Pastoral Rule, Dialogues & Letters 514

Gregory to John, bishop of Squillace. It is exceedingly grievous and stands contrary to the priestly purpose to wish to throw into confusion the privileges of any monastery, once granted, and to strive to lead away to a beginning things that were arranged for tranquillity. And so the monks of the monastery of Castellium, which is situated in the city of your Fraternity, have complained to us that you are hastening to introduce against that same monastery certain things contrary to those which were permitted by your predecessors and preserved by long custom, and to disturb the ancient ordering by a certain novelty of prejudice.

Therefore we exhort your Fraternity by these words that, if it is so, you refrain without any excuse from its distress, and do not attempt to tear away by the usurpation of any occasion the things that have long been kept for it, but take pains to preserve all things inviolate and without any opposition, and know that in that same monastery it is no more lawful for you than it was lawful for your predecessors. But because they have likewise complained that your Fraternity has taken away certain things from the monastery under the guise, as it were, of a gift, it is necessary, if you recall that you have unbecomingly accepted anything, that you restore it without delay, lest the fault of avarice gravely convict you, whom priestly munificence ought rather to have shown liberal toward monasteries.

Therefore, all things being preserved which, as we have said, were permitted and preserved by your predecessors, let it be your care to persevere vigilant concerning the acts and life of the monks residing there; and if you find any there living wickedly, or in any fault of uncleanness—which God forbid—to correct him with strict and regular amendment. For just as we wish your Fraternity to abstain from those things which are improperly usurped, so we admonish you by every means to be solicitous in those things which pertain to the rectitude of discipline or the guardianship of souls.

The monks of the aforesaid monastery have also indicated that the fortress which is called Squillace was founded on ground belonging to the right of their monastery, and that on this account those dwelling there, by documents drawn up, had pledged to pay a subsidy each single year, but afterward held it in contempt, and idly withheld themselves from that same payment. Let your Fraternity therefore take care to learn the truth minutely; and if you find it to be so, urgently take pains that, since reason also requires it, they do not defer to render what they promised, so that they may possess in tranquillity what they hold, and the rights of the monastery may not incur prejudice.

The monks of the aforesaid monastery have complained to us that their abbot granted to your Fraternity, by title of donation and under the pretext of building a church, land within the fortress of Squillace, which extends to six hundred feet; and therefore we will that as much as the walls of the built church can enclose be claimed for the right of the church. But whatever can be beyond the walls of that same church, let it revert to the rights of the monastery without any difficulty, for neither the statutes of secular laws nor of the sacred canons permit the property of a monastery to be separated from its right under any title. Wherefore restore without any delay the donation of that same land, which was made contrary to reason. Gregory to Leontius, ex-consul.

Since in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, and some indeed unto honor, but some unto dishonor (2 Tim. 2:20), who does not know that in the bosom of the universal Church also some are, as it were, vessels of dishonor assigned to lowly matters, while others as vessels of honor are fitted to clean matters? And yet it very often happens that both citizens of Babylon serve Jerusalem in forced labor, and citizens of Jerusalem—that is, of the heavenly fatherland—are assigned to the forced labor of Babylon. For when the elect of God, endowed with great characters, adorned with modesty, not seeking their own gains, are assigned to earthly affairs, what else do the citizens of holy Jerusalem do but serve in the work of Babylon?

And when certain persons, unbridled in depraved characters, hold the place of holy honor, and in those very things which they seem to do well seek their own praise, what else do the citizens of Babylon do but discharge the forced labor of the heavenly Jerusalem? For thus Judas, mingled with the apostles, long preached the Redeemer of the human race, and worked signs with the rest; but because he had been a citizen of Babylon, he discharged his work for the heavenly Jerusalem in forced labor. On the contrary, Joseph, led into Egypt, served the earthly palace, exercised the care of ministry in temporal matters, and rendered whatever was justly owed to the transitory kingdom. But because he existed as a citizen of holy Jerusalem, he ministered the service of Babylon, as has been said before, in forced labor alone.

I believe, good sir, that you are a follower of this man, whom I know, though implicated in earthly acts, to act with a gentle spirit, to preserve through all things the art of humility, and to render to each individual what is just. For so many good things are reported concerning your glory by many, that it does not please me to hear these things, but to behold them; yet a good report of him whom I am not permitted to see feeds me. But the woman who poured out the alabaster filled the house with ointment (Luke 7)—she holds the type of the holy Church, that is, of all the elect. And we, as often as we hear anything of good things, draw in the breeze of sweetness as it were through the nostril. And the Apostle Paul, when he said: We are the good odor of Christ unto God (2 Cor. 2:15),

it is openly given to be understood that he showed forth savor indeed to those present, but odor to those absent. We therefore, who cannot be fed through the savor of presence, are nourished through the odor of your absence. Concerning this also we greatly rejoice, that the gifts which you transmitted were not dissimilar to your character. For we have received oil of the holy cross and wood of aloes: the one which by touch may bless, the other which by incense may smell sweetly. It was fitting, therefore, that a good man should transmit those things which could appease for us the wrath of the Lord. You also sent many other things into the storerooms, for since we subsist by both mind and flesh, it was necessary that we should be sustained by you in both.

Yet concerning these transmitted things your most sweet mind confesses that it greatly blushes, and opposes to that same modesty the shield of charity. But in these words I altogether rejoice, for in such an attestation of mind I recognize that he can never take away another's goods, who blushes even at this very thing that he bestows his own. You call your gifts small, which are great; but, I believe, that they may profit still more from the very humility of your glory. And you ask that I receive these things with a good mind. But amid these things, recall to memory the two mites of a certain widow (Luke 21). For if she pleased God, who with a good spirit offered a little, why should he not please men, who with a humble mind gave much?

Moreover, we have transmitted to you the blessing of Saint Peter, prince of the apostles, the key of his most sacred sepulchre, in which blessing is inserted a portion of his chains, so that what bound his neck unto martyrdom may absolve yours from all sins.