Gregory of Utrecht, St.
GREGORY OF UTRECHT, ST.
Associate of St. Boniface; b. near Trier, c. 707; d. Aug. 25, 776. Born of a leading Merovingian family, he was educated by his grandmother, the abbess of Pfalzel. Gregory met (St.) boniface in 722 and became his devoted follower and constant companion for more than 30 years. In 754, Gregory was made abbot of St. Martin's in Utrecht. The following year Boniface and Bishop eoban were martyred and direction of the Frisian mission fell to Gregory; he conducted it for 20 years while administering the Diocese of Utrecht, although he was never consecrated bishop. Building upon willibrord's early work, Gregory developed a school that became the leading intellectual center of the northern Low Countries, and in it he trained several outstanding religious leaders, the best known being the Frisian, ludger. Gregory's head is preserved at Susteren, Netherlands.
Feast: Aug. 25.
Bibliography: Monumenta Germaniae Scriptores (Berlin 1825–) 15.1:63–79. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, ed. h. thurston and d. attwater, 4 v. (New York 1956) 3:402–403. a. hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, 5 v. (9th ed. Berlin-Leipzig 1958) 2:356–359. t. schieffer, Winfrid-Bonifatius und die christliche Grundlegung Europas (Freiburg 1954). p. viard, Catholicisme 5:265–266.
[r. balch]