Letter 14014: Gregory orders Felix to remove the Aquae Salviae estate from the Appian patrimony registers and assign it to Saint Paul's church for lighting.

Although everything the apostolic church has here belongs in common, by God's authority, to blessed Peter and Paul, since it was acquired in their honor and through their benefits, the administration of its business still needs distinct responsibilities, so that each assigned matter can receive more careful attention. Proper concern for the church of blessed Paul the Apostle has reminded us that the preacher of the faith, who filled the whole world with the light of his preaching, must not be seen to lack lights in his own church. It also seemed deeply inappropriate and harsh that the very property where he received the palm of martyrdom by being beheaded so that he might live should not serve him in a special way. We therefore judge it useful, with Christ's grace, to assign to the lamps of that church the estate called Aquae Salviae, with all its farms: the wine-cellar estate, Antonianum, Villa Pertusa in the Forum of Primianus, Cassianum Silonis, Cornelii, Thesselata, and Cornelianum, together with every right, holding, instrument, and everything generally belonging to it. We also add to this grant two gardens between the Tiber and the portico of that church, on the right-hand side as one goes from the city gate, divided by the Almo River, between the boundary of the garden of Saint Stephen's monastery, the monastery of the handmaids of God located at Saint Paul's, and the boundary of the property of Pissinianus. Along with these we add the small lands called Fossa Latronis, located there beside the same portico as one goes along it, and likewise on the left-hand side toward the gate where vineyards have now been planted. These small lands adjoin on one side the property of the late Eugenitis the scholasticus, and on the other side the properties of the monastery of Saint Edistius. With God's help, we want all these things to be administered from the present seventh indiction onward by the officers of that church who serve there from time to time. Whatever income comes from them is to be spent on its lamps, and those officers are to render accounts for it. Therefore we command your Experience to delete and remove from your registers the estate of Aquae Salviae named above, with all its farms, and also the gardens and small lands listed above, and to hand everything over in the name of the aforesaid church of blessed Paul the Apostle. Then the officers serving there, with every excuse removed, can attend to its lamps without our further anxiety, and no neglect can ever occur there. Once all these things have been handed over, we want your Experience to return this order to the archive of our church.

EPISTOLA XIV. AD FELICEM SUBDIACONUM. Ecclesiae sancti Pauli ad fovenda lumina amplos concedit reditus. Gregorius Felici subdiacono et rectori patrimonii Appiae. Licet omnia quae hic apostolica habet ecclesia beatorum Petri et Pauli, quorum honore et beneficiis acquisita sunt, Deo sint auctore communia, esse debet in administratione actionum diversitas personarum, ut in assignatis cuique rebus cura adhiberi possit impensior. Cum ergo pro ecclesia beati Pauli apostoli, sollicitudo debita nos commoneret ne minus illic habere luminaria idem praeco fidei cerneretur, qui totum mundum lumine suae praedicationis implevit, et valde incongruum esse ac durissimum videretur ut illa ei specialiter possessio non serviret, in qua palmam sumens martyrii capite est truncatus ut viveret, utile judicamus eamdem massam quae Aquas Salvias nuncupatur, cum omnibus fundis suis, id est cella vinaria, Antoniano, villa Pertusa in foro Primiano, Cassiano Silonis, Cornelii, Thesselata, atque Corneliano, cum omni jure, instructo, instrumentoque suo et omnibus generaliter ad eam pertinentibus, cum Christi gratia luminaribus deputare, adjicientes etiam eidem cessioni hortos duos inter Tiberim et porticum ipsius ecclesiae, euntibus a porta civitatis parte dextera, quos dividit fluvius Almon, inter affines horti monasterii sancti Stephani, quod est ancillarum Dei, positum ad sanctum Paulum, et ad fines possessionis Pissiniani, simul et terrulas quae vocantur Fossa latronis, positas ibidem juxta eamdem porticum euntibus; similiter parte sinistra ad portam ubi nunc vineae factae sunt, quae terrulae cohaerent ab uno latere possessioni Eugenitis quondam scholastici, et ab alia parte possessionibus monasterii sancti Edistii, quae omnia Deo adjuvante per antedictae ecclesiae praepositos qui per tempora fuerint et a praesenti septima indictione volumus ordinari. Et quidquid exinde accesserit, luminaribus ejus impendi, atque ipsos exinde ponere rationes. Idcirco experientiae tuae praecipimus ut suprascriptam massam Aquas Salvias cum praenominatis omnibus fundis suis, necnon hortos, atque terrulas quae superius continentur, de brevibus suis delere debeat ac auferre, et cuncta ad nomen praedictae ecclesiae beati Pauli apostoli tradere; quatenus servientes ibi praepositi, omni posthac carentes excusatione, de luminaribus ejus ita sine nostra studeant sollicitudine cogitare, ut nullus unquam illic neglectus possit existere. Facta vero suprascriptarum omnium rerum traditione, volumus ut hoc praeceptum in scrinio ecclesiae nostrae experientia tua restituat.