Gregory of Brechin was a 13th-century prelate

Prelate

A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...

 based in the Kingdom of Scotland

Kingdom of Scotland

The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...

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Gregory's name appears for the first time in an Arbroath Abbey

Arbroath Abbey

Arbroath Abbey, in the Scottish town of Arbroath, was founded in 1178 by King William the Lion for a group of Tironensian Benedictine monks from Kelso Abbey. It was consecrated in 1197 with a dedication to the deceased Saint Thomas Becket, whom the king had met at the English court...

 document dating between 1189 and 1198, when he is holding the office of Archdeacon of Brechin

Archdeacon of Brechin

The Archdeacon of Brechin was the only archdeacon in the diocese of Brechin, acting as a subordinate of the Bishop of Brechin. The archdeacon held the parish church of Strachan as a prebend from at least 1274.-List of archdeacons of Moray:...

. He is the first known archdeacon

Archdeacon

An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...

 in the diocese of Brechin

Diocese of Brechin

The pre-Reformation Diocese of Brechin or Diocese of Angus was one of the thirteen historical dioceses of Scotland. The diocese was believed to have been founded by Bishop Samson in 1153, and based at the cathedral in Brechin, Angus...

. Following the death of Bishop Hugh in 1218, he is elected Bishop of Brechin

Bishop of Brechin

The Bishop of Brechin is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Brechin or Angus, based at Brechin Cathedral, Brechin. The diocese had a long-established Gaelic monastic community which survived into the 13th century. The clerical establishment may very well have traced their earlier origins...

; the papacy issued a mandate to the bishop of St Andrews for his confirmation and consecration

Consecration

Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...

 on 15 December 1218.

Gregory is found as a papal judge-delegate

Papal judge-delegate

A papal judge delegate was a type of judicial appointment created during the 12th century by the medieval papacy where the pope would designate a local judge, often an ecclesiastic, to decide a case that had been appealed to the papal court....

 in 1219, 1224 and 1225. He was present at the royal council in Forfar

Forfar

Forfar is a parish, town and former royal burgh of approximately 13,500 people in Angus, located in the East Central Lowlands of Scotland. Forfar is the county town of Angus, which was officially known as Forfarshire from the 18th century until 1929, when the ancient name was reinstated, and...

 in 1225, and at Dundee

Dundee

Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...

 in 1230.
He appears in another Arbroath document dating to 1242, his last appearance in contemporary sources.

During Gregory's time the cathedral

Brechin Cathedral

The cathedral church of the Holy Trinity in Brechin, Angus, Scotland, belongs to the 13th century. It is in the Pointed style, but suffered maltreatment in 1806 at the hands of restorers, whose work was subsequently removed during the restoration completed in 1902...

 was run by Scottish priests called Céli Dé, governed until at least the early part of Gregory's episcopate by a prior named Máel Brigte (Mac Léoit, "MacLoud"). The old abbots of Brechin were in the process of becoming the secular Mac in Aba (filius Abbe, "MacNab") lords of Glen Esk. Soon after Gregory's death these priests "by change of name" came to be "styled as canons". Gregory may have been responsible for this nominal change.

Gregory died sometime between his last appearance in 1242, and 1246 when the papacy mandated the confirmation of his successor Albin

Albin of Brechin

Albin was a 13th-century prelate of the Kingdom of Scotland. A university graduate, Albin is known for his ecclesiastical career in the diocese of Brechin, centred on Angus in east-central Scotland....

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