Letter 7024: Four Christians are currently in Jewish servitude in Gaul.

Gregory the Great (Wisigothic)Candidus, Presbyter|c. 600 AD|Pope Gregory the Great|To Candidus, Presbyter (recipient)|AI-assisted
property economicsslavery captivity

To Candidus the Presbyter.

That he should ransom four Christians who were being held at Narbonne in the servitude of the Jews.

Gregory to Candidus, our presbyter throughout the Gauls.

Dominicus, the bearer of the present letter, has made known to us with tears that four of his brothers, ransomed from captivity from the Jews, are now being held at Narbonne in the servitude of those same Jews. And since it is altogether grave and detestable that Christians should be in the servitude of Jews, we exhort your Charity by the present writing that you take pains to investigate the matter with all care and diligence. And if it is truly so, and it is established for you by manifest truth that neither they themselves have the means to ransom themselves, nor does the above-mentioned bearer, let it be a concern of your zeal to ransom them, knowing that whatever you expend on them will without doubt be reckoned to your account. In the month of June, in the fifteenth indiction. (Cf. John the Deacon, book VI, chapter 44.)

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

AD CANDIDUM PRESBYTERUM.

Clrislianos quatuor redimat, qui in Judeorum servitio
Narbone detinebantur.

Gregorius Candido presbytero * nostro per Gallias.

Dominicus presentium portitor lacrymabiliter no-
bis ianotuit quatuor fratres suos de captivitate a Ju-
dzis redemptos esse, alque eos nunc Narbonz ® in
eorumdem Judzorum sgervitio © detineri. Et quia
01anino grave exsecrandumque est Christianos es8e
ia $ervitie Judzorum , dilectionem tvam Sseriptis
prxsentibus adhortamur, ut cum omni $ublilitate el

s0{licitudine $tudeat perscrutari. Et si revera ila

est, atque maniſesta tibi veritate constiterit quia ne-
que ipsi unde $e redimant, neque Suprascriptus por-
titor habet, eos Studii tui sit redimere, sciens quia
quidquid in eis dederis, tuis sine dubio rationibus
imputabiture. 4 Mense Junio, indictione 45. (Cf. Joan.
Diac. l. v1, n. 44.)

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern gregory great retranslated v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_1849_77

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