(Vatican Radio) To mark the Feast day of Saint Gregory the Great which falls each
year on September 3rd Veronica Scarisbrick asks Professor of Fine Arts, Breda Ennis
to join her on the Caelian hill , a place where he is remembered in a special way.
And where Pope Benedict XVI visited back in March this year to take part in
Vespers together with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The occasion
coincided with celebrations in this Camaldolese monastery to mark the founding of
their Order in 1012 . A monastery located on the Caelian hill where since the
Second Vatican Council strong ties with Canterbury and the Anglican Communion have
developed. A tradition of ties with England that began here centuries earlier
with Gregory the Great who at the end of the sixth century dispatched from here Saint
Augustine on a mission to convert its people. Also on this site, there exists
another lesser known English landmark: the tomb of Sir Edward Carne. Sir Edward is
worthy of note for having been sent here a couple of times between 1529 and 1533 by
King Henry VIII in an effort to obtain papal approval to the annulment of his marriage
to Catherine of Aragon. Attached to the monastery and rising on top of an elegant
flight of steps, there now stands the Roman Church of San Gregorio Magno , dedicated
to Gregory the Great by a later Pope , Gregory II. Today with the exception of
the cosmatesque pavement and some ancient columns, the Church is an example of baroque
splendour. But hidden away in the far right hand corner is a chapel believed to
have been Gregory the Great's cell in which you can still admire the stone where he
slept. Also housed there is his imposing marble throne. A programme presented
and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick . Listen :