185:1
Cregorius cicro, ordini, ct plebi consistenti a rerusiæ. Miramur, carissimi fratres in Christo, quare Ecclesiam Dei tanto tempore absque Rectore conspicitis, ac de vestro totiusque plebis regimine minime cogitalis. Notum est cuim, quod grex, si pastoris cura defuerit, per avia gradiatur, et ob boc b facilius inimici laqueos insidiantis incurrat.
Gregory to the clergy, the order, and the people dwelling at Perusia. We marvel, most beloved brethren in Christ, why you look upon the Church of God so long a time without a rector, and give no thought to the governance of yourselves and of the whole people. For it is well known that a flock, if the shepherd's care be lacking, wanders through trackless ways, and on this account the more easily falls into the snares of the lurking enemy.
額我略致居於佩魯西亞的聖職團、教職次序及民眾。基督內至親愛的弟兄們，我們感到詫異，為何你們眼看天主的教會如此長久沒有牧者，卻絲毫不思念對你們自己並全體民眾的治理。因為眾所周知，羊群若缺了牧人的照管，便會走上無路可循的歧途，也因此更易落入潛伏仇敵的網羅之中。
185:2
Unde neecsse est de his qui Ecclesiæ militant unum, habito timore Domini, perquirere, qui Pastoris ministerium possit d;gne suscipere, atque illic, protegente Domino, sacramentorum divinorum dispensator insistere, quatenus et pro filiis Ecclesiæ vestræ purae quotidie mentis hotocaustum offerat, ct viam gregi, quomodo ad supernam patriam gradiatur, ostendat.
Wherefore it is necessary, in the fear of the Lord, to seek out from among those who serve the Church one who can worthily undertake the ministry of a Pastor, and there, under the Lord's protection, take his place as dispenser of the divine sacraments; so that he may both daily offer the holocaust of a pure mind for the children of your Church, and show the flock the way by which it may advance to the heavenly fatherland.
因此必須懷著敬畏上主之心，從那些服事教會的人中尋覓一位能堪當地承擔牧者職分者，好使他在上主的護佑下，於彼處就任神聖聖事的分施者；如此他既能每日為你們教會的兒女獻上潔淨心靈的燔祭，又能向羊群指明那通往天上家鄉的道路。