Resultados25 letters/passages
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. 603 · score 0.02
… e 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 See resident at the court according to ancient custom is not due to any negligence on my part, but to the most pressing necessity. While all …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.02
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. 594 · score 0.02
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. 600 · score 0.02
Gregory to Romanus, our defender in Sicily. It has been reported to us that our most reverend brother Bishop Basilius is entangling himself in lawsuits as if he were a common layman, wasting his time attending the civil courts. Since this conduct both demeans the man himself and undermines the reverence owed to priests …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.02
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. 594 · score 0.01
Was it not the case -- as you well know -- that the prelates of this Apostolic See, which by God's providence I now serve, were offered the title of "universal" by the venerable Council of Chalcedon? Yet not one of them ever accepted it or claimed this ill-advised name, lest by seizing the glory of singularity by virtu …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 29 To Maurilius and Vitalianus, Magistri Militum [senior military commanders defending central Italy]. Gregory to Maurilius and Vitalianus. On receiving Your Glory's letters, we gave thanks to God for your safety and greatly rejoiced at your careful preparations. What you requested was immediately made …
gregory_great · c. 592 · score 0.01
Book III, Letter 31 To Romanus, Patrician and Exarch [the Emperor's supreme representative] of Italy [based in Ravenna]. Gregory to Romanus, Patrician and Exarch of Italy. We believe Your Excellency is already aware of the death of Laurentius, bishop of the church of Milan [one of the most important bishoprics in Italy …
gregory_great · c. 603 · score 0.01
Gregory to Senator, Priest and Abbot of a hospice. [This letter follows the same form as Gregory's privilege letters to the monastery and hospice at Autun, founded at the request of Queen Brunichild and King Theoderic.] When the hearts of Catholic kings are so inflamed by divine grace that they demand of their own acco …
gregory_great · c. 603 · score 0.01
Gregory to Lupo, Priest and Abbot. [This letter is a copy of the same privilege letter (see Letter 9 to Thalassia) adapted for the abbot Lupo's institution, granting the same protections and immunities established at the request of Queen Brunichild and King Theoderic for the religious foundations at Autun.] When the he …
boniface · c. 743 · score 0.01
Be assured that you have a special place in our affections and that it would give us great pleasure to have you always by our side as a minister of God in charge of the churches of Christ. Finally, beloved brother, take strength in God. Persevere manfully in the work to which God'. in His mercy, has called you; for the …
gregory_great · c. 599 · score 0.01
Gregory to Brunichild, Queen of the Franks. When governing a kingdom, valor needs justice and power needs equity — neither can stand without the other. How greatly your care for these virtues shines is made plain enough by the fact that you govern so many peoples so commendably. Who, then, knowing this, could doubt the …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 36 To Peter, Subdeacon of Sicily. Gregory to Peter. We have seen fit to bring to the attention of your Experience certain matters that require correction. We have learned that on some estates, the custom of exacting labor services [corvee] from the tenants beyond what is established by long tradition ha …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Guard against the wicked suggestions of evil men. Flee from every instigation to give offense. Offenses must come, to be sure, but woe to the one through whom they come. Because of this abominable title of pride, the Church is torn apart and the hearts of all the brothers are provoked to offense. Has it escaped your me …
gregory_great · c. 595 · score 0.01
Gregory to Brunichild, Queen of the Franks. The praiseworthy and God-pleasing goodness of your Excellency is made clear both by your governance of your kingdom and by the education of your son. You have not only preserved intact for him the glory of earthly things with provident care, but have also attended to the rewa …
gregory_great · c. 596 · score 0.01
And Paul the Apostle urges: "Making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3). And again: "Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). This peace you will truly have with us when you turn away from the pride of a prof …
gregory_great · c. 603 · score 0.01
Gregory to Thalassia, Abbess. When the hearts of Catholic kings are so inflamed with ardent desire by divine grace that they ask of their own accord for the very things our pastoral admonitions should have urged them to seek, such requests should be granted with cheerful and joyful heart -- all the more because these a …
gregory_great · c. 599 · score 0.01
Gregory to Virgilius, Bishop of Arles. Pious purposes and laudable devotion always deserve the earnest support of priests. Careful attention must be paid to ensure that neither carelessness, neglect, nor overreach disturbs what has been established for the peace of monks and religious communities. What reason required …
gregory_great · c. 599 · score 0.01
… eror's disposition is favorable -- my deacon, who represented our Church at the imperial court, reports that the Emperor fully supports this. Many good reports of our brother Syagrius have reached us, from your testimony and others', and especially from John the Regionarius [a papal regional officer] on his return to u …
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. 603 · score 0.01
Gregory to Brunichild, Queen of the Franks. Among your many excellencies, this stands above the rest: that amid the turbulent waves of this world, which so often confuse the minds of rulers, you turn your heart to the love of divine worship and to providing for the peace of sacred places -- as if no other care troubled …
gregory_great · c. 592 · score 0.01
Gregory to Italica, Patrician. We have received your letter, which is full of warmth, and we rejoice to hear that Your Excellency is well. The sincerity of our own heart is such that fatherly affection prevents us from suspecting any hidden ill-will beneath its pleasant surface. May Almighty God bring it about that, as …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Gregory to Childebert, King of the Franks. Your Excellency's letter has delighted me greatly, testifying as it does that you are careful, with devout affection, of the honor and reverence owed to priests. You show all men that you are a faithful worshiper of God by loving His priests with proper veneration and hastenin …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Let my most serene Lady look wisely into all these matters and relieve the groans of the oppressed. I suspect these reports have not yet reached your most pious ears, for if they had, they would surely not have continued until now. But they should be presented at a suitable time to our most pious lord, so that he may l …