Letter 11050: Agathosa, the bearer of these presents, complains that her husband has, against her will, been converted in the monastery of the abbot Urbicus. And, since this undoubtedly touches the credit and reputation of the said abbot, we enjoin your Experience to investigate the matter by diligent enquiry, so as to see whether it may not be the case that...
Pope Gregory the Great→Adrian, Notary of Sicily|c. 601 AD|Pope Gregory the Great|Human translated
monasticismwomen
Marriage customs; Conversion/baptism
Gregory to Adrian, Notary of Palermo.
Agathosa, the bearer of this letter, complains that her husband has been received into the monastery of the abbot Urbicus against her will [meaning he became a monk without her consent].
Since this directly affects the abbot's reputation, I need you to investigate the matter carefully. Determine whether the husband's conversion was actually done with her consent, or whether she herself had promised to enter religious life. If either is the case, let him stay in the monastery and compel her to follow through on her promise.
But if neither is true, and you find no evidence that she has committed adultery -- which is the only lawful ground for a man to leave his wife -- then her husband must be returned to her, even if he has already been tonsured [received the monastic haircut]. We cannot allow his conversion to become an occasion of spiritual ruin for the wife he left behind.
Here is the principle: secular law may permit a marriage to be dissolved for the sake of religious conversion against either party's will. But divine law does not. Except for the cause of fornication, a man may not put away his wife. Once husband and wife have been made one body through marriage, the body cannot be partly converted and partly left in the world.
Book XI, Letter 50
To Adrian, Notary.
Gregory to Adrian, Notary of Panormus.
Agathosa, the bearer of these presents, complains that her husband has, against her will, been converted in the monastery of the abbot Urbicus. And, since this undoubtedly touches the credit and reputation of the said abbot, we enjoin your Experience to investigate the matter by diligent enquiry, so as to see whether it may not be the case that the man's conversion was with her consent, or that she herself had promised to change her state. And should it be found to be so, see to his remaining in the monastery, and compel her to change her state, as she had promised. If however neither of these things is the case, and you do not find that the aforesaid woman has committed any crime of fornication on account of which it is lawful for a man to leave his wife, then, lest his conversion should possibly be an occasion of perdition to the wife left behind in the world, we desire you, without any excuse allowed, to restore her husband to her, even though he should be already tonsured. For, although mundane law declares that marriage may be dissolved for the sake of conversion against the will of either party, yet divine law does not permit this to be done. For, save for the cause of fornication, a man is on no account allowed to put away his wife, seeing that after the husband and wife have been made one body by the copulation of wedlock, it cannot be in part converted, and in part remain in the world .
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Gregory to Adrian, Notary of Palermo.
Agathosa, the bearer of this letter, complains that her husband has been received into the monastery of the abbot Urbicus against her will [meaning he became a monk without her consent].
Since this directly affects the abbot's reputation, I need you to investigate the matter carefully. Determine whether the husband's conversion was actually done with her consent, or whether she herself had promised to enter religious life. If either is the case, let him stay in the monastery and compel her to follow through on her promise.
But if neither is true, and you find no evidence that she has committed adultery -- which is the only lawful ground for a man to leave his wife -- then her husband must be returned to her, even if he has already been tonsured [received the monastic haircut]. We cannot allow his conversion to become an occasion of spiritual ruin for the wife he left behind.
Here is the principle: secular law may permit a marriage to be dissolved for the sake of religious conversion against either party's will. But divine law does not. Except for the cause of fornication, a man may not put away his wife. Once husband and wife have been made one body through marriage, the body cannot be partly converted and partly left in the world.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
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