Letter 29: Joanncm Uieromjmum Hierosolymitanum prospicere debuiue, lest tol ac tantis malis, quibus afftictas are Puula and...

[Argument:] That John, bishop of Jerusalem, ought to have taken care that Paula and Eustochium not be overwhelmed by such great evils as those by which they have been afflicted; and that, unless these things should henceforth either be corrected or be checked, he will render an account thereof. Innocent to his most beloved brother John. The most holy virgins Eustochium and Paula have bewailed that the devil has perpetrated plunderings, slaughters, burnings, every kind of crime, and the utmost [outrages] against a most noble innocence, in the places belonging to your Church; for they have withheld the name of the man and the cause. And although it is not doubtful by whom this was committed, it nonetheless behooved your brotherly affection both to keep watch and to provide more carefully for that flock of yours, lest any such thing should arise as your negligence, to the peril of others, provokes [...] to admit into the flock of the Lord; and we have heard that such lambs—stripped bare by fire, by arms and persecutions, weakened, after the slaughters and deaths of their own people—scarcely survive. Does nothing move the piety of that priesthood of yours concerning so great a power of the devil let loose against you and against your own people? against you, I say; for it utterly condemns the gravity of a priest that so great a wickedness should have been carried out in the Church. Where were your provisions? where, surely—if mishaps had occurred—were the helps or consolations [for those who] complain that they have suffered [these things]? I would judge [these matters] more deeply, if they had conferred with me somewhat more openly about this affair. See, brother, the snares of the ancient enemy, and keep watch with the spirit of a good ruler, so that these things, which have been reported to us by rumor rather than as proven by accusation, may either be corrected or be checked; lest the ecclesiastical law, concerning [...] the cause of those who are injured, compel him who has not defended [them] to render satisfaction.

Joanncm Uieromjmum Hierosolymitanum prospicere debuiue , ne tol ac tantis malis, quibus afftictas sunt Puula et Eustbchium, opprimerenlur, ac nisi Itasc deinceps au' corrigantur, aul retundantur, ra- tionem inde redditurum. Dilectissimo Irairi Joanni Innocentius. Direpiioucs, c;cdes, incendia, omne facinus, ex- Irema: h clementiae gencrosissimae sancl;c virgines Eusiochium et Panla deplorayerunt in locis Eecle- siae tuse perpetrasse diabolum : nomen enim liominis caiisamque relicuerunt. Qnod etsi ambiguum non sii. c a quo cominissum, opnrinit tamen custodire rt germaniiatem luam, et d gregi illius snlliciiius pro- videre, ne quid liujusmodi orirelur, quod eum alio- rum periculo tua l.icessit negligeniia e admitlere in gregem Domini ; el tales agnas incendio, armiset perseculionibiis, nudas, debiles, post siioriun c;cdes et morles, vix vivcre audivimus. Nihil movet pie- laiem ' ill.nii sacerdotii tui de lania diaboli in te at- que in luos poiestatc admissa ? in le, inquam ; prorsus cnimGsacerdoiis gravilatem condemnattanlum nefas in Ecclesia fuisse compleluni. Ulii provisiones ttioe? ubi ccrte, si casus eveneranl, anxilia vel consola- conqiieruniur esse pcrpessas ? Altius censerem, si essent aliquid de liac re mecum aperiius cnlloculoe. Vide, fiater, aiitiqui liosiis insidias, et spirilu boni rectoris pervigila, ut haec, quae ad nos opinione magis, quam accusalione manifesla. delata snnl, vel corriganiur, vcl retundantur ; ne jus ccclesiasiicum de laliefaclatis h causas cum, qui non dcfenderit, pracstare compellat.