Gregory IV

Gregory · 827 – 844

Extended the feast of All Saints to the universal Church and got caught in the middle of a civil war between Carolingian princes.

Gregory was a Roman cardinal-priest who became pope in 827. His most lasting act was extending the feast of All Saints to November 1 for the entire Western Church, giving the liturgical calendar one of its most enduring celebrations. Politically, he tried to mediate the civil war among the sons of Louis the Pious but was humiliated when the bishops of the Frankish Empire told him he had no authority to intervene in political affairs. He also fortified the port of Ostia against Saracen raids.

All Saints

Gregory IV gave the whole Western Church the feast of All Saints on November 1. It was a simple decision with an enormous legacy. Every year when Catholics honor all the holy men and women who came before them, known and unknown, they are observing a calendar date Gregory set nearly twelve hundred years ago.