Resultados25 letters/passages
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.02
And yet even this is not enough; but something besides is said to be exacted according to a custom of many years. This practice we altogether detest, and desire it to be utterly extirpated from the patrimony. But, whether in this or in other minute imposts, let your Experience consider what is paid too much per pound, …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.02
Gregory to the Empress Constantina. Almighty God, who holds your devout heart in His right hand, both protects us through you and stores up for you eternal rewards in return for your earthly deeds. I have learned from the letters of my representative, the deacon Sabinianus, how justly Your Serenity has taken up the cau …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.02
Gregory to the Emperor Mauricius. Our most devout and God-appointed sovereign, among his many pressing cares, also watches over the preservation of peace among the clergy with genuine spiritual concern -- rightly and wisely recognizing that no one can govern earthly affairs well unless he knows how to handle the things …
gregory_great · c. 603 · score 0.02
… rejoicing, we who are glad that the kindness of Your Piety has ascended to the imperial throne. "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad" (Psalm 96:11). Let the whole people of the republic, so long and so grievously afflicted, grow cheerful at your generous deeds. Let the proud minds of enemies be brought …
gregory_great · c. 599 · score 0.02
Your experience is mindful of what kind of oath you swore at the most sacred body of blessed Peter the apostle; from which we too, being assured, committed the cause of investigation in the patrimony of the Syracusan region to you. It is therefore fitting that you always keep before your eyes your faith and the fear of …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.02
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. 594 · score 0.01
… e that he alone is a bishop and all the rest are nothing. I ask, then, that the imperial power prohibit this presumption, so that I may not be compelled to take measures that would sadden both me and the Church. Let the matter be resolved through Your Piety's wisdom, so that the peace of the clergy -- and through it, t …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
I want you to correct whatever has been done in this way without delay. Slaves taken into church possession without trial should be returned before any trial, so that if the Church has a legitimate claim, the current possessors may then be dispossessed through proper legal proceedings. Correct all this permanently. You …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
If the captivity of my land were not growing worse by the day, I would gladly pass over in silence the contempt and ridicule directed at me. But what afflicts me deeply is that my being branded a liar means Italy is dragged further under the Lombard yoke daily. While my reports go unbelieved, the enemy's strength grows …
gregory_great · c. 599 · score 0.01
Gregory to the tenant farmers [coloni] of the Syracusan patrimony. I want you to know that I have placed you under the care of our defensor [church legal officer, Romanus]. Obey him without resistance in whatever he sees fit to do or instructs you to do for the benefit of the Church. I have given him sufficient authori …
gregory_great · c. 597 · score 0.01
Gregory to Hilarius, notary. A ship has been sent carrying supplies for the support of a monastery. I direct you to ensure that this ship is protected in all respects for the purpose for which it was sent. Monastic communities depend on reliable supply chains. When something is sent for their support, it must reach the …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
I should also inform you that I have received a letter from the most devout Emperor asking me to be at peace with my brother and fellow bishop John of Constantinople. I wish to be at peace with everyone -- and I am. But when John, in his arrogance, assumes the new and unprecedented title of Universal Bishop, effectivel …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
But lest also the leases [i.e. by the Church to the farmers] be adjusted according to the sum of the payments due. We desire you to receive no more from the estates of the Church on account of the store-houses and stores beyond what is customary; but let your own stores which we have ordered to be procured be procured …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
For my son the servant of God, Diaconus, has already found such as displeased him; but he had not liberty to change them. We will, then, that, saving excepted cibaria of small value , nothing else beyond the just weights be exacted from the husbandmen of the Church. Further, we have ascertained that the first charge of …
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? …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Gregory to Sabinianus, Deacon. Regarding the case of our most reverend brother John, Bishop of Constantinople, I chose not to write two separate letters. Instead, I have composed one brief letter that I believe serves both purposes -- honesty and kindness. See to it that you deliver this letter, which I have written to …
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. 594 · score 0.01
Gregory to the Emperor Mauricius. The most serene commands of my Lords, while undertaking to correct me on certain points, have spared me in a way that is no kindness at all. By using the word "simplicity," you politely call me a fool. It is true that in Holy Scripture, when simplicity is spoken of favorably, it is alw …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
But, if any one should leave young children, let discreet persons be chosen to take charge of their parents' goods, till they come to such an age as to be able to manage their own property. We have ascertained also that, if any one of a family has committed a fault, he is required to make amends, not in his own person, …
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. 593 · score 0.01
Gregory to the Empress Constantina. The serenity of your Piety, distinguished by religious devotion and love of holiness, has commanded me to send you the head of Saint Paul, or some other part of his body, for the church being built in his honor at the palace. I wish nothing more than to demonstrate my readiness to ob …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 46 To Natalis, Bishop of Salona [modern Split, Croatia]. Gregory to Natalis. Many complaints have reached us about your conduct -- complaints we had hoped would cease after our repeated warnings. But since you persist in the same behavior, we are compelled to write yet again. We have learned that you co …
gregory_great · c. 596 · score 0.01
Furthermore, your Fraternity should be constant in unceasing prayer that Almighty God may preserve in our aforesaid brother and fellow priest what has been well begun, and ever lead him onward to still better things. This should always be the prayer of you, most holy ones, and of the people subject to him. For the meri …
gregory_great · c. 592 · score 0.01
Book III, Letter 33 To Dynamius, Patrician of Gaul [a high-ranking nobleman in Frankish territory, likely in Provence]. Gregory to Dynamius, Patrician of Gaul. One who faithfully administers what belongs to another demonstrates how well he would manage his own affairs. Your Glory has shown this clearly through your dev …
gregory_great · c. 599 · score 0.01
Gregory to Theoderic and Theodebert, Kings of the Franks. The highest good in kings is to cultivate justice and preserve every person's rights -- not to allow subjects to suffer what power makes possible, but only what is equitable. My confidence that you both love and pursue this encourages me to bring to your Excelle …