Letter 2061: Not much time has passed since certain matters concerning your brotherhood were reported to us, about which, as we...

To Bishop John. [Summary:] That he should not henceforth wear the pallium in the streets, unless he can show that this has been granted to him by the Roman pontiffs. That he should not henceforth sit in the secretarium [the sacristy or council-chamber] itself while wearing the pallium. That he should make inquiry into certain of his clergy, and forbid the sacred ministry to those who are obstinate. He grants the use of the mappulae [hand-cloths/maniples] only to the foremost deacons of the Church of Ravenna. Gregory to John, Bishop of Ravenna. It is no great interval of time since certain things were reported to us concerning your Fraternity, about which we remember that we gave you a careful indication when Castorius, notary of the holy Church over which, by God's authorship, we preside, came there to you. For there had reached us word that certain things were being done in your Church contrary to custom and to the path of humility, which is the only true exaltation of the priestly office. If your Wisdom had received these things gently and with episcopal earnestness, you ought not to have been inflamed over them, but it would have befitted you to correct these same matters with gracious action. For it is contrary to ecclesiastical practice, if it is not borne with the utmost patience—and may this be far from us—even an unjust reproof. But your Fraternity is exceedingly indignant, and, as though making satisfaction with swelling of heart, you have written to us, professing with the most evident truth that you have not used the pallium except after those of the Church have been dismissed from the secretarium, and at the time of the Mass, and in the solemn litanies, and that you have usurped something by your words against the custom of the universal Church. For how can it come about that you should lawfully do that, in the time of ashes and sackcloth, through the streets amid the uproar of the peoples, which you excused yourself for doing—as though it were unlawful—in the assembly of the poor, of the nobles, and in the secretarium of the Church? Yet that—dearest brother—we do not think to be unknown to you, that of almost no metropolitan in whatsoever parts of the world has it been heard that he has claimed for himself the use of the pallium outside the time of the Mass. And that you well know this custom of the universal Church, you signified to us most plainly in your letters, in which you transmitted to us, annexed below, the precept of our predecessor John, the Pope of blessed memory, containing that all the customs granted to you and to your Church out of the privilege of our predecessors ought to be preserved. You confess, therefore, that the custom of the universal Church is one thing, since the things which you do you claim for yourselves out of privilege. Therefore no doubt, as we judge, will be able to remain to us in this matter. For either the practice of all metropolitans is to be observed also by your Fraternity, or, if you say that something has been specially granted to your Church, the precept of the earlier pontiffs of the city of Rome, by which these things were granted to the Church of Ravenna, ought to be shown by you. But if this is not shown, it remains—since you claim to do such things neither by the general custom nor by privilege—that you prove yourself to have usurped what you have done. And what shall we say to the future Judge, most beloved brother, if that heavy yoke and bond of the neck of ours—I do not say for an ecclesiastical, but for a certain secular dignity—we defend, judging ourselves burdened, if for even a short space of time we are without so great a weight? Do we wish to be adorned with the pallium, being perhaps unadorned in our morals, when nothing shines more splendidly upon the episcopal neck than humility? It befits, therefore, your Fraternity—if you have set out with a firm mind by whatever arguments to defend your honors—either to follow the practice of the general body from what is unwritten, or to maintain yourself from what is written by privileges. Or if, finally, none of these is the case, we do not wish you to offer yourself as an example of such presumption to other metropolitans. But lest perhaps you suppose that we, in writing these things to you, have neglected the things which are owed to brotherly charity, know that there has been a careful search in our archive concerning the privilege of the Church and of your See. And indeed certain things have been found which could altogether be opposed to the intentions of your Fraternity, but nothing in which a part of your case could be strengthened concerning chapters of this kind. For even concerning that very custom which you set against the Church, about which we formerly wrote to you that it should be proved from your parts, you may now recognize that we have already taken sufficient care, inquiring of our sons Peter the deacon, and Gaudiosus the primicerius, and also Michael the defensor of our See, or others who were sent to Ravenna by our predecessors for various replies; and they have most strictly denied that you did this in their presence. It appears, therefore, that it could not be done in secret, except that which was being unlawfully usurped. Wherefore that which was secretly introduced ought to persist with no stability. The things, therefore, which have been superfluously presumed by you or by your predecessors, correct with a view to charity, and study with brotherly kindness. By no means—I do not say through yourself, but through the rule of others or of your predecessors—attempt to deviate from the rule of humility. For—that I may briefly gather together the things which I said above—I admonish that, unless you can show that these things have been attributed to you by privilege through the munificence of my predecessors, you should not henceforth presume to use the pallium in the streets, nor have it and begin to use boldly at the Masses that which you also usurp in the streets. But concerning the secretarium, the fact that your Fraternity both did and excused having sat with the pallium and having received the sons of the Church, we now meanwhile make no complaint, because, following the sentence of the Synods, we refuse to avenge lesser faults which are denied. Yet because we have learned that this was done once and again, we forbid it to be done further. But let your Fraternity be altogether careful, lest that which is still yielded to a beginning presumption be claimed for the worse in one who goes on. You have moreover complained that certain men of the priestly order of the city of Ravenna, with sins pressing upon them, are involved in grave crimes. Whose cause we wish either to discuss there with you, or, if they shall come here, [to discuss it here]; and all the weight of this examination redounds to the peril of your own soul; knowing that any love of yours will have no excuse before the future Judge, if you do not correct the excesses of your clergy with the highest severity of canonical rigor, and if you permit those by whom these things have been approved to profane the sacred orders any further. But as for that which you have written concerning the mappulae [hand-cloths] to be used by your clergy, it has been strongly opposed by our clerics, who say that this has never been granted to any other Church whatsoever, nor have the clerics of Ravenna, either there or in the city of Rome, presumed to attempt any such thing with their own conscience, nor would any prejudice be generated for themselves out of a furtive usurpation. But even if this has been presumed in any Church whatsoever, they assert that it ought to be amended, because it is presumed not by the concession of the Roman pontiff, but by mere stealth. But we, preserving the honor of your Fraternity, although against the will of our aforesaid clergy, nevertheless permit your foremost deacons—whom certain men have testified to us to have used these even before—to use the mappulae in your service only; but at another time, or for other persons, we most vehemently prohibit this to be done.

AD JOANNEM EPISCOPUM. |, Ne in plateis pillium ulterius feral, nisi a Romanis pontificibus id sibi conce-zum ostenderil. Ne in 8e- cretario ips0, cum pallio deinceps z2edeat. In quos- dam e cleriris suis inquiral ; contumacibus interdi- cat sacro ministerio. Primis duniazat Ravennatis E:cclesie dincon|bus mappularum usum concedit. Gregorius Joanni episcopo Ravennali. | Non multum temporis intervallum est ( Grat. dist. 100, c. 7) quod quzdam nobis de tua fraternitate ſuerant nunt:aia, de quibus vobis, veniente illuc Cas- torio, nolario SAnctlz Cui, Deo auctore, presideinus Ecclesiz, Subtiliter nos indicasse meminimus. Per- venerat namque ad nos quedam in Ecclesia vestra contra consuetudines a'que humilitatis tramitem geri, que $vla, ut bene nostis, est officii sacerdotalis erectio. Que 5si sapientia vesira manSuete vel cum episcopali suscepissel $Studio, non de illis accendi D debuerat, sed oportuerat te hxc eadem cum gratia- Sancli Thome Cantuar. Eeisr. LIV Fl. 66]. — * Ita quatuor Valic., Norm., eic., ubi Editi : non afſectus. Consule Au- gustinum, lib. 1v Conless., ubi hanc velerum philo- sophorum sententiam (ustiori s(ylo explicat. 2 In Vulgatis additur, Data indict. 11. EeisT. LV [Al. 55]. — * Agatho vel Agathus Lipa- rensis episcopus uh crimina depositus est ex hac epist. Ex Ep $tvla autem 16 et 20, iad. 10, Pautinus Taurianensts Ecclesize episcopus ei suſſectus est. Novi antistitis Liparitani meminit 8anctus Gregorius, epist. 22 lib. v1, Cypriano diacono. GussANv. SANCTI GRECORII MAGNI rum actione corrigere. Contra worem quippe eccle- A lum cervicis nostr#e, non dico pro ecclesjaslica , sed siaslicum esl (Grat. dis!, 10V c. 8), $i non paltientis- ine loleralur, GG quod a nvbis absit, etjam inju- $la Capreclio, Myula autem njmis est vestra ſraternitas, atque cum tuwmgre cordis quasi salisſaciens , scripsit nobis pal- lis 18 non nisi post dimiss0s de * Secretario liog Ecelesiz , et Þ missarum tempore, alque in litaniis uti soletgnnibus, verbis aliquid te usurpasse Contra generalis Ecclesiz consuctudiuem apertissima veri- tate profſessus. Quomodo enim fieri potest ut illud cineris atque Cjlicii lewpore per plateas iuter popu- Jorum $trepitus agas licite, quod te agere © in con- ventu pauperum, Bobilium, etl iu secretario Eccle- Sa yelut illiciiug excusas1i? I'lud tamen (Grat, pro quadam $#culari nobis dignitate deſendimus; gr3 + vari nos judicantes, si tanto pondere yel parvi tewpo- ris Spalio careamus ? Decorari pallio yolumus , ſor+ San moribus indecori, dum njhil in episcopali cer» vice 8p!endidius ſulget quam bumilitas, Oportet igitur ſralernitalem tuam $i honores $u0s $ibi quibuslibet argumeutis stabili proposuit ments defſeudere, * aut generalitalis uzum ex non $criplo Sequi, & aut ex $cripto privilegiis 8c lweri. Vel &i postremo pibil horum est, aliis Metropolitis bujus- modi te prebere nojumus prxsumpliouis exemplum, Sed ne lorle pules nos, bzc vobis scribentes, que pro ſraterna sunt charitate neglexisse, Þ scitole ig nostro scrinio de privilegio Ecclesie GJ tuc Sub» ibid.), ſrater charissime, libi non pulamus ignotum , B lililer perquisilum, Et quidem quzedam invenla sunt quod pene de nullo metropctita in quibusubet qgz omnino possint fraternitalis juz intentionibus mundi partibus sit auditum extra missarum temp usum 8ibi pallii vindicasse. Et quod bene hanc cone sSueludinem generalis Ecclesize noveritis, veslris no- bis maniſestis+ ime significastis epistolis, quibus prae- eeptum beate memorize decessoris nos{ri Joannis papz nobis in subditis transmisistis annexum , con- linens omnes consuetudines ex privilegio praedeces- sorum no-(rorum concessas Yobis Ecclesizeque vesire debere servari. Conlitemini igitur aliam esse gene- ralis Ecclesiz consuetudinem, postquam ea que vos gerilis vobis ex privilegio vendicalis. 4 Nulla ergo nobis in hac re ut arbitramur, poterit remanere du- bietas. Aut enim mos omnium melropolitarum obviare, nihil autem in quo de hujuscemodi capitus lis pars veslre possit Ecclesiz roborari. Nam et de ipsa consueludine {uz quam opponis Ecclesiaz, que vobis olim, + ut a partibus vestris probaretur, scri- pSimus, jam $Satlis nos sollicitudinem gessisse cogio- scile, inquireutes filios nostros Peirum diaconum, atque Gaud osum primicerium, necnon et Michaes lium defensorem s8edis nostre, vel alios, qui pro di- versis responsis Ravennam a nostris decessoribus sunt transmissi , et hac te in pregentia Sua egisse districlissime negaverunt. Apparel igitur Secrelo non potuisse geri, nisi quod usurpabatur illicite. Uade quod latenter subintroductum est, nulla debet sta- etiam a tua esl ſraternitzte servandus, -aut $i tuz C bilitate persistere. Quz ergo superſlue a te vel a tuis Ecelesiz aliquid specialiter dicis esse concessum , * preceptum a prioribus Romanz urbis pontificibus, quo hzc Ravennali Feclesie sunt concessa, a vobis -oportet ostendi. (uod si hoc non ostenditur, restat postquam talia agere neque consuetudine generali , neque privilegio vindicas, ut usurpasse te compro- bes quod ſecisti. Et quid dicturi sumus futuro judici, ſfrater dilectissime, si illud grave jugum atque vincu- Eersr. LVI [Al. 54]. — * Lege epist, 19 lib. 1. | lum incarnationis ejus gesiare non audet, zed ab hume- ris sublatum diacono 1r:dit, qui illud dexira complica- lum lenel ipsi ponlifici astans et 8acra dona precedens, GUSSANV. : : Conjecturam nos(ram accipe. Post episcopum consta- bat Keciesia clericis et laicis. Clericos dicit Ecclesie milites, lib. 11, epis!, 31, atyue alibi passim. Laicos hic yocat Ecclesiz filios, e quibus houoratiores ap- pellire 8olet ordinem, ceteros plebemn ; lib, 1, epist. UW; lib. 11, epist. 8; lib. hujus ep 8. 13. Ve episcopo eligendq inscribit, clero, ordini et plebi ; quos passim ordinis, hic nobilium litulo ; quos vero plebis, paupe- deces80ribus sunt praesumpta, cum Ccharitalis intuitu, Atque cum fracerna stude benignitate corrigere. Nul- latenus, non dico per te, $sed per aliorum vel deces- Sorum -Luorum normam ab humilitatis tentes regula deviare. Ut enim ea quz superius dixi breviter col- ligam, admoneo quatenus nisi decess0rum meorum munilicentia tibi hc per privilegium altributa do- cueris, * uti in plateis pallio ulterius non prazsumas; rum ſorsan nomine dislinguit. 4 Excusi, si veleres excipias, nulla ergo vobis; contradicentibus Mss, Aet in Reg. lezitur : 4 in plateis pallium ullerius non presumas, Excusi addiderunt ferre, scilicel : pat- lium ulterius ferre non presumas. | Caterum de pallio alibi s2pe , maxime 14 commentariis de $ancl Gregorii vita, quos, indice duce, consulere licet. EPISTOLARUM LIB, IN. — INDICT. XI. — EPIST. LVIL. ue non babere et ad miggas incipias quod andacter A tale aliquid cum $ua conscientia mregumpeigee, nec et in plo\eis udurpas. De gecrelario autem, quod fralernilas tua resedisse cum pallio, et filios Eecle- Si2 $USCCpisse &t ſecit et excusavit, nune interim nihil querimur, quia Syncdorum +ententi2m Sequen= tes, Mminores culpas que negantur ulcisci recusamus. Hoc tlamen quia 8emel et iterum sit factum cogno- vimus, Sed lieri ulterius probibemus. Fraternitas autem tua 8it omuino sollicita, ne hoc quod pra- $ymptioni inchoanti adhuc ceditur, in proficiente deterius Vindicelr. | Couquesli preterea estis quod quidam de sarerdo- lali ordine Ravenualis civitatis, peceatis imminen- tibus, gravibus 8int criminibus involuti. Quorum causam vel iilic le disewmere volumus , vel hnc eos, - 668 venerint, owae pondus discussionis hvjus in C luz animz redundare periculum ; sciens nullam di- lectiouew veslrain excucationem aped futurum judi- cem habituram, $i nog excessus cleri lui cum summa cauouici rigoris Severilale correxeris, et hos quibus lhzc fueriat approbala, sacros ulterius-ordines teme- rare periniseris. lllud autem (Grat. dis. 93, c. 22) quod pro uten- dis a clero yestro ® mappulis scripsislis, a uostris est clericis forliter obvialum, dicentibus nulli hoc un- quam alii cvilibet Keclesizz concessum fuisse, nee Ravennates clericos vel illic vel in Romana civitate Ll Hoc se telo Patres Aſricani, adversus Zozimi commonitorium defendebant. Gussavv. Lyran., quibus consentiunt vet. Excusi. In Yatic. A, respondere vel noluerint, :vel nequiverint, In quatuor Angliv., Michael. et Sag., respondere presumpserint. Recentiores Editi, respondere noluerint. » Jure communi epixeepus omnis de clericorum SLOTUMN Causis judicai. Non ergo verbis islis delega- tur a $Uumno pontifice Ravenuas episcopus, qui de clericis Suis viee alierius cognoscat ; Sed ilfji tantum anwus additur, ut causam de qua desperabat fiden- (er aggrediatur, certus Romanum pontificem allabo- ralurum, ut qu juxla canones forent delinita, exse- cuitoni mandarentur. AUGET. __ ® Duravit mappulie s8:ve 8ndarii linei usus, donec Vas, $e4 ad orvatum Sulfectus e-t circa s:xculum de- cmnun, Mapoularum menin»ere none s:rc lo Alciinus el Amaiarius. Vide Card. Bona, de rebus Liturgicis, $i tentafum esset ex ſurtiva usurpatione $ibi preju- dicium generari. Sed etiamsi in - qualibet Ecclesia hoe presumplum fuerit, asserunt emendandurm, quod non concessione Romani pontiſicis, $sed sola surre- ptione pr:xSumitur. Sed nos servantes honorew. ſra- ternitati tuz, licet contra voluntalem ante dicti cleri nostri, tamen primis diaconibus vestris, quos nobis quidam testificati sunt etiam ante eis u80s ſuisge, in obsequio duntaxat tuo mappulis uti permiltimus, alio 3utem tempore vel alias pers0nas hoc agere vebemen- tissime prohibemus. (Cf. Joan. Diac. l. 1v, c.2.)