Letter 4049: For the dedication of the four altars in your church, I am sending the relics you require.

TO BISHOP PALLADIUS. [Summary] He sends relics for the dedication of four altars in the basilica which Palladius had built. Gregory to Palladius, bishop of Saintes [Santonis] in Gaul. Leuparicus, the bearer of the present letter, your priest, on his arrival informed us that your Fraternity has built a church in honor of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and likewise of the martyrs Laurence and Pancras, and has set up thirteen altars there, of which we have learned that four still remained not yet dedicated, for this reason: that, God granting it, you are arranging to place there the relics of the above-mentioned saints. And since we have, with veneration, furnished the relics of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and likewise of the martyrs Laurence and Pancras, we exhort that you ought, with reverence, to receive them and to set them in place, with the Lord's help, taking care above all that those who serve there should not lack the support of provisions for their sustenance. [Editorial apparatus] ... the chief town of the province. We have restored the title from the manuscripts of Colbert, the Vatican, and Normandy. In the common printed editions, however, it reads "to the bishop of the Santones." In Vatican B and certain copies it reads "twelve altars." The Greeks have a single altar within each individual church, as Cardinal Bona notes in his work On Liturgical Matters, book 1, chapter 14, no. 3. This letter of Gregory the Great displays the differing custom of the Latins; and Ambrose too, in letter 20, to his sister Marcellina, no. 2, writing concerning the peace granted to the Catholics by Valentinian, says: "Without delay it is announced that the emperor had ordered the soldiers to withdraw from the basilica...... vying with one another, the soldiers rushing in announce this at the altars, signifying by kisses the token of peace." Baronius gives the reason why several altars were sometimes built: "The tombs of the martyrs," he says, "were altars, and where martyrs were buried, an altar was customarily raised." This is established from Prudentius, in the book Peristephanon [On the Crowns of the Martyrs], hymn 5, [lines] 4, 5; from Saint Augustine, sermon 5 On Saint Stephen, book 8 of the City [of God], chapter 27; from Gregory of Tours, History book 5, chapter 49; book 1 On the Glory of the Martyrs, chapters 35 and 91; and from Paulinus, Poem 4. Indeed, from the same Paulinus's letter 52, in the new edition, it is certain that already at that period altars had been built over the tombs and relics of the confessors. In the first Capitulary of Charlemagne, year 805, no. 6, it is provided concerning altars that they should not be too abundant in churches. In Gaulish [Gallican usage], "assistance." "Suffragor" [I support] by transference of meaning,

AD PALLADIUM EPISCOPUM. Mittit reliquias ad dedicationem quatuor affarmm in basilica quam Palladius construxerat. Gregorius Palladio * episcopo Santonis > Galliz. Veniens lator praesentium Leuparicus presbyter ' vester inSinuavit nobis ſraternitatem vestram eccle- Siam in honorem beati Petri et Pauli apostolorum, necnon Laurentii aique Pancratii martyrum con- struxisse, aique illic tredecim altaria © collocasse ,. ex quibus quatuor necdum dedicala comperimus re- mansisse, ob hoc quod suprascriptorum $anctorunr reliquias iilic collocare Deo annuente disponitis. Ee quia reliquias sanctorum Petri et Pauli, necnon Lau- rentii atque Pancratii martyrum cum veneralione priebuimus, hortamur ut eas cum reverentia $Susci- pere , et collocare, auxiliante Domino, debeatis provisuri ante omnia ut 4 servientibus ibidens non debeant alimoniarum deesse suffragia ©. provincie caput. Restituimus titulum ex Mss. Col- bert.,. VYatic., Norm. In Yulgatis autem legitur epi- . $C0po de Santonibus., © In Vatic. B et nonnvullis legitur, duodecim alta- ria. Allare unicum intra singulas ecclesias habent Gr#ci, ut observat Card. Bona de Rebus liturgicis, I. 1, cap. 14, n. 3. Aliam Latinorum consuetudin-m oslendit hzc Gregorii Mag. epist., ved et Ambrosius epist, 20, ad Marcelli-am $sororem, n. 2, scribens de pace a Valentiniano Catholicis data : Nec mora,. inquit, nuntialur imperatorem jussis8e ut recederent milites de basilica...... certatim hoc nuntiare milites irruentes in altaria, osculis 8ignificare pacis insigne.. Rationem redvit Baronius, cur plura quandoque wdi- ficarentur allaria : Erant, inquit, sepulcra mariyruns allaria, et ubi condebaniur martyres, allare consueve- ral erigi. 1d conslat ex Prudentio lib. tpi Erepavwy, hym. 5, 4, 5; saucto Auguslino, 8erm. 5 de >aucto» Stephano, lib. viu de Civitale, cap. 27; Gregorio Turon., Hist. lib. v, c. 49 ; lib. 1 de Gloria marty- rum, Cc. 35 et 91; Paulino, Poem. 4. Imo ex ejusdem Paulin epist. 52, nove Edit., certum est illus jam- zlate Super sepulcra et reliquias cunſes<orum altaria- ſuisse condita. In capitular. 1 Caroli Mag., an. 8U5S, n. 6, caveiur de altaribus ut uvn superabundent iw ecclesii>, * Gall., ass28stance. Suffragor per translationew ,