—but that it does this reversibly, allowing the original document to be re-generated from the last column data.

The inverse can be understood this way. Take the final table in the BWT algorithm, and erase all but the last column. Given only this information, you can easily reconstruct the first column. The last column tells you all the characters in the text, so just sort these characters alphabetically to get the first column. Then, the last and first columns (of each row) together give you all pairs of successive characters in the document, where pairs are taken cyclically so that the last and first character form a pair. Sorting the list of pairs gives the first and second columns. Continuing in this manner, you can reconstruct the entire list. Then, the row with the "end of file" character at the end is the original text. Reversing the example above is done like this:

Optimization
A number of optimizations can make these algorithms run more efficiently without changing the output. There is no need to represent the table in either the encoder or decoder. In the encoder, each row of the table can be represented by a single pointer into the strings, and the sort performed using the indices. In the decoder, there is also no need to store the table, and in fact no sort is needed at all. In time proportional to the alphabet size and string length, the decoded string may be generated one character at a time from right to left. A "character" in the algorithm can be a byte, or a bit, or any other convenient size.

One may also make the observation that mathematically, the encoded string can be computed as a simple modification of the suffix array, and suffix arrays can be computed with linear time and memory. The BWT can be defined with regards to the suffix array SA of text T as (1-based indexing):

$$BWT[i] = \begin{cases} T[SA[i]-1], & \text{if }SA[i] > 0\\ \$, & \text{otherwise}\end{cases}$$

There is no need to have an actual 'EOF' character. Instead, a pointer can be used that remembers where in a string the 'EOF' would be if it existed. In this approach, the output of the BWT must include both the transformed string, and the final value of the pointer. The inverse transform then shrinks it back down to the original size: it is given a string and a pointer, and returns just a string.

A complete description of the algorithms can be found in Burrows and Wheeler's paper, or in a number of online sources. The algorithms vary somewhat by whether EOF is used, and in which direction the sorting was done. In fact, the original formulation did not use an EOF marker.

Bijective variant
Since any rotation of the input string will lead to the same transformed string, the BWT cannot be inverted without adding an EOF marker to the end of the input or doing something equivalent, making it possible to distinguish the input string from all its rotations. Increasing the size of the alphabet (by appending the EOF character) makes later compression steps awkward.

There is a bijective version of the transform, by which the transformed string uniquely identifies the original, and the two have the same length and contain exactly the same characters, just in a different order.

The bijective transform is computed by factoring the input into a non-increasing sequence of Lyndon words; such a factorization exists and is unique by the Chen–Fox–Lyndon theorem, and may be found in linear time and constant space. The algorithm sorts the rotations of all the words; as in the Burrows–Wheeler transform, this produces a sorted sequence of n strings. The transformed string is then obtained by picking the final character of each string in this sorted list. The one important caveat here is that strings of different lengths are not ordered in the usual way; the two strings are repeated forever, and the infinite repeats are sorted. For example, "ORO" precedes "OR" because "OROORO..." precedes "OROROR...".

For example, the text " ^ BANANA $ " is transformed into "ANNBAA ^ $ " through these steps (the red $ character indicates the EOF pointer) in the original string. The EOF character is unneeded in the bijective transform, so it is dropped during the transform and re-added to its proper place in the file.

The string is broken into Lyndon words so the words in the sequence are decreasing using the comparison method above. (Note that we're sorting ' ^ ' as succeeding other characters.) " ^ BANANA" becomes ( ^ ) (B) (AN) (AN) (A).

Up until the last step, the process is identical to the inverse Burrows–Wheeler process, but here it will not necessarily give rotations of a single sequence; it instead gives rotations of Lyndon words (which will start to repeat as the process is continued). Here, we can see (repetitions of) four distinct Lyndon words: (A), (AN) (twice), (B), and ( ^ ). (NANA... doesn't represent a distinct word, as it is a cycle of ANAN....) At this point, these words are sorted into reverse order: ( ^ ), (B), (AN), (AN), (A). These are then concatenated to get
 * ^ BANANA

The Burrows–Wheeler transform can indeed be viewed as a special case of this bijective transform; instead of the traditional introduction of a new letter from outside our alphabet to denote the end of the string, we can introduce a new letter that compares as preceding all existing letters that is put at the beginning of the string. The whole string is now a Lyndon word, and running it through the bijective process will therefore result in a transformed result that, when inverted, gives back the Lyndon word, with no need for reassembling at the end.

Relatedly, the transformed text will only differ from the result of BWT by one character per Lyndon word; for example, if the input is decomposed into six Lyndon words, the output will only differ in six characters. For example, applying the bijective transform gives: The bijective transform includes eight runs of identical characters. These runs are, in order: , ,, , , , , and .

In total, 18 characters are used in these runs.

Dynamic Burrows–Wheeler transform
When a text is edited, its Burrows–Wheeler transform will change. Salson et al. propose an algorithm that deduces the Burrows–Wheeler transform of an edited text from that of the original text, doing a limited number of local reorderings in the original Burrows–Wheeler transform, which can be faster than constructing the Burrows–Wheeler transform of the edited text directly.

Sample implementation
This Python implementation sacrifices speed for simplicity: the program is short, but takes more than the linear time that would be desired in a practical implementation. It essentially does what the pseudocode section does.

Using the STX/ETX control codes to mark the start and end of the text, and using  to construct the  th rotation of , the forward transform takes the last character of each of the sorted rows:

The inverse transform repeatedly inserts  as the left column of the table and sorts the table. After the whole table is built, it returns the row that ends with ETX, minus the STX and ETX.

Following implementation notes from Manzini, it is equivalent to use a simple null character suffix instead. The sorting should be done in colexicographic order (string read right-to-left), i.e. sorted(..., key=lambda s: s[::-1]) in Python. (The above control codes actually fail to satisfy EOF being the last character; the two codes are actually the first. The rotation holds nevertheless.)

BWT applications
As a lossless compression algorithm the Burrows–Wheeler transform offers the important quality that its encoding is reversible and hence the original data may be recovered from the resulting compression. The lossless quality of Burrows algorithm has provided for different algorithms with different purposes in mind. To name a few, Burrows–Wheeler transform is used in algorithms for sequence alignment, image compression, data compression, etc. The following is a compilation of some uses given to the Burrows–Wheeler Transform.

BWT for sequence alignment
The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques at the end of the 2000s decade has led to another application of the Burrows–Wheeler transformation. In NGS, DNA is fragmented into small pieces, of which the first few bases are sequenced, yielding several millions of "reads", each 30 to 500 base pairs ("DNA characters") long. In many experiments, e.g., in ChIP-Seq, the task is now to align these reads to a reference genome, i.e., to the known, nearly complete sequence of the organism in question (which may be up to several billion base pairs long). A number of alignment programs, specialized for this task, were published, which initially relied on hashing (e.g., Eland, SOAP, or Maq ). In an effort to reduce the memory requirement for sequence alignment, several alignment programs were developed (Bowtie, BWA, and SOAP2 ) that use the Burrows–Wheeler transform.

BWT for image compression
The Burrows–Wheeler transformation has proved to be fundamental for image compression applications. For example, Showed a compression pipeline based on the application of the Burrows–Wheeler transformation followed by inversion, run-length, and arithmetic encoders. The pipeline developed in this case is known as Burrows–Wheeler transform with an inversion encoder (BWIC). The results shown by BWIC are shown to outperform the compression performance of well-known and widely used algorithms like Lossless JPEG and JPEG 2000. BWIC is shown to outperform those in terms of final compression size of radiography medical images on the order of 5.1% and 4.1% respectively. The improvements are achieved by combining BWIC and a pre-BWIC scan of the image in a vertical snake order fashion. More recently, additional works like that of have shown the implementation of the Burrows–Wheeler Transform in conjunction with the known move-to-front transform (MTF) achieve near lossless compression of images.

BWT for compression of genomic databases
Cox et al. presented a genomic compression scheme that uses BWT as the algorithm applied during the first stage of compression of several genomic datasets including the human genomic information. Their work proposed that BWT compression could be enhanced by including a second stage compression mechanism called same-as-previous encoding ("SAP"), which makes use of the fact that suffixes of two or more prefix letters could be equal. With the compression mechanism BWT-SAP, Cox et al. showed that in the genomic database ERA015743, 135.5 GB in size, the compression scheme BWT-SAP compresses the ERA015743 dataset by around 94%, to 8.2 GB.

BWT for sequence prediction
BWT has also been proved to be useful on sequence prediction which is a common area of study in machine learning and natural-language processing. In particular, Ktistakis et al. proposed a sequence prediction scheme called SuBSeq that exploits the lossless compression of data of the Burrows–Wheeler transform. SuBSeq exploits BWT by extracting the FM-index and then performing a series of operations called backwardSearch, forwardSearch, neighbourExpansion, and getConsequents in order to search for predictions given a suffix. The predictions are then classified based on a weight and put into an array from which the element with the highest weight is given as the prediction from the SuBSeq algorithm. SuBSeq has been shown to outperform state of the art algorithms for sequence prediction both in terms of training time and accuracy.

title: Burrows–Wheeler transform


text:
Matthias the Apostle

Matthias (Koine Greek: Μαθθίας, Maththías, from Hebrew מַתִּתְיָהוּ Mattiṯyāhū; ⲙⲁⲑⲓⲁⲥ; died c. AD 80) was, according to the Acts of the Apostles, chosen by God through the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter's betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent death. His calling as an apostle is unique, in that his appointment was not made personally by Jesus (who had already ascended into heaven), and it came before the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the early Church.

Biography
There is no mention of a Matthias among the lists of disciples or followers of Jesus in the three synoptic gospels, but according to Acts, he had been with Jesus from his baptism by John until his Ascension. In the days following, Peter proposed that the assembled disciples, who numbered about 120, nominate two men to replace Judas. They chose Joseph called Barsabas (whose surname was Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all [men], shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place." Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

No further information about Matthias is to be found in the canonical New Testament. Even his name is variable: the Syriac version of Eusebius calls him throughout not Matthias but "Tolmai", not to be confused with Bartholomew (which means Son of Tolmai), who was one of the twelve original Apostles; Clement of Alexandria refers once to Zacchaeus in a way which could be read as suggesting that some identified him with Matthias; the Clementine Recognitions identify him with Barnabas; Adolf Bernhard Christoph Hilgenfeld thinks he is the same as Nathanael in the Gospel of John.

Ministry
The tradition of the Greeks says that St. Matthias spread Christianity around Cappadocia and on the coasts of the Caspian Sea, residing chiefly near the port Issus.

According to Nicephorus (Historia eccl., 2, 40), Matthias first preached the Gospel in Judaea, then in Aethiopia (by the region of Colchis, now in modern-day Georgia) and was crucified. An extant Coptic Acts of Andrew and Matthias, places his activity similarly in "the city of the cannibals" in Aethiopia. A marker placed in the ruins of the Roman fortress at Gonio (Apsaros) in the modern Georgian region of Adjara claims that Matthias is buried at that site.

The Synopsis of Dorotheus contains this tradition: "Matthias preached the Gospel to barbarians and meat-eaters in the interior of Ethiopia, where the sea harbor of Hyssus is, at the mouth of the river Phasis. He died at Sebastopolis, and was buried there, near the Temple of the Sun."

Alternatively, another tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem by the local populace, and then beheaded (cf. Tillemont, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclesiastique des six premiers siècles, I, 406–7). According to Hippolytus of Rome, Matthias died of old age in Jerusalem.

Clement of Alexandria observed (Stromateis vi.13.):

"Not that they became apostles through being chosen for some distinguished peculiarity of nature, since also Judas was chosen along with them. But they were capable of becoming apostles on being chosen by Him who foresees even ultimate issues. Matthias, accordingly, who was not chosen along with them, on showing himself worthy of becoming an apostle, is substituted for Judas."

Writings
Surviving fragments of the lost Gospel of Matthias attribute it to Matthias, but Early Church Fathers attributed it to heretical writings in the 2nd century.

Veneration
The feast of Saint Matthias was included in the Roman Calendar in the 11th century and celebrated on the sixth day to the Calends of March (24 February usually, but 25 February in leap years). In the revision of the General Roman Calendar in 1969, his feast was transferred to 14 May, so as not to celebrate it in Lent but instead in Eastertide close to the Solemnity of the Ascension, the event after which the Acts of the Apostles recounts that Matthias was selected to be ranked with the Twelve Apostles.

The Eastern Rites of the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrate his feast on 9 August. Yet the Western Rite parishes of the Orthodox Church continues the old Roman Rite of 24 and 25 February in leap years.

The Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, as well as other older common prayer books in the Anglican Communion, celebrates Matthias on 24 February. According to the newer Common Worship liturgy, Matthias is remembered in the Church of England with a Festival on 14 May, although he may be celebrated on 24 February, if desired. In the Episcopal Church as well as some in the Lutheran Church, including the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Lutheran Church–Canada, his feast remains on 24 February. In Evangelical Lutheran Worship, used by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as well as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the feast date for Matthias is on 14 May.

It is claimed that St Matthias the Apostle's remains were brought to Italy through Empress Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine I (the Great); part of these relics were interred in the Abbey of Santa Giustina, Padua, and the remaining in the Abbey of St. Matthias, Trier, Germany. According to Greek sources, the remains of the apostle are buried in the castle of Gonio-Apsaros, Georgia.

title: Matthias the Apostle