Pope Gregory the Great dies 604

Pope Gregory the Great died in Rome, on the 12th of March 604, he was succeeded by Pope Sabinian.

Gregory revised the liturgy of the Pre-Tridentine Mass, moving the Pater Noster to immediately after the Roman Canon and immediately before the Fraction. The Gregorian reforms of the liturgy are referred to as Sacrementaria Gregoriana. From Gregory's time Western liturgy begins to show a characteristic that distinguishes it from Eastern liturgical traditions. At that time the Holy See had not exerted effective leadership in the West.

Gregory is credited with re-energizing the Church's missionary work among the non-Christian peoples of northern Europe. He is most famous for sending a mission under Augustine of Canterbury. where he had succeeded to evangelize the pagan Anglo-Saxons of England. It was from England that missionaries later set out for the Netherlands and Germany. The preaching of the Catholic faith and the elimination of all deviations from it were a key element in Gregory's worldview, and it constituted one of the major continuing policies of his pontificate.