Letter 9031: **From:** Gregory I, Bishop of Rome
To Romanus the Defensor [a church administrative officer].
Ecclesiastical protection is not to be extended to all without discrimination.
Gregory to Romanus the Defensor.
It has come to us that certain men, holding altogether too little discretion, desire to entangle us in their own perils, and so wish to be defended by ecclesiastical persons in such a way that the ecclesiastical persons themselves are also held liable for their fault. Therefore by the present injunction I admonish you, and through you our brother and fellow bishop the lord John, and the rest who can be present; that, as for ecclesiastical protection, whether you receive my written instructions or even though they have not been issued [...], so that, if any are entangled in public thefts, they may not seem to be unjustly defended by us, lest by the rashness of an indiscriminate defense we in any way transfer onto ourselves the reputation of those who act wickedly; but, as far as befits the Church, by admonishing, by applying a word of intercession, succor those whom you are able, so that you may both bring them aid and not stain the reputation of the holy Church.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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 ROMANOM DEFENSOREM.
Ecelesiaslica patrocinia non omnibus indiscrete impen-
| denda.
Gregorius Romaio defensori.
Pervenit ad nos quia quidam homines minorem
emnimodo discretionem tenentes, in SUis nos periculis
implieari desiderant, alque ita volunt * ab ecclesias-
ticis personis deſendi, ut ipsx quoque pers0ne- ec-
clesiastice ex eorum culpa teneantur. Idcirco proce
senti te przxceptione admoneo, et per te ſratrem et
coepiscopum nostrum domnunm Joannem, vel caxteros
qui interesse possuntl ; ut patrocinia ecclesiastica, sive
mea SusCipiatis scripla, sive etiam minime ſuerint di-
qualenus (Grat. 14, q. 6, c. 3) si qui in furlis publicis
implicati sunl, a nobis-non videantur injuste deſendi
ne opinionem male agentium ex indiscretz deſensio-
Nis ausu in nos ullo modo Lransſeramus ; 8ed quantunt
decet Ecclesiam, admonendo, verbum intercessionis
adhibendo, quibus valetis succurrite, ut et illis opem
ſeraltis, et opinionem 8anclz, Ecclesiz non inquine-
lis Þ. (Cf. Joan. Diac, l. rv, e. 56.)
Revision history
- 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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