Confession and Self-Examination: Gregory the Great on Pastoral Self-Examination

Gregory the Great's "Pastoral Rule" (c. 590) begins with an extended discussion of the leader's obligation to examine themselves before presuming to lead others. He wrote: "No one presumes to teach an art until he has first, with intent meditation, learned it. What rashness is it, then, for the unskillful to assume pastoral authority, since the government of souls is the art of arts!"…