Madigan presents Gregory the Great as someone who established and influenced geographical and ecclesiastical principles that, through time, would pave the way for medieval popes to grow in power and authority. Gregory viewed the role of papacy, as well as monastic life and biblical culture as an opportunity to create a better and new society. Gregory is considered one of the four ancient “doctors” of the western church. Some other accomplishments were that Gregory had become the prefect of the city of Rome, founded at least seven monasteries, appointed one of the seven historic deacons of Rome, and also the first monk ever to be made bishop of Rome.

Gregory’s letter to Dominic shows the much more spiritual side of Gregory, which shows some consistencies to the image that Madigan presents about Gregory. Throughout the letter, Gregory gives his take on suffering and death, as well as his diligence to put his trust and reliance on God (Rosenwein). This matches up with how Madigan describes Gregory as a person dedicated to the church and how he adopted the title “servant of the servants of God” (Madigan). The letter confirms the image of Gregory as the “Consul of God,” showing that without the grace of God, humankind can do nothing. He also presents his statements in the letter by referencing to the Book of Job, specifically in regards to how the good people will suffer but ultimately those who do wicked deeds will be punished and those who do good deeds will be rewarded (like Job). The context of the letter is in response to the Plague of Justinian that began to spread across the Mediterranean and further, from the Middle East all the way to Europe. Gregory is sending the letter to Dominic, who held an important position as bishop of Carthage, in order to counter the plague at Rome. Gregory’s instructions to Dominic are to restrain the members of his church from wicked deeds and continue on fighting the good fight of faith and filling their lives with tears of penitence and good deeds that will counter the plague and reap many other rewards.

Outside of the Book of Job, it seems that apocalyptic passages like Mark 13 and Revelation 6, 8-9 influence his interpretation of current events (at that time). Mark 13 talks about how the world will turn against God, how there will be war and conflict throughout the world, and how the signs of the end times will be obvious. Revelation also talks about most of the things mentioned in Mark 13 (war, earthquakes, etc.) but also mentions more signs of the end times like angels sounding trumpets and the abundant death of those who are not marked will the “seal of God.” These apocalyptic passages seem to have influenced Gregory in that there were a plethora of sudden deaths through the plague that appeared to be the cause of going against God that could draw comparisons to the biblical passages in Mark and Revelation, which led Gregory to put more caution to leaders in Rome to put their faith in God and perform good deeds to avoid the plague (Rosenwein).