教牧守則·對話錄與書信 第 624 章

Gregory to Savinus, subdeacon. The bearers of these presents, Stopaulus and Marcellus, freedmen of the late Comitiolus of the sentinels, have complained to us, asserting that two ounces of his substance — which the same their master had bequeathed to his freedmen by the page of his will — have not yet been paid in full to them by his heir and daughter Maria, wife of Pardus the cleric. And, so that she may be able to defer that legacy, they intimate that terror concerning their status is being wrought against them by the same heir.

And since the things which have been left require your instance to be fulfilled, therefore we charge you by this authority to admonish the aforesaid Maria that she not defer to fulfill the will of her father and testator, and let it be of your zeal that they ought not to be subjected to any expenses contrary to reason. But if perhaps she strives to defend herself from this payment by some excuse, it behooves you, in the midst of the most sacred Gospels, to scrutinize the case subtly, and so to determine for her what the order of law and justice shall require, and to commit the things determined to effect, so that this complaint may not come back to us anew.

But since we have learned that the aforesaid testator bequeathed two ounces of his substance to the church of Saint George, where he wished to be buried, let it be of your care that you ought by all means to claim those same two ounces for the aforesaid place, if they are not yet paid in full, so that the intention of the pious will may be brought to effect in all things, even against the will of the heir, and that you not suffer the matters which have been related to be deferred any longer in this affair. For it is sacrilege and against the laws, if anyone should attempt, by the pursuits of a depraved will, to retain for his own gains what is left to venerable places (Grat. 17, q. 4, c. 4).