Resultados25 letters/passages
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.02
Book I, Letter 41 To Peter, Subdeacon [Gregory's delegate in Sicily]. Gregory to Peter. The venerable Paulinus, bishop of the city of Taurianum in Bruttium [the toe of the Italian peninsula, modern Calabria], has told us that his monks were scattered by barbarian invasions [likely Lombard raids] and are now wandering t …
gregory_great · c. 597 · score 0.02
Gregory to all bishops of Sicily. Word has come of an imminent barbarian threat against Sicily. In response, I direct all bishops throughout the island to lead their communities in two weeks of litanies [solemn processions with prayer and fasting — a standard response to public danger in Gregory's church]. This is not …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.02
Book I, Letter 50 To Anthemius the Subdeacon [Gregory's administrative agent]. Gregory to Anthemius. Since God has seen fit to place the burden of governance upon us, we must be watchful for the souls entrusted to our care. We have learned that on the Eumorphian island [a small island off the Italian coast], where ther …
gregory_great · c. 602 · score 0.02
Gregory to Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. The bearers of this letter, arriving in Sicily, were converted from the error of the Monophysites [who held that Christ has only one nature, divine, rather than two] and united themselves to the holy universal Church. Having come to the church of the blessed Peter, Prince o …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.02
My dear Leander — you of all people will understand what I am about to say: this office is a burden beyond what any man can rightly be expected to carry. The cares of it press on me daily, and the infirmities of my body, which never leave me, make the load heavier than I can describe. I long for the contemplative life …
gregory_great · c. 598 · score 0.02
The bearer of this letter is Theodosius, who serves as abbot of the monastery founded in earlier times by the late patrician Liberius. The monastery is known to us and its work is valued. I commend Theodosius to your goodwill and ask that you extend to him whatever protection and assistance his mission requires. A mona …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 42 To John, Bishop of Ravenna [the second most important city in Italy, seat of the imperial Exarch]. Gregory to John. The very fact that I write less often than I should shows how overwhelmed I am by the burdens of this place. But let Your Fraternity take the will for the deed, since what I cannot expr …
gregory_great · c. 600 · score 0.01
The bearer of this letter is Candidus the abbot, a man of God whom I commend to your care and hospitality. He carries with him relics which I am sending for the benefit of your community, and I ask you to receive both him and these sacred gifts with all due reverence. Sardinia is far from Rome in miles but not in our p …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Book I, Letter 52 To Symmachus the Defensor [a church legal advocate serving in Corsica]. Gregory to Symmachus. My son, the deacon Boniface, has told me that you wrote to say a monastery built by Labina, a religious woman, is now ready for monks to be settled in it. I commend your initiative. However, we want a differe …
gregory_great · c. 603 · score 0.01
Where the quality of offenses provokes canonical severity against them, we must not postpone correcting what needs correction, lest by dissimulation we appear to give strength to wicked acts, which it is fitting that we cut away with the sickle of discipline. Since therefore it has come to us that the monks of the mona …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 37 To Maximianus, Bishop of Syracuse [Gregory's trusted deputy in Sicily]. Gregory to Maximianus. I must write to your Fraternity about a situation that requires pastoral attention. We have learned that certain monks in the province of Sicily are wandering about without any supervision, neither observin …
gregory_great · c. 595 · score 0.01
Gregory to Candidus, priest, departing for the patrimony in Gaul. As you proceed with the help of our Lord God Jesus Christ to take charge of the Church estates in Gaul, I want you to use whatever funds you receive to purchase clothing for the poor and English boys of about seventeen or eighteen years of age who may be …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Gregory to Peter, Subdeacon. Gregory, servant of God, presbyter and abbot of the monastery of Saint Theodore in the province of Sicily, located in the territory of Palermo, has informed us that tenants of the farm of Fulloniacus -- which belongs to the holy Roman Church -- are attempting to encroach on the boundaries o …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Gregory to Sebastian, Bishop of Sirmium. I received your most welcome and pleasant letter. Though you are never absent from my heart, your Fraternity's letter has made you feel present to me bodily, as it were. I pray that Almighty God may protect you with his right hand, grant you a peaceful life here, and when it ple …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 41 To Leander, Bishop of Seville [Gregory's close friend in Visigothic Spain]. Gregory to Leander. The bearers of this letter, returning to Spain, have given me a welcome opportunity to write to you. Though I am heavily burdened with the weight of my pastoral duties and frequently crushed by the concern …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Gregory to the Emperor Mauricius. The generosity of my Lords, which has always mercifully sustained your servants, has shone forth here in so generous a supply that the needs of all who are weak and suffering have been relieved by your bounty. For this we all pray with tears to Almighty God -- who moved your Clemency t …
gregory_great · c. 603 · score 0.01
Come to Rome as soon as you can. I need to speak with you directly about matters that cannot be resolved through correspondence. Make whatever arrangements are necessary for your monastery in your absence and set out without delay. I would not summon you away from your community without reason — the urgency is real.
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Book I, Letter 36 To Peter the Subdeacon [Gregory's delegate in Sicily]. Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Peter the Subdeacon. The instructions I gave you when you departed for Sicily must be studied carefully. The greatest attention must be paid to ensuring that bishops do not involve themselves in …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
The value of the farmland produce matters little to me if fraud is mixed in. If it comes to my knowledge that you are lax about this, you will be held responsible. Furthermore, I have learned that the Jews in Catania have been complaining that they were expelled by force from the site of their synagogue, which they had …
gregory_great · c. 599 · score 0.01
Gregory to Januarius, Bishop of Cagliari. I knew before your Brotherhood's letter reached me what our enemies had accomplished in Sardinia. Having long feared this would happen, I now grieve with you over what I foresaw coming to pass. Had attention been paid to what I wrote both to our most excellent son Gennadius and …
gregory_great · c. 599 · score 0.01
The bearer of this letter is Fuscus, abbot of a monastery known to us, who has undertaken this journey in pursuit of his community's needs. I commend him and his monastery warmly to Your Fraternity. Please receive him with the hospitality his office deserves and assist him in whatever he requires. A bishop who supports …
gregory_great · c. 596 · score 0.01
These things having been ordained and granted by us, study in the governing of your community to show yourself so earnest and attentive in all respects that the malice of the evil one may find nothing there that can be corrupted. All these provisions, set out in this document of injunctions, we decree to be observed, u …
gregory_great · c. 601 · score 0.01
Gregory to Theoderic, King of the Franks. Your Excellency's letter -- a window into your heart -- has shown in its clear and flowing language what great prudence accompanies your royal power. There can be no doubt about the truth of whatever fame has reported in your praise. And since you indicate that my exhortation h …
gregory_great · c. 604 · score 0.01
Gregory to Queen Theodelinda of the Lombards. The letters you sent us from Genoa have made us share in your joy. By the favor of Almighty God, a son has been given to you -- and, as is greatly to your Excellency's credit, he has been received into the fellowship of the Catholic faith [through baptism]. Nothing less was …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Book I, Letter 44 To Peter, Subdeacon of Sicily. Gregory to Peter, etc. With regard to our having so long delayed sending off your messenger, we have been so occupied with the engagements of the Paschal festival that we have been unable to let him go sooner. But, with regard to the questions on which you have desired i …