SAINT GREGORY'S GUEST
Do you know the beautiful story,
So wonderfully tender and quaint,
Of Pope Gregory, famed for his goodness,
Now known everywhere as a saint?
So wonderfully tender and quaint,
Of Pope Gregory, famed for his goodness,
Now known everywhere as a saint?
'Tis a story worth the repeating,
For it tells of his service of love
To the sick, the sad and the weary,—
Born of love to our Father above.
For it tells of his service of love
To the sick, the sad and the weary,—
Born of love to our Father above.
His heart seemed a fountain of sweetness,
From whence like a rivulet flowed
A stream of kind words,—deeds of mercy,
On the sad and the storm-tossed bestowed.
From whence like a rivulet flowed
A stream of kind words,—deeds of mercy,
On the sad and the storm-tossed bestowed.
But of all these memories cherished,
The sweetest and dearest and best,
Is the one 'tis a joy to be telling,
How he welcomed an unbidden guest.
The sweetest and dearest and best,
Is the one 'tis a joy to be telling,
How he welcomed an unbidden guest.
One day, he had gathered around him
Twelve sad ones to comfort and cheer,
Whose lives had been darkened by sorrow,
And saddened with many a fear.
Twelve sad ones to comfort and cheer,
Whose lives had been darkened by sorrow,
And saddened with many a fear.
But when his guests all had been seated
At the table so bountifully spread,
And the words of thanksgiving been spoken,
That were said at the breaking of bread.
At the table so bountifully spread,
And the words of thanksgiving been spoken,
That were said at the breaking of bread.
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