Letter 19: Hilary, bishop of Rome, to our beloved brothers Leontius, Veranius, and Victorius, greetings.

[Editorial heading] Of Pope Hilarus, to the bishops Leontius, Veranus, and Victurus. He delegates to them the dispute of Ingenuus and [...], and wills that to be void which was obtained from him by surprise [improperly] by Auxanius. He decrees that the city of Cemele and the fortress of Nice should return to the governance of a single bishop. To his most beloved brothers, the bishops Leontius, Veranus, and Victurus, Pope Hilarus. 1. We are moved by the principle of justice, which, although it ought to be preserved by all who are rightly minded, nevertheless ought especially not to be rashly neglected by the priests of the Lord, by whose institutions it is fitting that the rest be instructed. Our brother, therefore, and fellow-bishop Ingenuus of Embrun, always supported by the honor of metropolitan of the province of the Maritime Alps, records that we established certain things to his own prejudice, as the annexed documents declare, at the request of our brother and fellow-bishop Auxanius -- things which run counter to all the defenses in this same case. For when the reports that were reviewed in our judgment, which our brother and fellow-bishop Veranus, together with the other priests of the province, sent to my predecessor of holy memory, and the response of the Apostolic See, which had then been issued, are made plain, it is manifest that nothing afterward ought to have been attempted; nor ought anything to have been established, to the injury of the synodal rules, through the surreptitious obtaining [obreption] which was lately committed. For although on this account also what was elicited from us may be deemed invalid -- because the very thing was suggested in such a way that the one who obtained it refused to carry it out -- nevertheless, lest we be moved by hatred or favor, which in the adjudication of cases ought to have no place, we thus delegate to your Charity the cognizance of the annexed complaint, so that whatever shall be established to have been obtained from us by surreption may have no force against the venerable canons, and none against the judgment of my predecessor of holy memory. 2. For we do not wish, dearest brothers, the privileges of the churches, which must always be preserved, to be confounded; nor do we permit one priest to have jurisdiction in the province of another: because through this no less is there transgression against the sanctions of the holy traditions than there is a rushing-forth to the injury of the Lord himself, whose expectation of the fruit of our ministry is placed not in the breadth of regions but in the acquisition of souls. Let our brother and fellow-bishop Ingenuus therefore have the pontifical authority of his own province -- concerning whose unlawful cession he was long ago found at fault by the Apostolic See; and, all things being preserved which, as we have said, the authority of my predecessor of holy memory defined concerning the churches of the city of Cemele or the fortress of Nice, let nothing harm the right of the churches because in one of the aforesaid places a bishop was lately consecrated by the aforesaid brother -- in order, as he asserted, to shut out the cupidity of another's ambition; but let the form of the established correction remain in force, so that the aforesaid places, which it was not fitting to divide between two priests, may return to the governance of a single bishop. May God keep you safe, dearest brothers.

^^65^"" Hilari papae ad Leontium, yeranuni et Yieturum episcopos. Ingenui ct /Ituvami controversiam iltis delegatt vultque irritum esse quod sibi ab n.] Aujcanio subreptum. Statuity ut Cemelensis civitas et Nicense castettum ad uniua cpiscopi regimen revertantur, Dilectissimis fratribus LeontioM, Verano et Vi- cturo episcopis Hilarus papa. 1. Movemur ratione justitiae, quae licet ab onmibus, qui recta sapiunt, debeat custodiri, tamen^) praecipue Domini sacerdotibas non est temere negligenda, quoruni ceteros informari convenit in- stitutis. Frater igitur et coepiscopus noster Ligenuus EbredunensiB, Alpium maritimarum provinciae metropolitani^) semper honore sub- •) L* commeatuum omisso cuiquam. ') Ita c* c" cum mss. ; a' Verano Leontio. Hunc Leontium vero non Foro- juliensem , ut vult Baronius ad a. 465 , sed Arelatensem episcopura opin^mury probatque Leonis ad Theodorum Leontii Forojuliensis successorem cpistola 106 anno 461 consignata. — Mox F Victorio ac subinde monemur. ') a^ p r c* tum praecipue. ') Ita A 'K' Fc*; a' metropoUtanus, (3 Metropofitanensem per honorem COrmpte. Pa^chasius Quesnellus dissert. V in Leon. part. 2 cap. 6 multum laborat de hivJUB loci interpretatione, ubi episcopus Ebreduncnsis ejus provinciae meiropolt' tani semper subnixus honore ct de ejus dudum ab apostolica sede ilHciia cesfione EPISTOLAE 11. 12/ 153 nixus, in praejudicium suum, sicut aniiexa declarant *), quaedam nos a. 463 petente fratre et coepiscopo nostro Auxanio'^) statuisse commemorat, ~^^- cmipatmM dicitiir. Siquidem pro certo ponit, provinciam Alpiiim maritimarum antiqiutus sub metropoli Arelatensi fuigse, nec nisi ex sua a solida Narbonensi «liTisione politica ecclesiasticam sibi praerogativam praesumpsisse, sed statim a Bjnodo Begiensi anno 439 retusam fuisse. Verum jam Ballerinii in doctbsimis suis ad iUam diflsertationem observationibus (Leon. Opp. tom. II, 993 ss.) eviden- ter demonstranmt, niliil de supposiids stare, cadere scrupulos inde subsequentes. Nimirum in Gallia drca finem demum saeculi IV privilegia metropolitana se- cundam Nicaeni condlii canones eonstitui et stabiliri coepta eunt, ut palam £Aciaiit synodus Valentina a. 374 et Taurinensis circ. ann. 400. Haec quidem ^jnoduB Taorinensis c.2 dbceptantibusArelateusi etViennensi de illa praerogativa epiflcopis recte proclamaverat, ut qui ex cis approbasset suam civiiaiem es/te me- tropoiim (inteDige ecclesiastieamj nam de civili nihil dubii esse poterat), is (oiius prwfinciae prrimaha konorem ohtineret (Hard. coll. conc. 1,958). Quae regula omnino pro constituenda illa praerogativa observata fuisse videtur. Secundum eam igi- tor et Ebredunensis ecclesia, quippe religionis in provincia Alpium maritimarum metropolis, dignitatem metropolitanam sortiri debebat. Per aliquod tamen tem- pus Patrodus episcopus Arelatensis auctoritate s. Zosimi papae abusus justum ordinem turbavit, jura suae sedis supra modum extendens. Mox autem revo- cavit 8. Boni^Eudus papa, hanc regulam generalem proclamans: Nulli videtur in- cognUa wynodi conntitutio Nicaenae, quae ita praecipit ....* per unamquamque provin- ciam. jus metropolitano» singulos hahere debere, nec cuiquam duas esse subjectas iBonif. epist. 12 n. 1). Quod idem confirmavit successor s. Coelestinus, in epi- T^ola 4 n. 6 ad episcopos provinciae Viennensis et Narbonensis repetens: utjiucta decreta canonum unaquaeque provincia suo metropolitano contenta sit . . . , nec usur- paiioni iocus aHcui sacerdoti in aUerius concedatur injitriam. Tunc igitur statim EhredunenBlB ecclesia dignitatem ab initio sibi competentem repetiit. Quam ]>aullo poet impugnavit episcopus Arelatensis niemoria Patrocli sufFultus, ot ro- ver^ episcopo Armentario deposito (in syn. Regiensi a. 439) uovitor electus In- genutai priviiegio suo in favorem Arelatensis cessit (cf. syn. Arausic. a. 441, Leon. «?piflt. 66). Quod idem quum in alios quoque metropolitas usurpatum esset, s. Leo pftpa restitit, et episcopo Aquensi in provincia Narbonensi secimda dignitatem reatituens generaUter edizit: Ordinationem sibi ,*, singuli metropolitani suarum pro- vineiarum . . . restituio sibi per nos jitre defendant. Alienum Jus alter sibi non audeai vimdicare, Suis Umitibus suis terminis sit unusquisque contentus, et privilegium sibi debitmm in aHum transferre se posse noverit non licere. Quod si quis, negligens apo- MdoHcas sanctiones, plus gratiae tribuens personali, sui honoris desertor esse voiuerit^ pritfiieffium smtm in oHum transferre posse se credens^ non is cui cesserit, sed is qtd imira prmnnciam antiquitate episcopali ceteros praevenit sacerdotes, ordinandi sUn vimdicct potestatem" (Leon. epist. 10 c. 6). Num praeterea idem s. pontifex speciali episcopum Ebredunensem hi\jus negligentiae censura notaverit, non liquet. Verum jam ex dictiB satb patet, quomodo hoc loco episcopus ille digni- tate metropolitana semper subnixus et ejus iUicita cessione dudttm ab apostoUca sede cuipatus did posait. a.463quae uiiiversis in hac eadem causa defensiouibus coutraireni. Siqui- ' dem relatiouibus iu nostro judicio recensitis, quas frater et coepi- scopus noster Veranus ad sanctae memoriae decessorem meum cum ceteris provinciae sacerdotibus misit, et apostolicae sedis, quae tunc directa fuerat; responsione patefacta manifestum est, nihil postea debuisse tentari; nec ad injuriam synodalium regularum quidquam per obreptionem, quae proxime facta est, oportere') constitui. Nam licet ex hoc etiam quod a nobis est elicitum censeatur infirmum, quia^) et ipsum insiuuatimi est exsequi noluisse qui meruit, tamen ne odio yel gratia moyeamur, jquae in causarum disceptationibus esse non debet, ita yestrae caritati cognitionem annexae querimoniae de- legamus, ut nihil adyersum yenerandos canones, nihil contra sanctae memoriae decessoris mei judicium yaleat, quidquid obreptum nobis esse constiterit. 2. Nolumus namque fratres carissimi, ecclesiarum priyilegiay quae semper sunt servranda, confundi, nec in alterius provincia sa- cerdotis alterum jus habere pemiittimus: quia per hoc non minus in sanctarum traditionum delinquitur sanctiones^ quam in injiiriam ipsius Domini prosilitur, cujus^) exspectatio fructus nostri ministerii non in latitudine regiouum sed in acquisitione ponitur animarum. Habeat itaque pontificimn frater et coepiscopus noster Ingenuus pro- yinciae suae, de cujus dudum ab apostolica sede est illicita') cessione ctdpatus: et custoditis onmibus, quae super ecclesiis Cemelensis '•) oivitatis yel castelli Nicensis, sicut diximus, sanctae memoriae de* in sedcm suam restitui Stephano decepto curayerat, s. Cjprianos epist 68 (ed. Pamel.) scribit: Hoc eo pertinet, ut BasHidis non tam abolita sint quam cwmmUUa crimina. Neque enim tam culpandus est Ule^ cui negligenter obreptum est, guam Me exsecrandus, qui fraudulenter ohrepsit. — Porro quid relationes illae Verani ad Leonem missae contiuuerint, non pmnino liquet. Probabile est autem, in iis actum esse de Cemelensi et Nicensi ecdesiis inter duos episcopos non diyiden- dis. Qua de re quum s. Leo Verani et alioriun votis annuisset, Auxanios ab Hilaro contrarium decretum obreptione impetraverat. •) a^ debere consiitui, Tum F Nam licet J<m ex hoc. c* seq. et hoc eiimm, Clarior osset sententia iu hunc modiun: licet id, quod a nobis est eUdtum, exkoe etiam censeatur infirmum, quia etc. EPISTOLAE 12. 13. 155 cessoris mei definivit auctorita8; iiiliil ecclesiarum juri noceat, quod a- -463 in altero**) memoratorum a praedicto fratre ad excludendam cupi- ditatem, quemadmodum^^) perhibuit, ambitionis alienae proxime est episcopus consecratus: sed statutae correctionis forma permaneat, ut ad unius antistitis regimen praedicta loca revertantur, quae in duos dividi non decuit sacerdotes. Deus vos incolumes custodiat, fratres carissimi.