Hello and welcome to Saint Stories for Kids, a weekly podcast full of fun stories and facts about

the holy men and women that have come before us.

I'm your host, Chantel Barrows.

Saint Stories for Kids is brought to you by Shining Light Dolls.

Discover award-winning Catholic Dolls books and more.

Passing on the faith through proven play-based learning.

Catholic mom designed, Catholic kid approved. Visit

W.W. shining light dolls.com to learn more and check out our new free coloring

and activity sheets while you're there. Today we'll be telling the story of St. Gregory the Great,

also known as St. Pope Gregory the First,

whose feast is celebrated on September 3rd.

Gregory was born around the year 540 in Rome, Italy.

His parents were wealthy Roman nobles and also very devout Christians.

In fact, Gregory has a lot of other Saints in his family.

His mother, St. Sylvia, two paternal aunts, and his mother's sister-in-law are all venerated as Saints.

And St. Gregory's great-great-grandfather was Pope Felix III,

who had been married with two children before his wife passed away

and he was elected as Pope.

Because of the position of his family, Gregory was able to receive a

fantastic education and excelled at all of his studies. His brilliant mind was

hard to miss and Gregory quickly advanced through the

government ranks to become Prefect of Rome when he was only 33 years old.

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