Resultados25 letters/passages
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.02
The barbarian invasions that continue to afflict Illyricum have produced a particular tragedy that I must address: bishops driven from their sees, wandering without resources, without community, without the basic means of life. This is a pastoral emergency, and I write to you collectively to demand a response equal to …
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 …
pelagius_ii · c. 585 · score 0.02
May God therefore command him to come swiftly to our rescue, before the army of this most wicked nation — God forbid — is able to seize the places still held by the state. For "those who act wickedly shall be cut off, and the enemies" [Psalm 36:9] of the Lord shall perish. Send the priest back to us quickly, God willin …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.02
Book I, Letter 17 To all the Bishops of Italy. Gregory to all. The detestable Authari [king of the Lombards, the Germanic people who had invaded and occupied much of Italy] during this recently completed Easter season forbade the children of Lombards from being baptized in the Catholic faith. For this sin, God struck h …
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. 594 · score 0.02
Whatever it was my duty to do in humility, I have not neglected. But if I am disregarded in my reproof, I will have no choice but to bring the matter before the Church. May Almighty God show you, brother, how great a love for you constrains me in saying these things, and how deeply I grieve in this matter -- not agains …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
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. 591 · score 0.01
Gregory to Jovinus, prefect of Illyricum. Word has reached me that a province which had been devastated by barbarian ravages is being restored and rebuilt under your governance. This news brings me genuine joy — not merely because the province is important, but because it suggests that the qualities of a good administr …
pelagius_ii · c. 585 · score 0.01
Pelagius, bishop, to his beloved son Gregory, deacon [Gregory was serving as the papal ambassador (apocrisiarius) at the imperial court in Constantinople]. We have taken care to inform you of everything necessary through Honoratus the notary, whom we have sent to you along with our brother and fellow bishop Sebastianus …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Book I, Letter 79 To Martinus, Bishop in Corsica. Gregory to Martinus. When people ask for what is just, we should listen with a willing ear, so that petitioners may find the remedy they hope for and the Church is not left without a shepherd's care. Since the church of Tanates [a town in Corsica], where Your Fraternity …
gregory_great · c. 602 · score 0.01
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. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 3 To Velox, Magister Militum [a senior military commander]. Gregory to Velox. We informed Your Glory some time ago that soldiers were ready to be sent to your area. However, since your letter warned us that the enemy had assembled and was marching toward us, we held them back. Now it seems beneficial to …
gregory_great · c. 592 · score 0.01
Book III, Letter 29 To the Priests and Clergy of Milan [one of the most important cities in northern Italy, close to Lombard-controlled territory]. Gregory to the priests, deacons, and clergy of the church of Milan. We have received your letter, which, though it speaks of your sufferings and difficulties, also reveals …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Before him, pagan rulers who knew nothing of the true God but worshipped idols of wood and stone still paid the highest respect to their priests. How much more fitting, then, that a Christian emperor should honor the priests of the true God, when pagan rulers knew how to honor priests who served gods of wood and stone? …
leo_great · c. 461 · score 0.01
Endure with patience what you cannot change, and trust that the same Lord who gave you the charge will give you the strength to bear it. III. Replies to his canonical questions To the specific questions you have raised, we respond as follows: Concerning those who, under threat of torture or death during barbarian invas …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 30 To Maurilius and Vitalianus [senior military commanders]. Gregory to Maurilius and Vitalianus, Magistri Militum. We have communicated with Your Glory through our son Vitalianus, both by word and by letter, urging you to coordinate with him. On the eleventh day of January, Ariulph [the Lombard Duke of …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Gregory to the Empress Constantina. Knowing how my most serene Lady thinks about the heavenly country and the welfare of her soul, I believe I would be greatly at fault if I kept silent about matters that ought to be brought to her attention for the fear of God. I learned that there are many natives on the island of Sa …
innocent_i · c. 416 · score 0.01
Pope Innocent I to Florentinus, Bishop of Tibur. Divine Scripture cries out not once but many times that the boundaries established by the fathers are not to be transferred. It is wrong for one person to seize what another has always possessed. Innocent writes to Florentinus because someone has intruded into a foreign …
gregory_great · c. 603 · score 0.01
Gregory to Phocas Augustus. It gives us joy to consider, with rejoicing and deep thanksgiving, what praises we owe Almighty God now that the yoke of sorrow has been lifted and we have come to times of freedom under the imperial authority of Your Benign Piety. That Your Serenity has not found a deacon of the Apostolic S …
gregory_great · c. 595 · score 0.01
As for what we ourselves are suffering from the swords of the Lombards in the daily plundering, wounding, and killing of our citizens — we prefer not to speak of it, lest in recounting our own sorrows we should only add to yours through the sympathy you bear toward us. Furthermore, a short while ago we sent to Sabinian …
leo_great · c. 460 · score 0.01
Leo, the bishop, to Neo, bishop of Ravenna — greeting. I. Those taken captive in infancy who cannot remember or bring witnesses of their baptism must not be denied this sacrament. We have indeed frequently, with the Spirit of God guiding us, strengthened the brethren's hearts when they were wavering on the slippery gro …
symmachus · c. 372 · score 0.01
I can see you're still wondering whether the confiscation of property followed Rufinus's punishment [Rufinus was a powerful praetorian prefect whose spectacular downfall was a major political event]. The proof is right there, sealed in imperial decrees. And really, given the long record of that old plunderer, no one sh …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Even if no reason for writing to your Excellency presented itself, we ought nevertheless out of fatherly charity to be solicitous for your well-being, so that what we desire to hear about you we may learn through frequent messengers. Moreover, it has come to our attention that Blandus, bishop of the city of Horta, has …
symmachus · c. 396 · score 0.01
You may be surprised that I'm recommending a bishop. It's the man's cause, not his creed, that moves me to write [a telling remark from the last great pagan senator]. Clemens, performing the duty of a good citizen, protected Caesarea — his hometown — by negotiating peace with the highest authorities. You've heard, I'm …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Book I, Letter 43 To Leander, Bishop of Hispalis [Seville, in Visigothic Spain; Leander was Gregory's close friend from their time together in Constantinople]. Gregory to Leander. I would have liked to reply to your letters with my full attention, but I am so worn down by the labor of pastoral responsibility that I am …