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. 595 · score 0.02
… dvised connivance that neither is the fear of God maintained there, nor are the imperial commands carried out. They add that in the aforesaid province, through the bribes of the Donatists, the Catholic faith is being openly sold. The distinguished Gennadius, on the other hand, has in turn lodged a complaint against one …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.02
… contradict the orders of our most devout lords [the Emperor and Empress]. Those imperial orders had mercifully and gently removed many of the hardships suffered by landowners and citizens of the empire. We therefore ask you, at a suitable time, to present the case to our most devout lords in accordance with the just an …
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. 596 · score 0.02
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. 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 0.01
… 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 23 To John, Bishop of Prima Justiniana [a major city in Illyricum/the Balkans, designated by Emperor Justinian as a metropolitan see] in Illyricum. Gregory to John, Bishop of Prima Justiniana. It is clearly a powerful testament to goodness when everyone's agreement converges on one person. Since the rep …
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. 590 · score 0.01
One more thing: I've urged our gracious lords [the Emperor and Empress] as forcefully as I can to allow you to come here to Rome — to the threshold of Peter, prince of the apostles — with your full dignity restored, and to live with me for as long as God wills. For however long I am given to be near you, we could ease …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Give this matter your close attention, because if there is any shortfall in what is delivered, it will mean the death not of one person alone, but of the entire populace. As for the management of the Church patrimony in Sicily, I have sent -- under God guidance, I believe -- a man you will find yourself in complete agr …
gregory_great · c. 596 · score 0.01
Gregory to the Emperor Maurice. Almighty God, who has made your Piety the guardian of the Church's peace, preserves you by means of the very faith which you preserve through unity among priests; and when you humbly submit your heart to the yoke of heavenly loving-kindness, it comes about through heavenly grace that you …
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
Book I, Letter 75 To Gennadius, Patrician and Exarch [supreme governor] of Africa. Gregory to Gennadius. If your military success came merely from the same qualities that distinguished commanders of old, it would not be so remarkable. But when, by God's grace, you achieve your victories not through worldly planning but …
gregory_great · c. 596 · score 0.01
Gregory to Respecta, Abbess of Marseilles in Gaul. The desire expressed in a devout petition ought to be fulfilled by a matching result, so that the benefit asked for may be validly obtained and sincere devotion may shine forth with deserved praise. Accordingly, for the monastery consecrated to the honor of Saint Cassi …
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. 592 · score 0.01
Gregory to Peter, Subdeacon of Campania. Just as we have no wish to interfere with the lawful judgments of laymen, so when they judge wrongfully we expect you to resist them with measured authority. To restrain violent laymen is not to act against the law but to uphold it. Deusdedit, the son-in-law of Felix of Orticell …
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. 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 …