Letter 3064: The church of Bevagna [a small Umbrian town] continues to need a bishop.

To Bishop Chrysanthus. [Summary heading:] That he should seek out a bishop for the Church of Mevania, ordain presbyters, and there confirm the infants. Gregory to Chrysanthus, bishop of Spoleto. Two years ago we assigned to your Fraternity the office of visitation of the Church of Mevania, in which with zeal and energy seek out persons who may be fit to be consecrated there in the order of the presbyterate. First examine their life and conduct by careful inquiry, so that [...] they may be able to come to your aid, so that by this provision the people dwelling there may rejoice to have received again the communion of which they tearfully complain that they have been deprived on account of the lack of priests, and that in those churches the sacred solemnities of the Masses may not be wanting. But let your Fraternity also take care to go there for the confirming of the infants, [...] so that no neglected care of pastoral solicitude may gnaw at you. [The intervening lines here are not part of the letter but editorial annotations in the printed edition. They note variant readings ("Vulg., with many manuscripts agreeing, omits 'whom he should judge ought to be claimed'"), the epistle's numbering ("Epistle LXIV [otherwise indiction 2; number 76 in Gussanville, and 77 in the Vatican manuscript]; see book 1, epistle 81"), and discuss the customary practice: that the care of the Masses of this Church might be entrusted to some deacon, as formerly by canon 77 of Elvira, or to a doorkeeper, as from a certain Council of Toledo; the annotator observes that had the learned man attended to epistle 81 of book 1, formerly numbered 78, he would have understood that Saint Gregory committed the care of the Church of Mevania to the presbyter Honoratus; and that for confirming infants and for the other episcopal duties to be performed, the neighboring bishop, as here Chrysanthus, lent his aid.] [Epistle LXV.] To Maurice Augustus. [Summary heading:] He entreats that he should temper or change the law by which he had forbidden that those entangled in public accounts, and also soldiers, be received into monasteries. Gregory to Maurice Augustus. He is guilty before Almighty God who is not pure toward the most serene lords in all that he does and says. But I, the unworthy servant of your Piety, in this representation speak neither as a bishop, nor as a servant of the state by public right, but by private right, because, most serene lord, from that time onward you have been my lord, when you were not yet lord of all. When Longinus, a most distinguished man, a groom [strator], came, I received the law of my lords; to which, then wearied by sickness of body, I was able to make no reply. In which law the Piety of my lords decreed that whoever has been entangled in public administrations, and [...] may not be permitted to come to the ecclesiastical office. Which I greatly commended, knowing most evidently that he who, forsaking the secular habit, hastens to come to ecclesiastical offices, wishes to change the world, not to forsake it. But that which is said in the same law, that it should not be permitted him to be converted into a monastery, I wholly wondered at, since his accounts can be settled through the monastery, and it can be arranged that from the very place in which he is received his debts may also be taken up. For even if anyone wished to be converted with a devout mind, let him first restore the things wrongfully taken away, and let him think upon his own soul the more truly the more unencumbered he is. In which law it is added that no one who has been marked [signatus] on the hand may be permitted to be converted. Which constitution, I confess to my lords, I greatly dreaded, because through it the way of heaven is closed to many, and what until now has been permitted is forbidden to be permitted. For there are many who are able to lead a religious life even with the secular habit. And there are very many who, unless they relinquish all things, can in no way be saved with God. But I, speaking these things to my lords, what am I but dust and a worm? Yet nevertheless, because I perceive that this constitution is aimed against God the author of all, I cannot keep silence toward my lords. For to this end has power over all men been given from heaven to the Piety of my lords, that those who desire good things may be aided, that the way of heaven may lie more widely open, that the earthly kingdom may serve the heavenly kingdom. And behold, with open voice it is said that he who has once been enrolled [signatus] in earthly military service may not, unless either his service is completed or he is discharged for bodily weakness, be permitted to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. (Cf. John the Deacon, book 3, chapter 50.) Besides this, behold, through me, your lowest servant, and yours, Christ will answer, saying: I made you, from a notary, count of the bodyguard; from count of the bodyguard, Caesar; from Caesar, emperor; nor only this, but I made you also father of emperors. I committed my priests to your hand, and do you withdraw your soldiers from my service? Answer, I beg, most pious lord, your servant: what will you answer to the Lord your God in the Judgment when He comes and says these things? But perhaps it is believed that none of them is converted with a pure mind. I, your unworthy servant, know how great miracles soldiers converted in the monastery have wrought in my days, what signs and mighty works they have performed. But by this law it is forbidden that any such person should henceforth be converted. Let my lord, I beg, inquire what earlier emperor gave such a law, and let him judge more subtly whether it ought to have been given. And indeed it is greatly to be considered that already at this time all are forbidden to forsake the world, at which the very end of the ages has drawn near. For behold, there will be no delay, and with the heaven burning, the earth burning, the elements flashing, the dread Judge will appear with angels and archangels, with thrones and dominations, with principalities and powers. If He should remit all sins, and should declare that this law alone has been brought forth against him, what, I beg, will be his excuse? Wherefore by the same dread Judge I implore, that those so great tears, so great prayers, so great fastings, and so great almsgivings of my lord may not on any occasion be defrauded before the eyes of Almighty God; but let your Piety bend [it], either by interpreting, or by changing the rigor of the same law, because then the army of my lords grows the more against the enemy, when the army of God increases at prayer. I indeed, subject to the command, have caused the same law to be transmitted through the various parts of the world; and because the law itself in no way accords with Almighty God, behold, through the page of my representation I have announced this to my most serene lords. On both sides therefore I have discharged what I owed, who both rendered obedience to the emperor, and for the sake of God did not at all keep silent about what I felt. [The remaining passages in the printed source are editorial notes, not part of Gregory's letter. They discuss: the term 'strator' (groom) and the office of the 'protostrator' (the great equerry, who tested the horses contributed by the provincials and bore the emperor's sword in the absence of the grand domestic); that not all were permitted to be clerics, while monasteries lay open to all, and that having administered public affairs was an impediment, citing the Council of Nicaea (canon 2), the letters of Pope Siricius to Himerius and of Innocent I to Victricius of Rouen ("If anyone after the remission of sins has worn the belt of secular military service, he ought by no means to be admitted to the clergy") and to Bishop Exsuperius, and the canons in distinction 54; that Gregory later corrected this regarding those liable for public accounts (book 7, indiction 1, epistle 11: "They are not to be received unless first released from public accounts"); a long biographical note on the Emperor Maurice (a Cappadocian by birth, a vigorous man distinguished in war, made colleague and son-in-law of Tiberius Constantine, married to Constantina, who ruled twenty years with great praise and was at last deprived of life and rule by Phocas together with his wife and nine children, a fate said to have befallen him by the just judgment of God on account of twelve thousand captives slaughtered by the Khagan of the Avars whom he had refused to ransom, the story being found chiefly in the Greek writers Evagrius, Theophylact Simocatta, Zonaras, Glycas, Cedrenus, Theophanes, Constantine Manasses, Nicephorus Callistus, though the Latins, especially John the Deacon, judged him more harshly, calling him a most avaricious and rapacious prince, an adversary of God and a tyrant); a note that the reading 'his debts may also be taken up' follows four Vatican, Norman and other manuscripts where the printed editions have 'his debts may be paid,' since by Novella 5 chapter 4 whatever a monk had possessed became the property of the monastery, so it was most just that his debts be paid by the monastery; and notes on the marking of soldiers' hands or arms with the sign of Christ or the cross, citing Tertullian (On the Crown: "The discharged soldier who has his release"), Cyprian (to Donatus: "You whom the warfare of the spiritual camp has now marked"), Procopius and Jerome on Isaiah ("Another shall write with his hand, I am the Lord's," interpreted of the soldier glorying in the new enlistment of Christ's service), and Victor of Vita on a certain Clementianus who had written on his thigh "Manichaeus, disciple of Jesus Christ"; with a list of six things required of a soldier: that he be not a trader; that he be examined; that he take an oath; that the sword be girded on him; that the public mark be inscribed on his arms; and that he be registered and enrolled. A further note observes that Theodosius, the boy, was already in the year 591 taken into a share of the empire.]

AD CHRYSANTHUM EPISCOPUM. Mevaniensi Ecclesie quarat episcopum, presbyleros ordinet, ibique consigne! imſant's. _ Cregorins Chrysamtho episcopo Spolerano. Ante hoe biermiam ſraternitati tuz * Mevaniensis Eectesiz visitationis deputayeramns officiam, in quo Studio ac vivacitate personas exquirite, que illic in presbyterii ordine valeant consecrari. Quarum vitam actusque Sublili prius inquisitione discutite, ut in Valg., consentientibus multis Mss., omiſtitay, 876i estimet vendicandum. Eprisr. LXIV [AL. indict. 2; 76 apud GCuss., ef in Vatic. 77]. — * Vide lib. 1, epist. 81: observari solitam. _ missa hujus Ecclesize cora, num alicui diacono, ut olim ex can. 77 Eliberit., num ostiario, ut ex quo- dam concilio Toletano, Si attendisset vir doctns ad epist. 81 libri 1, olim T8, intellexisset sanctum Gre- gorium curam Eect. Mevianensis commisisse Hono- rato presbytero. Pro consignandis vero infantjbus, et valeant obviare, ut hac provisione populus illic de- gens communionem, qua $e privatos ob sacerdotum necessilatem flebiliter conqueruntur, recepisse $e gaudeanl, et in ecclesiis illis Sacra missarum $olem- nia deesse non debeant. Sed et pro consighandis iaſantibus ſraternitas tua illue curet accedere, ut Nikhil sit quod pastoralis $0llicitudinis neglecta vos cura remordeal. | G75 EPISTOLA LXV. AD MAURICIUM. AUGUSTUM. Precatur ut legem temperet vel immutel, qua tum pu- blicis rationibus implicatos, tum milifes, in mona- steriis suscipi profitibuerat. Gregorins * Manricio Augnsto. Omnipatenti Deo rens est, qu $erenissimis domi- His in omne quod agit et loquitur puerns non est. Ego autem indigrus pietatis vestre famulns in hac 8ugge- stione neque nr epſscopns, neque ut servus jure rei- pnblicz, sed jure privato Foquor, quia, serenissime domine, ex illo jam tempore dominus meus fnisti , quando adhne dominus omninm non eras. Longino viro clarissimo Þ stratfore' veniente, d6- minorum legem snscepi; ad quam, fatigatus tunc #gritudine corporis, respondere nil vatof. In qua dominorum pietas sanxit ut quisquis publicis admi- nistrationibus fuerit implicatus, ef © ad ecelesiasti- Joanne Diacono, qui eum avariszsimum , simulque ra- pacissimum principem, Deo adversum ac tyrannum nancupavit. Gussanv. Pluribus de hoc imperatore dicends hic snpersedemus, cam de ejuns virtulibus ac vitliis disserendi commodiorem $2pe 0CccaSionem habuerimus in Vita $ancti Gregorii, quam consule, Straoribus, lib. xv. Eorum erat equos qui a provin- cialibus conferebamtor probare. His praterat Tnpwro- o70&7wp , apud Codinum, Gall., le grand &cuyer. Absente magno domestteo ensem gestabat imperato- ris, etc. Patricii et 8unm quisque stratorem habebant ; nam et stratorem Prisci patricii et aliorum apud Theophanem reperio. Gussanv. - © Non omnibus licebat esse clericis. Omnibus mona- $teria patebant; scilicet que ad monaverium invita- hant deliera, a clericatu arcebant , ut docet Nicenum concihum, canoue 2, et episfola Siricii ad Himerium, Imo res admi-:istrasse publicas impedimentum erat. In- nocentius I ad Victriciam Rothomagensem episcopur : aliis episcopalibus muniis obeundis, vicini haud du- D Si quis post remissionem pe-ccatorum cingulum militice bie episcopi, ut hie Chrysanthus, opem adhibuerunt. Eersr. 1.XV. [AM. 62]. — * In Vatiic. B. et in non- nullis, Mauricio Tiberio Auqusto. Manricius genere Cappad-:x, vir strenuus, et bellica laude insignis. Hie, ob egregias animi dotes et preclara belli facino:a, ab imperatore Tiberio Constantino consors imperii et gener ſacivs est, data in matrimonium Constantina Mia. Vigimi aynis Summa cum laude imperiuin ad- minis{ravit, et tandem a Phoca vita simul et imperio privatus est una cum Uxore et novem liberis : quod quidem ipsi justo Dei judicio contigisse ferunt, ob duodecim captivorum millia a Chagano Avarum du- ce irucidata, quos cum facile et parva pecauia potnis- $61 , redimere noluerit. Nota est historia, que hahe- tur apud seriptores maxime Gr:xcos, Evagrium, Si- mocatitam. Zonaram, Glycam, Cedrenum, Theopha - nem, ConSlautinum Manassem , Nicephorum Calli- Stun, qui onnes mira de virtutibus ejus pradicant. Durius tamen habitus est a Latinis, et presertim a 8Ecularis habueril, ad clericatum admilti omnino non debet. Et postea : Quidam ex ſratribus nos!ris curia- les vel quoslibet publicis ſunctfonibus occupatos oleri- cos ſacere contendant, ete. Vide toramy episrolanr S et 24, et alios canones relatos' distinct. 54 ; sanciom Gregorium (Juxta ordinem anten vulgatum), lib. v1, indict. 1, epist. ff, ad episcopos Siciliz. Ouninam vero Sint isti enriales, et #lif a clericaty prohib'ti, explicat idem Innocentius, epist. 24, scilicet, advo- cati, milites, officizles, hisfriones. Legator gloss1 in cap. 41, distinct. 5f, et cap. 2, et in Decretal., lib. r, de obligatis ad rativeinia. Gussaxny. Conslantini . ordinem revocatis lristetur, can. aliquantos, Ct Se(., 54 dist. Eamdem legem a Mauricio inStauratam hay- SANCTI GREGORII MAGNI enum officium venire non liceat. Quod valde laudavit, A vestrum respondebit Christus, dicens : Ego te de no- evidentissime sciens quia qui, 8xcularem habitum deserens, ad ecclesiastica oflicia venire festinat, mu- lare vult sxculum, non relinquere. Quod vero in ea- dem lege dicitur, ut ei in ' monasterium converti non liceat, omnino miratns sum, dum et rationes ejus possunt per monasterium fieri, ct agi potest ut ab eo loco in quo suscipitur ejus quoque *© debita susci- | Plantar, Nam etsi quisquam devola mente converti voluisset, prius res male ablatas redderet, et de sua anima tanto verius quanto expeditior cogitaret. In qua lege 8ubjunctum est ut nulli qui f in manu 8igna- tus est GJG converti liceat. Quam constitutionem ego, ſateor dominis meis, vehementer expavi, quia per eam celorum via muliis clauditur, et quod wunc usque licuit, ne liceat probibetur. Mulii enim sunt B qui possunt religiosam vitam etiam cum $zculari | habitu ducere. Et plerique sunt, qui nisi omnia reli- querint, salvari apud Deum nullatenus possunt. Ego vero hac dominis meis loquens quid sum nisi pulvis . et vermis? Sed tamen quia contra auctorem omnium Deum hanc intendere constitutionem sentio, domi- nis facere non possum. Ad hoc enim potestas super omnes bomines 5s dominorum meorum pietati cceli- _ tus data est, ut qui bona appetunt adjurentur, ut celorum via largius patecat, ut terrestre regnuim co@- lesti regno ſamuletur. Et ecce aperta. voce dicitur ut ei qui semel in terrena militia signatus ſuerit, nisi aut expleta militia, aut pro debilitate corporis repul- Sus, Domino Jesu Christo militare non liceat. (Cf. Joan. Diac. 1. m, c. 50.) Ad hec, ecce per me $scrvum ultimum $uum et davit Gregorius, sciens quia' plerumque szecularis, dum ecclesiasticum ordinem ambit, mutare vult sx- culum, non relinquere; quod repetit infra, indict. 1, epist. 5, alias 11. ALTESERRA. 4 Provebere ad honorem clericatus non licebat, imo nec ad honores, qualescunque debitores rerum publicarum in digeslis, lib. L, tit. 4, in monasterio converti licebat, tesle sancto Gregorio, nec tamen servi, invitis dominis, monasticam profiteri discipli- nam poterant. De iis lamen qui rationibus publicis gunt obnoxii, id correxisse postea Sanctum Grego- rium liquet ex epist. {1 lib. vu, indict. 1. Suscipien- di, inquit, non 8unt, nisi prius a rationibus publicis absoluti. Gussanv. * Sic legimus in quatuor Valic., Norm., etc., ubi D Vulgati habent, debita 80lvantur. Cum juxta novel. 5, cap, 4, res quascunque habuerat monachus, jim do- minii es$ent monasterii, illius debita ab ipsv mona- $terio persolvi :xquissimum erat. Hinc Tertullianus, de Corona : Expunctus miles qui missionem habet. Et sanctus Cyprianus, ad Donatum : Te quem jam 8piritalibus castris militia 8ignavit. Gus- £avv. Vide Procopium , in caput xitiv Isaize, ad illa : Alius describet manu 8ua, Dei sum. Te 61, TH yep, Sic ro origety (owg nohovg, Ent xaprov, 1 po tovuy, 1 lario comitem excubitorum, de comile excubitorum Cxsarem, de Czsare 1mperatorem ; nec solum hoe, sed etiam patrem imperatorum ſeci. Sacerdotes meos tux manui commisi, &t tu a meo $ervitio milites tnos subtrahis ? Responde, rogo, piissime domine, servo two, quid venienti et hzc dicenti responsurus es in Judicio Domino tuo? Sed fortasse creditur quia nullus eorum puro anji- mo converlatur. Ego indignus famulus vester scio quanti his diebus meis in monasterio milites conversi miracula ſecerun!, 8igna et. virtuies operali sunt. Sed per hanc legem jam ne quisquam talium con- verti debeat prohibetur. Requirat, rogo, dominus mens, ® quis prior impe- rator G77 talem legem dederit, et subtilius zstimet si debuit dari. Et quidem considerandum valde est quia eo jam tempore prohibentur quique relinquere seculum , quo appropinquarvit ſinis ipse sxculorum. Ecce enim mora non erit, et ardente ccelo, ardente terra, coruscantibus elementis, cum angelis et ar- changelis, cum thronis et dominationibus, cum prin- cipatibus et potestatibus tremendus judex apparebit. Si omnia peccala dimiserit, et solum hanc legem - contra se dixerit esse prolatam, que, rogo, erit excusalio? Unde per eumdem tremendum judicem deprecor, ne illze taniz lacryme, lantz oratjones, ' tanla jejunia, tantzeque eleemosynz domini mei. ex qualibet occas:one apud omnipotentis Det oculos fſu- Scentur; i sed aut interprelando pietas vestra, aut immulando vigorem ejusdem legis inflectat, quia tunc Tol. orevpe) T6 onueiov, 1 Thy Xpeotou tpoonyopiay. Hoc est : Quod antem MANnU dizit, ideo ſorsan adjecit, quod Christi nomen permulti, vel cructs 8ignum , in palmis aut brachiis inuri 8ibi curarent. Hieronymus in illum locum :Scribet in manu 8ua, Dei sum, ut novo tyrocinio servitutis Christi se militem glorietur. Id etiam ſactitatum ab h:ereticis reſfert Victor Utic., de Persec. Vandal., lib. 1, init., ubi loquitur de quo- dam Clementano , qui habebat .jn ſemore scriptum, . Manicheus, discipulus Jesu Christi. Sex erant militi necessaria : 149 non sit negotiator; 2* examinetur ; 59 preslet 8acramenium ; 4® ensis ei cingatur; 5% nota publica ejus brachiis inscribatur ; 69 in album reſeratur, scribatur, Gussanv. Theodosivs puer jam anno 591 in societatem imperii Lyr., Pratell., Reg., ac plerique , in(erprelands. magis dominorum exercitus contra hostes crescit, A bat, nunquid per virtutem militum * svbjugavit ei quando Dei exercitus ad orationem creverit. Ego quidem jussioni Subjectus, eamdem legem per diversas terrarum partes transmilli feci; et quia lex jipsa omnipotenti Deo minime concordat , ecce per suggestionis mee paginam serenissimis dominis nuatiavi. Utrobique ergo que debui exsolvi , qui et imperatori obedientiam przbui, et pro Veo quod sensi Mminime tacui.