San Gregorio Magno al Celio, Rome
A monastery made from a Roman family house, where Gregory the Great lived as a monk, and from which he sent Augustine to the English.
- Location
- Rome, Italy
- 41.8855° N · 12.4906° E
- Type
- Church of a Camaldolese Benedictine monastery
- A medieval church refashioned in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Giovanni Battista Soria's atrium and facade of 1629 to 1633, an interior remade by Francesco Ferrari from 1725, and a Cosmatesque floor surviving from the thirteenth century
- Dedication
- Saints Andrew and Gregory: Gregory dedicated his monastery to the apostle Andrew, and the church later took the name of its founder
- The chapel of Saint Gregory and the garden oratories
- Time Needed
- 30 minutes to half a day
Gregory's house
Come to stand where Gregory chose the monastic life over a public career, and where the mission that founded the English Church began. The church is a quiet Roman monastery, still served by Benedictine monks, across the road from the Palatine. It asks less of a visitor than the great basilicas and gives a great deal back.
From a family house to the mission to the English
Gregory was born about 540 into a Roman senatorial family and served as prefect of the city. About 575 he gave up that career, turned his family house on the Caelian into a monastery dedicated to Saint Andrew, and lived there as a monk. Sent to Constantinople as the pope's representative, he came back to this community, and was taken from it in 590 to be made pope. In 596 he chose the prior of his monastery, Augustine, and sent him with about forty monks to the English. Bede tells the story from Canterbury's records, and Benedict XVI recalled it here in 2012. Camaldolese monks have kept the monastery since 1573.
A broad staircase climbs to Soria's facade of 1633 and an atrium lined with tombs. Inside, three naves stand on ancient columns; Gregory's chapel is at the end of the right aisle. Beside the church, the garden holds three oratories, to Saint Andrew, Saint Barbara and Saint Silvia, Gregory's mother.
A house before it was a church.
Gregory's vocation and the English mission meet on one hill.
- 01 Begin with the monk Gregory lived here as a monk before he was pope. Start in his chapel.
- 02 Remember the sending Augustine was prior of this community when Gregory sent him to the English.
- 03 Hold history and tradition apart The foundation is documented; the chair and the table are kept by tradition.
Benedict XVI and Archbishop Rowan Williams prayed Vespers here together on March 10, 2012, for the thousand years of the Camaldolese.
The atrium keeps the tomb of Sir Edward Carne, the English envoy who died in Rome in 1561.
Spiritual Significance
This is a place of a vocation and of a sending. Gregory gave up wealth and office to pray here, and the habit of listening to Scripture he learned in this house shaped everything he did as pope. From the same community he sent monks to a people he had never seen, and kept writing to them with patience and practical counsel.
Catholics and Anglicans both come here to remember Augustine's mission. The monks keep the Office in the church, and the pilgrim is welcome to pray with them.
- Gregory was prefect of Rome before he became a monk here. He gave up the city's highest civil office for this house.
- The monastery was dedicated to Saint Andrew, the apostle who brought his brother to Christ. The church took Gregory's name later.
- Bede calls Augustine the prior of this community when Gregory sent him to the English in 596.
- Gregory's mother Silvia is venerated as a saint; the oratory in the garden bears her name.
- Until 1870, popes came here on Holy Thursday to serve a meal to the poor in Gregory's memory.
- Camaldolese monks, a Benedictine congregation, have served the church since 1573.
Do Not Miss
-
01
The chapel of Saint Gregory
At the end of the right aisle, with the marble chair venerated by tradition as his.
-
02
The oratory of Saint Andrew
In the garden: Domenichino's and Guido Reni's frescoes of the apostle to whom Gregory dedicated his monastery.
-
03
The oratory of Saint Barbara
The marble table where, tradition holds, Gregory served twelve poor people each day.
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04
The oratory of Saint Silvia
Dedicated to Gregory's mother, with Reni's choir of angels in the apse.
See all 4 · 1 more
- The oratory of Saint Silvia Dedicated to Gregory's mother, with Reni's choir of angels in the apse.
Visit Plans
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About 45 minutes Pilgrims following Saint Gregory and Saint Augustine of Canterbury
The monk and the mission
Pray in the chapel of Saint Gregory, walk back through the nave and atrium, and, if the garden is open, end in the oratories of Saint Andrew and Saint Barbara.
- The chapel of Saint Gregory and his chair
- The nave and the atrium
- The oratories of Saint Andrew and Saint Barbara, when open
How to Visit
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Served since 1573 by the Camaldolese Benedictine monks
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The monastic Office and Mass in the church
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Saint Gregory's feast kept on September 3
A monastery first, then a monument.
San Gregorio is a living Camaldolese monastery. Its church hours and liturgy times are set by the community, and the three garden oratories keep a separate, more limited schedule.
- Address
- Piazza di San Gregorio al Celio 1, 00184 Rome, Italy
- Time needed
- About 45 minutes, longer with the oratories
- Primary devotion
- Saint Gregory the Great, in the monastery he founded
Before setting out
The church follows the monastery's hours. The oratories of Saint Andrew, Saint Barbara and Saint Silvia open less often; confirm before you plan around them.
The Camaldolese community prays the Office and celebrates Mass in the church. Check the monastery's current liturgy times.
Shoulders and knees covered, as in any Roman church.
Relics, Tombs, Sacred Objects
| Object | Type | Confidence | Public veneration | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The monastery of Saint Andrew | Monastic foundation on a family house |
Documented
Gregory's turning of his family house on the Caelian into the monastery of Saint Andrew, about 575, is recorded in the early lives and recalled by Benedict XVI |
A living monastery; the present church stands on the site | Benedict XVI, General Audience of May 28, 2008 · Catholic Encyclopedia |
| The departure of the mission to the English | Historical association |
Documented
Bede names Augustine as prior of Gregory's monastery when he was sent in 596; no particular room or stair is identified |
Remembered here by Catholics and Anglicans alike | Bede, Ecclesiastical History I.23 · Benedict XVI, March 10, 2012 |
| The chair of Saint Gregory | Venerated object, traditional attribution |
Traditional
An ancient Roman marble seat, venerated by long-standing tradition as Gregory's own |
Kept in the chapel of Saint Gregory | Turismo Roma |
| The table of the poor (Triclinium) | Venerated object, traditional attribution |
Traditional
Tradition holds that Gregory served twelve poor people at this table each day, and that an angel once sat among them as a thirteenth guest |
Kept in the oratory of Saint Barbara | Turismo Roma |
Source note Traditional attributions are presented as tradition, with documentation named where it exists.
Connected Saints
- Saint Gregory the Great Founded the monastery in his family house, about 575 Gregory turned his family house into the monastery of Saint Andrew and lived here as a monk before he was made pope in 590.
- Saint Augustine of Canterbury Prior of the monastery, sent to the English in 596 Augustine was prior of Gregory's monastery of Saint Andrew when the pope chose him to lead the mission to the English. He landed in Kent in 597 and founded the see of Canterbury.
Continue Your Pilgrimage
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City hub
Rome
Where this church sits within the wider Catholic geography of Rome.
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Fortified basilica and monastery
Basilica of Santi Quattro Coronati, Rome
Another enclosed monastery on the Caelian, with a silent cloister and the thirteenth-century chapel of Saint Sylvester.
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Basilica above an early church
Basilica of San Clemente al Laterano, Rome
Three layers of Roman Christianity at the foot of the Caelian: a twelfth-century basilica on a fourth-century church on first-century rooms.
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Benedictine primatial abbey
Sant'Anselmo all'Aventino, Rome
The home of the Benedictine Abbot Primate across the Circus Maximus on the Aventine, where the monastic tradition Gregory loved is still sung.
Map
The foundation of the monastery of Saint Andrew in Gregory's family house, his prefecture and his years as a monk follow Benedict XVI's General Audience of May 28, 2008. Augustine as prior of the monastery and the mission of 596 follow Bede (Ecclesiastical History I.23); Benedict XVI's words at Vespers on March 10, 2012 are quoted from vatican.va. No specific room, stair or doorway is identified as the place of Augustine's departure. The Camaldolese since 1573, the facade of 1633, the interior of 1725, the Cosmatesque floor, the chair, the oratories and the Holy Thursday custom follow Turismo Roma; the chair and the table are given as tradition. Hours change; check the monastery.
October 7, 2026
Photo credits
- Hero. Livioandronico2013, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Gregory beside the Virgin. Peter1936F, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 4.0.