Gregorius (32) Turonensis, bp. of Tours (c. 573–594). His life
we know chiefly from his own writings. The Vita per Odonem Abbatem, generally
pub. with his works, is almost entirely based upon what he says of himself.
Gregory himself gives a list of his works. At the end of his History he says, "Decem libros historiarum, septem miraculorum, unum de vitis Patrum scripsi: in Psalterii tractatum librum unum commentatus sum: de cursibus etiam ecclesiasticis unum librum condidi" (bk. x. 31, sub fin.). Of these all are extant except the commentary on the Psalms, of which only fragments exist, collected in vol. iii. of Bordier's ed. pp. 401 sqq. His History is in vol. ii. of Bouquet, and in the collections of La Bigne, Duchesne, and Migne. There are valuable edd. by the Société de l᾿Histoire de France, with French trans. and notes, viz. the Hist. eccl. des Francs, edited by MM.
Guadet et Taranne (4 vols. 1836–1838), and
Les Livres des miracles et autres opuscules, including the Vita, extracts
from Fortunatus, etc., by M. H. L. Bordier (4 vols. 1857–1864). But the best and
most recent ed. is that of W. Arndt and Br. Krusch in Mon. Germ. Hist. Script. Rex. Merov. i. This contains an Index, Orthographica, Lexica et Grammatica. Of the commentaries and works bearing on his life and writings, the most important and thorough are Löbell's Gregor von Tours and seine Zeit (2nd ed. 1869), and Gabriel Monod's Etudes critiques sur l᾿époque mérovingienne, pt. i. 1872, being fasc. No. 9 of the Bibliothèque de l᾿école des hautes études.
Georgius Florentius (subsequently called Gregorius, after his great-grandfather) was born Nov. 30, 538. Previous authorities have generally given the year 543, from the passage in the Vita which states that he was 30 years old at the time of his consecration, i.e. in 573.
Members of both parents' families had held high office in church and state. His
paternal grandfather Georgius and his maternal great-grandfather Florentius (V. P. 8, 1) had been senators at Clermont. Gallus, son of Georgius and uncle of Gregory, was bp. of Auvergne; another uncle, Nicetius or Nizier, bp. of Lyons (H. v. 5; V. P. 8) ; another, Gundulf, had risen to ducal rank (H. vi. 11). Gregory, bp. of Langres, and originally count of Autun, was his great-grandfather, and all the previous bishops of Tours, except five, had been of his family (v. 50). It is with justifiable pride, therefore, that he asserts (V. P. 6) that none in Gaul could boast of purer and nobler blood than himself. His father appears to have died early, and Gregory received most of his education from his uncle Gallus, bp. of Auvergne. Being sick of a fever in his youth, he found relief by visiting the shrine of St. Illidius, the patron saint of Clermont. The fever returned, and Gregory's life was despaired of. Being again carried to St. Illidius's shrine, he vowed to dedicate himself to the ministry if he recovered, nor would he quit the shrine till his prayer was granted (V. P. 2, 2).
Armentaria, Gregory's mother, returned to Burgundy, her native country, and Gregory apparently lived with Avitus, at first archdeacon, afterwards bp. of Auvergne, who carried on his education, directing his pupil rather to the study of ecclesiastical than of secular works. Gregory looked upon Avitus as in the fullest sense his spiritual father. "It was his teaching and preaching that, next to the Psalms of David, led me to recognize that Jesus Christ the Son of God had come into the world to save sinners, and caused me to reverence and honour those as the friends and disciples of Christ who take up His cross and follow in His steps " (V. P. 2, Intro.). By Avitus he was ordained deacon, probably c. 563 (Monod. 29).
Of Gregory's life before he became bp. of Tours few details are known. He appears to have been well known at Tours (Mir. Mart. i. 32, Vita, c. ii.), for it was in consequence of the expressed wish of the whole people of Tours, clergy and laity, that Sigebert appointed him, in 573, to the see. He was consecrated by Egidius of Rheims. He was known to and favoured by Radegund the widow of Clotaire I., foundress of St. Cross at Poictiers, who, according to Fortunatus, helped to procure his election (Carm. v. 3).