"Conversations on the Life of the Italian Fathers", containing highly edifying narratives about the lives of the Italian saints, presented with fascinating simplicity and artlessness, constitute a precious acquisition for every Christian. But in addition, they are important for the wealth of materials they contain for the history of the Universal Church during the troubled time of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. St. Gregory, as he himself says in the preface to the “interviews,” collected information from the most respectable and completely trustworthy people, mostly eyewitnesses of the events he talks about. The book is also known as the Roman Patericon.