From which it is concluded with how great consideration Saint Gregory, rightly teaching, daily recognized his own infirmity. Argument.—1. Concerning the temperance of Gregory.—2. He withdrew from John, bishop of Ravenna, the use of the pallium and of the mappulae (little napkins).—3. To the same, humbly requesting the use of the pallium, he granted it four times a year through the public squares.—4. Having rebuked the same for various vices, he foretold the day of his summoning (death).—5. When John had died, he committed the church of Ravenna to a visitor; and when Marinianus had been consecrated bishop, he granted the use of the pallium in like manner.—6. To Andrew, petitioning for the pallium, he prescribed an oath.—7. When Marinianus was unable to defend the custom of the pallium as had been agreed, Gregory remained in his sentence.—8.
He reproved the deacons of Catania for the usurpation of the campagi (a kind of episcopal footwear).—9. Concerning Maximus, the invader of the church of Salona.—10. He defended the authority of his pontificate against the tyrant emperor.—11. Excommunicating Maximus with his accomplices against the imperial wish, he compelled his bishops to return to the Church.—12. He ordered the case of Maximus to be aired at Ravenna.—13. Maximus, prostrate on the ground, tearfully begs pardon.—14. Gregory decrees that Maximus, making satisfaction before the body of Saint Apollinaris, is to be shown mercy.—15. To Maximus, humbly making satisfaction, he restores the grace of communion, and promises that he will give him the pallium.—16. With what didactic responses he terrified the proud emperor.—17.
Death by the sword threatens Maurice, who was raging against Gregory.—18. Maurice, repenting, sees in dreams himself, with his wife and children, delivered by divine judgment to the soldier Phocas.—19. When a sedition had broken out, Maurice, by the order of Phocas, is slain together with all his kindred.—20. Having received the imperial portrait, he wisely enumerates the vices of Maurice to the emperor Phocas.—21. He sends him an Apocrisiarius (legate) according to custom.—22. With a great weight removed, he declares that the imperial yoke has been rendered lighter.—23. He directed his synodical letter according to custom, and (notes) that the Orientals receive no one's name in the diptychs until they have known the synodical letter of his faith.—24. Having received the decrees of the Milanese, he consented that a bishop be ordained for them.—25.
He restored Anastasius of Antioch to his throne after many years.—26. Restoring Hadrian, bishop of Thebes, to his order, he withdrew his diocese from the power of the bishop of Larissa.—27. Except for manifest crimes, he deposed no one, but deprived them of communion.—28. With what strictness he handled the suits of accusers, and what things he decreed concerning the orders of judgments.—29. He confirmed the authorities of other bishops by his own authority; he did not diminish them.—30. Preserving to all bishops their proper rights, he willed that executors be appointed, and that judges be chosen by the accused.—31. He punished false informers with the like penalty (talio).—32.
He did not suffer crimes once brought forward to pass unexamined, and with what penalties he punished accusers of sins.—33. He ordered the accustomed stipends to be administered even to infirm clerics.—34. He confirmed the bonds made to their clerics by bishops, and ordered that their fourth (portions) be given to them in full.—35. He absolved those bound by others.—36. He received those purging themselves from heresy.—37. He took care to invite schismatics to Rome to undertake satisfaction.—38. He compelled Severus, bishop of Aquileia, to come to Ravenna; who, after he had returned to unity, running back again to his schism and afflicting the catholic priests, became the cause of the perpetual division of his diocese.—39.
On account of bodily sickness he gave no one a successor, and (it is noted) that to those renouncing their sees he did not deny successors, and ordered that suitable provisions be administered to them from the resources of the same (see).—40. He ordered a woman who had been violated to be taken in marriage by her violator.—41. He commanded that a man already tonsured be restored to his wife.—42. He decreed that no force be brought upon the Jews.—43. He judged that Christians ought on no occasion to be subjected to them.—44. He ordered Christians to be violently taken away from them; and of those who could not be taken away, he decreed that they be redeemed.—45. He forbade their slaves who took refuge in the Church to be given back.—46. He decreed that their pagan slaves wishing to come to the faith were not to be given back.—47.
He ordained that Jews' slaves who preceded their masters to the faith should by no means be reduced to their servitude, even if they themselves should follow them to the grace of baptism.—48. He permitted no one of the pagans to be circumcised.—49. He decreed that gifts from the Jews were not to be received.—50. In what manner the Jews were treated by the Roman pontiffs.—51. Gregory ordered that the Sabbath not be observed, and permitted washing on the Lord's Day.—52. Of how great compassion he was in the infirmities of the bishops Castorius, Eulogius, and Marinianus, or of the patrician lady Rusticiana.—53. On account of the barbarian incursions he willed that a litany be held.—54. He had the spirit of prophecy.—55. He foretold that future things would be worse than the former.—56. He permitted no one to be unjustly defended by the Church.
—57. He ordered that to those taking refuge in the Church the sacraments be furnished, concerning the justices to be preserved for them.—58. He called all priests brothers and fellow-ministers; other clerics indeed his most beloved sons; but laymen of either sex he called lords.—59. He gave satisfaction both to the faithful Theudelinda, the queen, and to his own subdeacon.—60. He records himself unworthy of the revelation of God.—61. Comparing himself to a presbyter, he pronounces that man superior and better.—62. He confesses himself unworthy of another's favor.—63. To a monk prostrating himself before him, he cast himself down to the ground.—64. Being accused, he set forth his innocence.—65. What he felt concerning the end of the age.—66. What things he wrote concerning the affliction of the City (Rome).—67. On account of the barbarian incursions he desisted from expounding the (sacred) books.
—68. Concerning his death, and the silver crowns (or facings) prepared by him, as well as the place of his burial, or its inscription.—69. By what means, when rivals were plotting to burn his books, Peter the Deacon defended them by dying.—70. How much Claudius learned from his words: and that Gregory dictated many things which now cannot be found.—71. He left twelve books of his letters, from which, in the time of Pope Hadrian, two volumes are seen to have been excerpted.—72. In his diaconate he began the Moralia, and how he arranged it into books during his episcopate, and directed it to Leander, bishop of Seville, at his request.—73. At the beginning of his episcopate, expounding the book of the Pastoral Rule to John, bishop of Ravenna, he restrained the unskilled.
—74. Running through the stations (churches), he dictated forty homilies, which he sent to Secundus, the servant of God, at his request.—75. He wrote the four books of the Dialogues, which afterward Zacharias, bishop of the Apostolic See, translated into the Greek tongue.—76. At the request of his citizens, he treated the first and last parts of the prophecy of Ezekiel in twenty-two homilies.—77. How humbly he himself felt concerning his own treatises, which are proclaimed most eloquent by later teachers.—78. Calling his own books, in comparison with the treatises of Augustine, mere bran, he forbade them to be read as long as he lived.—79. With how great consideration he daily recognized the infirmity of his own heart.—80. His body was translated by Pope Gregory IV:
and concerning his antiquity, or his mediocrity (of stature), and his regular special character.—81. Not knowing Greek, he discovered false treatises entitled under his name.—82. The monks who were sent by him into Saxony were bound to the rules of Saint Benedict.—83. Concerning the forms and garments of his father and mother.—84. Concerning his own form and habit, or his distich.—85. Saturninus, a monk, drew images of the apostles beside his effigy.—86. Concerning John, the provost, who contended with the devil before Christ; and concerning the revelation and terrible passing away of the same.—87. Concerning the torments of Andrew, the contractor, who professed that he had sold the monastery's charters to the same provost.—88.
Concerning the presage of the death of Athanasius the steward, who defrauded the customary allowances of the poor.—89. Concerning the devil driven out of the cloister of the monastery, who had struck a monk lying down.—90. Concerning the vision of a monk who foresaw twelve men who would die within the same number of days.—91. Concerning the conversion and passing away of Lucidus, bishop of Ficulnea.—92. Concerning the revelation of a monk who, through the shedding of tears, learned of the recovery and return of a certain enclosed presbyter, his brother.—93. Concerning the demon cast out from the estate of Barbilianum, who, killing the contractor and the herdsmen, had persecuted Caucus.—94. Concerning the vision about Tergaudus, once bishop of Trier, who was driven from the monastery by the blessed Gregory.—95.
Concerning the rebuke of Faraldus, who was suspended by demons the whole night.—96. Concerning Indulfus, a deserter of the monastery, struck by an old man: and concerning the revelation of a cleric, and the digression about Suppo.—97. Concerning the presbyter Cednicus, who had uncovered the Gregorian spring, being bound and beaten, and concerning his miserable passing away.—98. Concerning the modius (measure) of the monastery, and the diversity of its overflowing, as well as the miracle of bread divinely multiplied.—99. How frequently Gregory is shown forth in diverse places.—100. Concerning the division (portion) of a scribe, who could be frightened by a rival, and who deserved to be consoled by the blessed Gregory. 1. This is Gregory's sentence, full of reason and humility, concerning the refusal of the title "universal."
He indeed knew how to use prudently the cunning of the serpent against the proud, and by no means departed from the simplicity of the dove toward the humble. Wherefore, conscious of his own temperance, he says to Dominicus, bishop of Carthage, after other matters: Concerning ecclesiastical privileges, as to what your fraternity writes, let it hold this, all doubt set aside: that just as we defend our own, so we preserve to each and every church its own rights. Nor, by the favor of grace, do I impart to anyone beyond what he deserves; nor will I derogate from anyone that which is of his own right, when ambition goads. But I desire to honor my brethren in all things, and I so strive that each be advanced in honor, provided there be nothing which can by right be objected to one by another. (Letter,
Book II, Letter 47.) Likewise he writes to Eulogius of Alexandria and Anastasius of Antioch, the patriarchs, saying: Since the excellent preacher says: "As long as indeed I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry" (Romans 11:13), who again elsewhere says: "We were made little ones in the midst of you" (1 Thessalonians 2:7): he shows us without doubt an example to follow, that we should both hold humility in mind, and yet preserve the dignity of our order in honor: so that in us humility be not timid, nor exaltation proud, and so forth. (Book V, Letter 43.) Which Gregory, as can most manifestly be gathered from what precedes and follows, both did and said. 2.
For John, bishop of Ravenna, who through a swelling of pride frequently wore the pallium, and permitted his presbyters and deacons to proceed with the mappulae (little napkins), he first familiarly rebuked through Castorius the chartulary; afterward, when he pertinaciously defended these things as having been granted to him by custom or privilege, he penalized him, after certain matters, with such a sentence. "That I may briefly gather together," he says, "the things I said above: I admonish that, unless you shall have shown these things to have been attributed to you by privilege through the munificence of my predecessors, you presume not to use it in the public squares any further: lest you begin not to have even at Mass that which you audaciously usurp even in the squares.
But concerning the sacristy, that your fraternity both sat with the pallium and received the sons of the Church, and both did it and excused it—for now, in the meantime, we make no complaint: because, following the sentence of the synods, we refuse to avenge lesser faults which are denied. This, however, since it has been done once and again, we have come to know, but we forbid it to be done further. Let your fraternity, moreover, be altogether solicitous lest this, which is now yielded to a presumption while it is just beginning, be more grievously punished in one who advances in it." And after a few things: "But as to that which you wrote concerning the mappulae to be used by your clergy, it was strongly opposed by our clerics, saying that this had never been granted to any other church whatever;
nor did the Ravennate clergy, either there or in the city of Rome, presume any such thing with their (own) conscience (aware). Nor, if it had been attempted, would a prejudice (precedent) be generated for themselves from a furtive usurpation; but even if this had been presumed in any church whatever, they assert it ought to be corrected; because it is presumed not by the concession of the Roman pontiff, but by mere stealthy encroachment. But we, preserving the honor to your fraternity—although against the will of our aforesaid clergy—nevertheless permit your chief deacons, whom certain persons have testified to us to have used them even before, to use the mappulae, but only in your service. At another time, however, or for other persons, we most vehemently forbid this to be done." (Book III, Letter 56.) 3.
This sentence the man, most desirous of vainglory, bearing most grievously, most vigorously demanded through whomever he could that the use of the pallium be restored to him. To him Gregory wrote thus: I find your fraternity greatly saddened because you are forbidden by the censure of reason to don the pallium in the litanies (processions); but through the most excellent Roman patrician, and through the most eminent prefect, and through other noble men of your city, you importunately seek that this ought to be granted.
But we, solicitously inquiring from Adeodatus, formerly a deacon of your fraternity, have learned that it was never the custom for your predecessors to use the pallium in the litanies, except on the solemnity of the blessed John the Baptist, of the blessed Apostle Peter, and of the blessed martyr Apollinaris. And this indeed we ought by no means to have believed, because many representatives (responsales) from the city of your fraternity have often been (here), who profess that they never saw any such thing; and in this matter one ought rather to believe the many than the one attesting something for his own church. But because we (grieve to) sadden your fraternity...
We are unwilling to frustrate the petition of our sons in any way; therefore, until we come to know something more subtle and true, we grant the use of the pallium at the solemn litanies, that is, on the birthday of the blessed John the Baptist, and of the blessed Apostle Peter, and of the blessed martyr Apollinaris, and at the celebration of your ordination. But in the sacristy, according to the ancient custom, when the sons of the Church have been received and dismissed, your Fraternity ought to put on the pallium and thus proceed to the solemnities of the Mass, and to arrogate to himself nothing further out of the daring of rash presumption: lest, while in outward bearing something is inordinately seized, those things which might have been lawful be lost even when done in due order. (Book V, letter 11.)
But this same John, curbed from the ambition of vainglory by the rein of apostolic moderation, turned himself wholly to the disparagement of the pontiff. Whence the most prudent pontiff admonishes him thus, saying: First, this grieves me, that your Fraternity writes to me with a double heart, displaying certain flatteries in his letters, while showing other things in a worldly manner with his tongue. Next, it is grievous to me that those mockeries which notaries still boys are accustomed to indulge in, my brother John to this day retains upon his tongue, speaks bitingly, and as it were takes delight in such cunning. To friends present he flatters; about the absent he speaks ill.
In the third place, it is grievous and altogether detestable to me that upon his servants, in the hour when he rages, he imposes shameful accusations, so that they are called effeminate, and still more grievously and openly so. After this it came about that there is no discipline for guarding the life of the clergy, but he shows himself merely as lord to his clerics. But the last matter—which by the weight of pride is nevertheless the first—concerns the use of the pallium outside the church, which in the times of my predecessors no one ever presumed to do, nor was it ever presumed by his predecessors, as our envoys testify, except when relics were being deposited:
yet concerning the relics, only one person could be found to say that in my days, to my contempt, he not only did it with the utmost audacity but even did it frequently. From all these things I find that the honor of your episcopate is wholly in outward show, not in the mind. And indeed I give thanks to Almighty God that at the time when this reached me—which never reached the ears of my predecessors—the Lombards were positioned between me and the city of Ravenna. For perhaps I would have had to show men how strict I know how to be.
But lest you should believe that I wish your church to be burdened or diminished in anything, recall in the solemnities of the Roman Masses where the deacon of Ravenna used to stand, and inquire where he stands today: and you will recognize that I desire to honor the church of Ravenna. But that anyone should seize whatever he pleases out of pride—this I cannot tolerate. Nevertheless, on this matter I have already written to our deacon at Constantinople, that he should make inquiry through all who have under them even thirty or forty bishops. And if this usage exists anywhere, that in litanies they walk with pallia, far be it that through me the honor of the church of Ravenna should seem to be diminished in anything. Therefore consider all these things which I have said above, dearest brother; attend to the day of your calling;
consider what account of the burden of the episcopate you are to render. Amend those manners of a notary; see what befits a bishop in tongue and in deed. Be wholly pure toward your brethren. Do not speak one thing and hold another in your heart; nor seek to appear more than you are, that you may be able to be more than you appear. (Book V, letter 15.) 5. Because John, in the arrogance of pride, scorned to amend these things, in that same year, according to what Gregory had foretold him, he ran headlong—while he did not heed it—into the day of his calling; and, swollen, he burst before he had deserved to be satisfied with the vesture of the pallium.
For which reason Gregory, committing the visitation of the church of Ravenna to Severus, bishop of Ficulum, according to the ancient custom, consecrated Marinianus, a monk, his own intimate, as bishop for the people of Ravenna; and he directs the pallium to him, writing: Prompted by the benevolence of the Apostolic See and by the order of ancient custom, we have foreseen that the use of the pallium is to be granted to your Fraternity, who are known to have undertaken the office of governance in the church of Ravenna; and you must remember to use it in no other way than in the church of your own city, when, the sons already dismissed, you proceed from the salutatory to the sacred solemnities of the Mass to be celebrated. But when the Masses are finished, you will take care to lay it aside again in the salutatory.
But outside the church we permit you to use it no further, except four times in the year in the litanies which we specified for your predecessor John. (Book V, letter 5; Book V, letter 56.) 6. But Marinianus, softened by the suggestions of his clerics, importunately demanded—both through Andreas, a distinguished man, and through whomever he could—that the use of the pallium be restored to his church. Wherefore Gregory writes to Castorius the chartulary, among other things, saying: Let your Experience regard no one's person, no one's words: let it hold before its eyes the fear of God alone and rectitude;
and let it summon the elder persons, and the archdeacon of that same church—whom I do not suspect of perjuring himself for another's honor—and others of greater age who were in sacred orders before the times of Bishop John, or if any are of riper years outside the sacred orders; and let them come before the body of Saint Apollinaris, and, having touched his tomb, let them swear what the custom was before the times of Bishop John: because, as you know, that same man was a great presumer, and strove through pride to arrogate many things to himself; and whatever shall have been sworn by the more faithful and weightier men, according to the schedule which is annexed below, this we wish to be preserved in that same church.
But see that you do not act negligently, lest anyone corrupt your fidelity or devotion in this cause. For I know your zeal. Act carefully, yet in such a way that the aforesaid church be not burdened contrary to justice; but that the usage which existed before the times of Bishop John be preserved for it. Do not summon two or three persons to give you satisfaction, but as many of greater age and more weighty as you shall find for it: so that we may neither deny what was the more ancient usage of that same church, nor grant what has been sought after by new audacity. But do everything gently and sweetly, so that both your action may be strict and your tongue mild. "I therefore, N., swear
by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity of inseparable divine power, and by this body of the blessed martyr Apollinaris, that I testify for the favor of no person, nor with any advantage intervening; but these things I know, and through my very self I have come to know, that before the times of the late Bishop John, the bishop of Ravenna, in the presence of this or that apocrisiary of the Apostolic See, on these and those days, had the custom of using the pallium: and I have not known that he usurped this secretly or without the apocrisiary." (Book VI, letter 61.) 7. This oath Gregory had commanded in the fourteenth indiction.
Because this, as the outcome of the matter makes plain, remained undone for three continuous years since the testimonies were lacking, Marinianus, again compelled by the suggestion of his own people, was confident that he could obtain by the importunity of prayers the use of the pallium which he could not vindicate by custom as had been agreed. Wherefore Gregory, remaining in the same judgment, writes to that same chartulary in the second indiction, saying: While Florentius, deacon of the church of Ravenna, was pleading before us on behalf of our most reverend brother and fellow-bishop Marinianus concerning the use of the pallium, being asked by us what the ancient custom was, he answered: that in all litanies the bishop of Ravenna used the pallium.
That this is not so, we have both learned from others, and it appeared evidently from the letters of the late Bishop John, which we caused to be shown to him; but he asserted this because he was bidden to say it. For at the time when this same John, the late bishop, was forbidden by you to presume to use the pallium inordinately and rashly, he wrote to us that this had been the ancient custom, that the bishop of that city should use the pallium in the solemn litanies: copies of which letters we have transmitted to you for your information.
But Adeodatus, deacon of the aforesaid church, when he was with us at the time he was here, likewise striving earnestly to plead concerning the same use of the pallium, we—wishing to know the truth—likewise took care to have inquiry made of him what the custom was. He, that he might persuade us to trust him and might be able to obtain from us what he sought, testified under oath that it had been the ancient custom that the bishop of his city should use the pallium in four or five solemn litanies. Let your Experience therefore diligently keep watch, and with all solicitude inquire how many solemn litanies there have been from antiquity; and let it not seek to inquire by naming them 'solemn,' but 'the greater ones':
so that, by this—which the aforesaid deacon Adeodatus has testified to us, and the letter of the aforesaid Bishop John confirms—when it shall be established how many the solemn litanies were, we, knowing how often he used to be vested with the pallium in the litanies, may most gladly grant it; but let it not seek this from those who are put forward by ecclesiastical persons, but from others whom it shall know to be without partiality to either side; and let it subtly inform us of what it shall have discovered by careful investigation: so that, the truth being known, as we have said, we may relieve the mind of our most reverend brother and fellow-bishop Marinianus. (Book VII, letter 77, now Book VI, letter
34.) But because the ancient custom, subtly investigated by our own men, could in no way be proven by the men of Ravenna, that Gregory remained in his own judgment is shown beyond doubt by this, that neither on this account—so far as can be discerned from his writings—was he solicited by anyone, nor, moved of his own accord, did he write anything further at all. 8. Not only in great matters did Gregory turn the eyes of his solicitude, but also, lest greater things should at some time be presumed with impunity, he most carefully guarded against this in the smallest matters. Whence he writes to John, bishop of Syracuse, saying: The order of ecclesiastical vigor is thrown into confusion, if either things unlawful are rashly presumed, or things not conceded are attempted with impunity.
It has therefore come to us that the deacons of the church of Catania have presumed to walk shod with campagi. Which you well recall has hitherto been permitted to no one throughout all Sicily, except only to the deacons of the church of Messina, to whom it is not doubted to have been granted long ago by our predecessors. Since therefore the daring of so great a rashness is not to be lightly regarded, let your Fraternity investigate this whole matter with all subtlety: and if it shall find it to be so, as has come to us, whether they presumed this of themselves or by anyone's authority, let it subtly make it known to us, so that, the truth being known, we may determine what ought to be done. For if we negligently pass over those things which are wrongly usurped, we open the way of excess to others.
(Book VIII, letter 27.) 9. Meanwhile, upon the death of Bishop Natalis, when the whole body of the Dalmatians had harmoniously chosen the archdeacon Honoratus—whom he himself had converted from presbyter into deacon—to be set over them, and the pontiff had approved their decree, by the faction of Bishop Malchus, rector of the apostolic patrimony, and by military force, Maximus, involved in many crimes, invaded the episcopate of the city of Salona. Hearing which, Gregory forbade the bishops of Dalmatia and Zara, under great threat, to lay hands upon him.
But Maximus, who had invaded the episcopal see contrary to the canons, did not even fear to procure the priesthood contrary to God through simoniacal heresy, from bishops who were themselves excommunicated and corrupted by a price: an occasion of the times favoring him, arising from the cupidity and at the same time the insolence of Augustus, whom, by squandering the resources of the invaded church, he made so much the defender of his crimes that he not only frequently demanded of Gregory that he should leave Maximus's promotion undiscussed, but even that he should receive him with honor when he came to Rome to give satisfaction for the simoniacal heresy and other crimes. 10.
But Gregory, respecting no one's face against the truth, deprived this same Maximus first of the solemnities of the Mass, and afterwards of the communion of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, until he should present himself. But Maximus, supported by the imperial troops, after his excommunication both chanted the Masses and, quite unworthy, received the sacraments. Wherefore Gregory writes to the Empress Constantina, after many other things, saying: The bishop of the city of Salona was ordained without the knowledge of me or of my envoy; and a thing has been done which happened under no earlier princes.
Hearing which, I immediately sent to this same transgressor who was ordained inordinately, that he should by no means presume to celebrate the solemnities of the Mass at all, until I should first learn from the most serene lords whether they had themselves commanded this to be done. This I charged him under the imposition of excommunication: and, despising and scorning me, in the audacity of certain secular men—to whom, having stripped bare his own church, he is said to bestow many rewards—he presumes even to this day to perform the Masses, and would not come to me according to the command of the lords.
But I, obeying the command of their Piety, have so pardoned from my heart, to this same Maximus who was ordained without my knowledge, the fact that in his ordination he presumed to pass over me or my envoy, as if he had been ordained with me as its author. But his other perverse deeds—namely the bodily evils which I have come to know, whether that he was elected with money, or that, being excommunicated, he presumed to perform the Masses—for God's sake I cannot pass over uninvestigated; but I hope, and beseech the Lord, that nothing of those things which have been said may be able to be found concerning him, and that his cause may be concluded without peril to my soul:
yet before these things are known, the most serene lord, by a command hastening about, has ordered that I should receive him with honor when he comes. And it is very grievous that a man about whom such and so great things are reported should be honored, when he ought first to be inquired into and examined. And if the causes of bishops committed to me are disposed of at the court of the most pious lords by the patronage of others, what am I, unhappy, doing in this church? But that my bishops should despise me, and have recourse against me to secular judges, I give thanks to Almighty God, I impute it to my sins. This much, however, I briefly suggest, that I am waiting a little while; and if he shall long delay to come to me, I shall by no means cease to exercise canonical strictness upon him.
But in Almighty God I trust, that long life will be granted to the most pious lords, and that He may dispose of us under your hand not according to our sins, but according to the gifts of His grace. (Book V, letter 21.) 11. These things Gregory wrote to the dissembling Empress. But since this same Maximus remained in his presumption, he cut off the consecrators and all the bishops of Dalmatia and Zara from his communion under excommunication: so much so that they should not even mention the name of Maximus amid the sacred solemnities of the Mass. This being done, all were so dismayed in mind that, under the satisfaction of penance, they abandoned Maximus and begged pardon. Whence the most merciful pontiff, writing to Sabinianus, bishop of Zara:
Just as, he says, vengeance is by right owed to persevering guilt, so pardon is to be granted to those who repent. For as that former deed is wont deservedly to stir up anger against itself, so this latter is wont, in its very love, to propagate concord. And therefore, because the gravity of the priest, at length brought back to your mind, so afterwards held your Fraternity suspended from the fellowship and communion of Maximus—into which neglect had earlier driven you—that you would by no means suffer yourself to be content with that separation alone, unless, receiving yourself into the cloisters of a monastery, you should bewail what had formerly been committed: therefore do not doubt that you have been received into our grace and communion. For as much as the fault of your Charity had earlier offended us, so much has your penitence mitigated it.
(Book VIII, letter 10.) 12. And so Maximus, perceiving at long last that it is hard to kick against the goad, having abandoned the imperial supports, through the exarch Callinicus quite humbly begged of Gregory that penance and at the same time pardon be granted to him. Gregory himself, unwilling to have him wearied by a journey to Rome, committed his cause to be examined at Ravenna, writing to Constantius, bishop of Milan: Maximus, he says, the transgressor of the church of Salona, after he was able to obtain nothing through the greater powers of the world, betook himself to the lesser: and he strives to prevail over us both by the excess of his prayers and by the attestation of good works.
For which reason I have considered it inhuman if he who says that he as it were greatly fears me could in no respect find me somewhat more moderate: and therefore I have decreed that our most reverend brother and fellow-bishop Marinianus ought to take cognizance of his cause in the city of Ravenna. But if his person shall perhaps be held suspect, we wish that your Fraternity also, if it is not laborious for you, should take the trouble to travel to that same city, and to sit together with the aforesaid brother in the same judgment. But whatever shall please the holiness of you both, know that it will please me in every way, and I count your judgment as my own. (Book IX, letter 67.) 13.
Amid these things the transgressor Maximus, in the seventh year of his excommunication, after Gregory's chastisements and scourgings, returning to his heart, made for Ravenna, and cast himself down, stretched out within the city in the midst of the paved street, crying out and saying: I have sinned against God and against the most blessed pope Gregory. And while he was doing penance for three hours, the exarch Callinicus ran up, and Castorius, chartulary of the Roman Church, together with Bishop Marinianus, and they lifted him up from the pavement: and he even began to do a fuller penance in their presence. When Gregory heard this, he returned at once to mercy, writing to Bishop Marinianus, among other things:
What is the will—or rather the petition—of your Fraternity concerning the cause of Maximus, we have learned from the report of the bearer of these present letters, Castorius, our chartulary. And therefore, if this same Maximus shall, in the presence of you and our aforesaid chartulary, purge himself by an oath given concerning the simoniacal heresy, and concerning the other matters, being merely questioned before the body of Saint Apollinaris, shall answer that he is free: we commit the cause of him—concerning the fact that, being excommunicated, he presumed to perform the solemnities of the Mass—to the judgment of your Fraternity, by what penance such a fault ought to be purged. And therefore whatever pleases you according to God, dispose it with confidence, nor have any doubt concerning us.
For whatever shall have been ordained by you in this cause, we both gratefully accept and gladly admit. Nevertheless we exhort you to be solicitous, and so to temper those things which you perceive to be lamentable, that both you may grant him communion, if so it seems fit, and may preserve the character of ecclesiastical vigor by a fitting dispensation, as is proper. But we have instructed the above-written bearer in person as to what is to be done with him in your presence: from whom, learning all things subtly, so show yourself in all things that we may feel our own presence to have been in your solicitude. 14. Likewise to Castorius, notary and chartulary at Ravenna:
By how much you see both necessary causes enjoined upon you, by so much the more ought you to show yourself vigorous and solicitous. Accordingly, if Maximus of Salona, an oath having been given, shall affirm that he is not held by simoniacal heresy, and concerning the other matters, being merely questioned before the body of Saint Apollinaris, shall answer that he is innocent, and shall have done penance for his disobedience, as we have appointed: we wish that, for his consolation, your Experience should give him the letter which we have written to him, wherein we have signified that we have restored to him both our grace and our communion: because, just as it befits us to be severe toward those persisting in obstinacy, so again toward the humbled and penitent we ought not to deny a place for pardon. (Book
IX, letter 80.) 15. And when Maximus had humbly given satisfaction concerning all things at the body of the blessed Apollinaris according to Gregory's command, Castorius the chartulary presented to him a letter of consolation, asserting in the words of Gregory: Although, upon the culpable beginnings of your ordination, you added a grave evil through the fault of disobedience, we nevertheless, tempering the authority of the Apostolic See with that measure which was fitting, have never until now blazed forth against you as the cause demanded; but that our displeasure—which you yourself stirred up against yourself—should draw itself out longer, the solicitude entrusted to us vehemently distressed us, lest we should seem negligently to pass over certain unlawful things which we had heard concerning you.
If you consider these things well, you yourself, by deferring to give satisfaction through yourself, were confirming them, and from this were the more sharply inciting our zeal against you. But when at length, using salutary counsel, you humbly submitted yourself to the yoke of obedience, and your Charity, doing penance, purged itself with worthy satisfaction, as we appointed, understand that the grace of fraternal charity is restored to you, and rejoice that you have been received into our fellowship: because, just as it befits us to be strict toward those persevering in guilt, so to be kindly toward those who repent, unto pardon. After therefore your Fraternity knows that it has restored to itself the communion of the Apostolic See, let it send a person to us, who may receive the pallium to be conveyed to you according to custom.
For just as we do not permit unlawful things to be perpetrated, so we do not deny those things which are of custom. But although the dispensation of our office has called us to grant these things, nevertheless the petition of our sweetest and most excellent son, the lord Callinicus the exarch, that we should deal more mildly with you, greatly urged us on; whose most dear will we neither have endured, nor were we able, to sadden. (Book IX, letter 8.) 16.
Moreover the most greedy and most grasping emperor, who used most frequently to defraud, contrary to the most ancient customs, of their donatives the soldiers of the legions—as the history of the Romans relates—perceiving that Gregory, against all the tumults of the world, had utterly no need of the imperial defenses by whose support he boasted that he had raised this man to the citadel of the pontificate: nay rather, that by canonical authorities and by the virtues of his own holiness and prudence, Christ being favorable, he prevailed over all who savor of high things: turned himself more and more to hatred and to the disparagement of his fame, reproaching with crafty assertions the liberality of the pontiff, because he had distributed both ecclesiastical and public grain to the famished soldiers.
To him Gregory—as one who attributed his own advancement to the divine judgment, in whose hand indeed the hearts of kings, abiding there, are inclined wherever He wills (Prov. xxi), and not to fleeting human favors—contradicting with free voice, broke him and disfigured him with these responses, and moreover terrified him by discoursing somewhat concerning the future judgment of God: In his most serene commands, he says, the Piety of the lords, while it strove to reprove me concerning certain matters, by sparing me spared me not at all. For in them he calls me a fool, under the term of urban simplicity. For in Sacred Scripture, when simplicity is taken in a good sense, it is often watchfully associated with prudence or with rectitude. Whence also of blessed Job it is written:
He was a man simple and upright (Job i, 1). And the blessed Apostle Paul admonishes, saying: Be simple in evil, and prudent in good (Rom. xvi, 19). And Truth Himself, through His own person, admonishes in the Gospel, saying: Be prudent as serpents, and simple as doves (Matt. x, 16), judging it altogether useless if either prudence be lacking to simplicity, or simplicity to prudence. Therefore, that He might make His servants instructed for all things, He willed them to be both simple as doves and prudent as serpents, so that in them the cunning of the serpent might sharpen the simplicity of the dove, and the simplicity of the dove might temper the cunning of the serpent.
I therefore, who in the most serene commands of the lords am declared simple—as one deceived by the cunning of Ariulf, with prudence not added—it stands beyond doubt that I am called a fool, which I too myself confess to be so. For if your Piety should be silent about this, the very causes cry it out. For I, if I had not been a fool, would by no means have come to endure these things which I suffer in this place amid the swords of the Lombards. But in that matter which I reported concerning Ariulf—that with his whole heart he was ready to come over to the commonwealth—since I am not believed, I am even reproached as having lied. But even though I am not a priest, I know that this is a grievous injury to a priest, that, serving the truth, he should be believed deceitful.
And I have long known that Nordulf was believed more than I, Leo more than I. And now credence is given to those who seem to be in the middle, more than to my assertions. And indeed, if the captivity of my land were not increasing through daily moments, I would gladly keep silent, content amid the contempt and mockery of myself. But this vehemently afflicts me, that from the same source whence I bear the charge of falsehood, thence Italy is daily led captive under the yoke of the Lombards; and while in nothing is credence given to my suggestions, the forces of the enemy monstrously increase. This nevertheless I suggest to the most pious lord, that he may think of me whatever evils he pleases;
but concerning the utility of the commonwealth and the cause of the deliverance of Italy, let him not readily lend pious ears to just anyone, but let him trust deeds rather than words. And let our lord not too quickly grow indignant with priests out of earthly power, but out of excellent consideration, for the sake of Him whose servants they are, let him so rule over them that he may also render them due reverence. For in the divine words priests are sometimes called gods, sometimes angels. And through Moses it is said of him who is to be brought to an oath: Bring him to the gods (Exod. xxii, 8), that is, to the priests. And again it is written: You shall not disparage the gods (ibid. xxxiii), that is, the priests. And the prophet says:
'The lips of the priest keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord of hosts' (Malachi 2:7). What wonder is it, then, if your Piety deigns to honour those to whom God Himself, bestowing honour upon them in His own word, gives even the name of angels or of gods? The ecclesiastical history likewise bears witness that, when accusations against bishops had been presented in writing to the prince Constantine of pious memory, he received indeed the documents of accusation, but summoning the very bishops who had been accused, he burned before their eyes the documents he had received, saying: 'You are gods, established by the true God. Go, and settle your causes among yourselves;'
for it is not fitting that we should judge gods.' Yet in this saying, O pious lord, he conferred more upon himself out of humility than upon them by the reverence he showed. For before him there were pagan princes in the commonwealth who, not knowing the true God, worshipped gods of wood and stone, and nevertheless rendered the greatest honour to their priests. What wonder is it, then, if a Christian emperor deigns to honour the priests of the true God, when the pagans, as we have said, knew how to bestow honour upon priests who served gods of wood and stone? These things I urge upon the piety of my lords not for my own sake, but for the sake of all priests. For I am a sinner, and man;
and because I daily and unceasingly offend against Almighty God, I suspect that in His fearful judgment I have some remedy, if I am unceasingly smitten with daily blows. And I believe that I render that same Almighty Lord the more favourable to you, the more strictly you afflict me who serve Him ill. For I had already received many blows, and, when my lords' commands came upon me, I found a consolation that I did not hope for. If I can, let me quickly enumerate these blows. First, that the peace was taken from me which I had made with the Lombards stationed in Tuscany, without any loss to the commonwealth. Then, the peace being broken, the soldiers were taken away from the city of Rome.
And indeed some were slain by the enemy, while others were stationed at Narni and Perugia; and in order that Perugia might be held, Rome was abandoned. After this a heavier blow was the coming of Agilulf, so that with my own eyes I saw Romans bound by ropes about the neck in the manner of dogs, being led away to be sold in Francia. And because we who were within the city, by God's protection, escaped his hands, an inquiry was made in what respect we might seem culpable — namely, why there had been a lack of grain, which in this city can by no means be kept in large quantity for long, as I have indicated more fully in another report.
And indeed, concerning myself I was in no way troubled, for with my conscience as witness I confess that I am prepared to suffer whatever adversities, provided only that I escape all these things with the salvation of my soul. But concerning the glorious men Gregory the prefect and Castorius the master of soldiers I was not a little afflicted; for they both neglected in no way to do everything that could be done, and endured most vehement labours of watches and of the guarding of the city during that same siege; and after all this they were struck by the grave indignation of my lords. Concerning whom I plainly understand that it is not their own deeds but my person that weighs upon them, since, because they had laboured together in tribulation, after their labour they are together in tribulation.
But as to the fact that my lords' piety holds over me that fearful and terrible judgment of Almighty God, I beg by that same Almighty Lord that they do this no further; for as yet we do not know who there is of what sort; and Paul the excellent preacher says: 'Judge not before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts' (1 Corinthians 4:5). This, however, I say briefly, that as a sinner and unworthy I presume more upon the mercy of the coming Jesus than upon the justice of your piety; and there are many things which men are ignorant of concerning His judgment, for perhaps the things which you praise He will reprove, and the things which you reprove, He will praise.
Amid all uncertainties, therefore, I turn back to tears alone, asking that that same Almighty God may both govern our most pious lord here with His own hand, and in that terrible judgment find him free from all offences; and may He so grant me to please men, if it be necessary, that I may not offend His eternal grace. (Book V, letter 40.) 17.
At length the emperor Maurice, marvelling at the freedom of speech of so great a pontiff and at his constancy in reproof — because he had terrified himself concerning the future judgment of God — was striving to come forth to exercise tyranny against him; but immediately, in that same year, a certain man clad in monastic garments, moved by a certain divine power, seized a sword in his right hand, and carrying it drawn from the forum as far as the bronze statue of the gladiator, foretold that the emperor would die by the sword before all. When Maurice heard this, he restrained himself from inflicting tyranny upon Gregory, and he feared the divine judgment which he had threatened against him — that he would soon undergo it — all the more, the more he believed that Gregory could not lie. 18.
Therefore he soon sent prayers composed in writing, both to Gregory himself and to all the patriarchs, bishops, and monks of the cities and of the deserts, together with much money, wax-tapers, and incense, entreating this above all: that they should beseech the Lord that in this world he might receive the deserts of his evils, if only he might be worthy to be redeemed from the torments to come. And when he himself also, very vehemently and for a long time, asked this with tears, one night as he slept, he saw himself standing before a great multitude, beside the bronze gate of the palace, before a bronze statue of the Saviour. Then a terrible voice came forth from the very likeness of the incarnate Word, saying: 'Give up Maurice.'
And the ministers of judgment, seizing him, placed him beside the umbilicus of the boy that was there. To whom the same voice of the likeness said: 'Where do you wish that I repay you the evils which you have perpetrated in this world?' He answered: 'Lover of men, O Lord, and just Judge, requite them to me here rather, and not in the world to come.' At once the divine voice commanded that Maurice and his wife Constantina, with their sons and daughters and all his kindred, be handed over to the soldier Phocas. Waking, therefore, Maurice sent the chamberlain, and summoned to himself Philippicus his son-in-law, whom he had for some time suspected of wishing to snatch away the empire for himself.
But he, supposing that he was to be destroyed on account of the suspicion, called his wife Gordia and, as though he would not see her again, bade her a last farewell; and having received the sacrament of communion, he came to the palace, and entering the emperor's bedchamber, fell down at his feet. But the emperor, rising to him, nevertheless fell down at his feet in turn, saying: 'Forgive me, I beg, for now indeed, taught by a divine revelation, I have learned that you have committed nothing against me of that which I suspected. But if you know anyone in our ranks who is wont to be called Phocas, tell me.' And Philippicus, long reflecting within himself, said: 'I know one Phocas, who was lately named procurator by the army and was opposing your rule.'
But when Maurice inquired concerning the character of that man, Philippicus said: 'He is indeed young and rash, yet timid.' And Maurice said: 'If he is timid, then surely he is also a murderer.' And while he was wavering over such a matter, on the morrow the messenger, returning from the hermits to whom he had carried the emperor's prayers, brought back the answer, saying: 'God, having received your penitence, will save your soul, and will set you with the saints together with your whole house; but from the empire you shall fall with ignominy and peril.' 19. Hearing which, Maurice, glorifying God, held fast to penitence;
but so far did he not withdraw from the covetousness of avarice, that with deadly letters he pressed upon Peter the general that the army should winter in perilous places, and, having crossed the Danube, should perilously seek their food for themselves from the region of the Slavs, lest, that is, they should eat the public provisions. And he, having summoned the taxiarchs, said: 'The emperor's commands seem to me exceedingly grievous, ordering the Romans to winter in a foreign land. For not to obey them is savage, and again to obey them is most savage. Avarice brings forth no good, since it is the mother of all evils; sickening with it, the Emperor becomes to the Romans the cause of these greatest evils.'
The army, therefore, having heard this through the taxiarchs, turned to sedition, and, having raised Phocas upon a shield through a centurion, they acclaimed him exarch; and, the general being put to flight, they directed a message to Theodosius the emperor's son and to Germanus his father-in-law, that one of them should undertake to rule over them. They in no way consented, but rather reported this to Maurice. But he wished to destroy Germanus, who, because he had fled into the Church, scourged his own son as a betrayer of his counsel, and sending mutes to drag him out from that same church, was never permitted to do so; rather, torn with many insults by the people, he was called a Marcionist heretic. And a grave tumult being stirred up within Constantinople.
Maurice, in disguised attire, embarked by night with his wife and sons upon a swift ship; and fleeing, he came to Saint Autonomus. But Phocas, coming with the army to the seventh mile, was made emperor; and by him Maurice, together with his wife, sons, and daughters, was ordered near Chalcedon and, just as had been foretold to him, was beheaded. And because the prayer of Gregory, by which he had asked that he be found free from all offences in the terrible judgment of God, could not be void, that same Maurice received what he had deserved, and, blessing God amid all his misfortunes, deserved to be freed from everlasting punishment. 20.
Therefore, on the seventh day before the Kalends of May, in the sixth indiction, the image of Phocas and of Leontia, the augusti, was brought to Rome with their gracious letters. And after it had been acclaimed by the clergy and senate in the basilica of Julius, by Gregory's order it was placed in the oratory of Saint Caesarius established in the Lateran palace. He also wrote back thus to the emperor Phocas: 'Glory to God in the highest, who, according to that which is written, changes the times and transfers kingdoms (Daniel 2:21); and who has made this known to all, which He deigned to speak through His prophet, saying: That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and to whomsoever He will, He gives it (Daniel',
4:17).' For in the incomprehensible dispensation of Almighty God consist the governings of mortal life; and sometimes, when the sins of many righteous men are to be smitten, a burden is raised up, through whose harshness the necks of those subjected may be pressed down beneath the yoke of tribulation. Which we have proved for a long time in our own tribulation. But sometimes, when the merciful God decrees to refresh the hearts of many mourners with His consolation, He advances one man to the summit of rule, and through the bowels of His mercy pours into the minds of all the grace of His exultation. With which abundance of exultation we believe ourselves to be swiftly strengthened, we who rejoice that the benignity of your piety has attained to the imperial dignity.
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth exult (Psalm 95); and from your benign deeds let the people of the whole commonwealth, vehemently afflicted until now, grow glad. Let the proud minds of enemies be pressed down beneath the yoke of your dominion; let the contrite and downcast spirits of your subjects be relieved by your mercy. May the virtue of heavenly grace make you terrible to enemies, and your piety make you benign to your subjects. Let the whole commonwealth be at rest in your most happy times, the plunder that has been carried off under the appearance of lawsuits being the spoil of peace. Let the snares of wills cease, and the gifts violently extorted by favour. Let secure possession return to all in their own affairs, that they may rejoice to hold without fear the things that have not been acquired by them through frauds.
Now let each one's liberty be restored to him under the yoke of pious empire. For in this the kings of the nations and the emperors of the commonwealth differ, that the kings of the nations are lords of slaves, but the emperors of the commonwealth are lords of free men. (Book XIII, letter 31.) 21. And when Phocas asked, with great reverence of humility, that a deacon of the Roman see be sent to him, Gregory wrote back thus: 'It is pleasing to consider, with joys and great acts of thanksgiving, how great praises we owe to Almighty God, that, the yoke of sadness being removed, we have arrived at times of liberty under the imperial piety of your benignity.'
For as to the fact that your Serenity did not find a deacon of the apostolic see remaining in the palace according to the ancient custom, this was not owing to my negligence, but to most grave necessity: because, while all the ministers of this our Church, in fear, shunned and fled from those crushed and harsh times, none of them could be compelled to go to the royal city to remain in the palace. But after they learned that your Clemency, by the disposing grace of Almighty God, had arrived at the summit of empire, they too, gladness urging them on, hasten to come to your footsteps, who before had greatly feared to go there.
But because some of them are so enfeebled by old age that they can scarcely bear the labour, while others are vehemently entangled in ecclesiastical cares, and the bearer of the present letter, who was the first defender of all, is well known to me from long assiduity, and approved in life, faith, and morals, I have judged him fit for your Piety's footsteps. Whence, with God as author, I have made him a deacon, and have been eager to send him with speed, so that, finding an opportune time, he may be able to suggest to your Clemency all the things that are done in these parts. To whom I beg that your Serenity may deign to incline pious ears, that you may be able to have mercy on us the more swiftly, the more truly you shall have known our affliction from his report.
For with what daily swords and with how great incursions of the Lombards, behold, we are now oppressed through the length of thirty-five years, we are able to set forth by no words of report. But we trust in Almighty God that He will bring to completion for us the good things of His consolation which He has begun; and He who has raised up pious lords in the commonwealth will also extinguish the cruel enemies. (Book XIII, letter 38.) 22. Likewise to the Augusta Leontia: 'What tongue can utter, what mind can conceive, how great thanks we owe to Almighty God for the serenity of your empire, that the burdens of so long a time, so harsh, have been removed from our necks, and the light yoke of the imperial summit has returned, which delights the subjects to bear?'
Let glory, therefore, be rendered in heaven to the Creator of all by the hymn-singing choirs of angels; let thanksgiving be paid by men on earth, because the whole commonwealth, which has borne many wounds of grief, now finds the remedies of your consolation. Whence it is necessary for us to implore the mercy of the omnipotence of God the more earnestly, that His right hand may ever hold the heart of your piety, and may dispense your thoughts by the help of heavenly grace: so that your Tranquillity may be able to rule those who serve you the more rightly, the more truly it shall have known to serve the Ruler of all. May He make His defenders in the love of the catholic faith those whom He has made, out of His benign work, our emperors.
May He pour into your minds zeal together with gentleness, that with pious fervour you may ever be able both not to leave unpunished whatever is committed against God, and, by sparing, to bear whatever is done amiss in you. (Book XIII, letter 39.) 23. With these praises Gregory soothed the new princes, either that, hearing what sort they ought to be, they might become milder than Maurice had been, whose times enveloped in so many crimes they knew; or because, seeing them most devoted to himself and to his church, he did not think that they would rush into tyranny.
He who, just as he reproved the base deeds of any men whatsoever with free words, and permitted no one to go against the canons or the ancient customs, so denied to no one at all the things that belonged to custom. For as soon as he shone forth as bishop of the apostolic see, he sent his synodical letter to the patriarchal sees, and afterwards writes to Secundinus, a servant of God who was enclosed as a recluse, among other things, saying: 'Hence it is also that, whenever prelates are ordained in the four principal sees, they should send synodical letters to one another in turn, in which they may profess that they keep the holy Council of Chalcedon together with the other general councils.' (Book IX, letter 52.) Likewise to Athanasius, a presbyter of Isauria, after many things:
'Moreover, to our brother Cyriacus, prelate of the city of Constantinople, who was lately ordained in the place of the most reverend bishop John, we wished to send our writings; but because it is not the custom that we should write to him before his synodical letter is brought to us, we have therefore for now deferred it, but afterwards we shall make it known.' (Book VI, letter 66.)
Which custom indeed — just as our own men also bear witness, who two years before presided in the holy eighth synod under the most liberal pope Hadrian — the Eastern sees especially retain even until now: that in their diptychs they should write the name of no pontiff until they receive his synodical letter, and so long number a deceased pontiff among the living, until his successor shall have been eager to send his own letters. 24. Hence it is, without doubt, that Gregory, not departing from the ancient custom, writes to John, subdeacon and rector of the patrimony of Liguria, saying:
'By as much as the apostolic see, with God as author, stands preferred before all churches, by so much, amid manifold cares, does that matter also greatly concern us, wherein our judgment is awaited for the consecration of a prelate. Laurence, therefore, the bishop of the Church of Milan, being dead, the clergy by their report made known to us that in the election of our son Constantius, their deacon, they had unanimously consented. But since that report was not subscribed, lest we omit anything that pertains to caution, it is therefore necessary that you, supported by the authority of this our precept, set out to Genoa.'
And because there many of the Milanese, compelled by the barbaric ferocity of the Lombards, are settled, it behoves you, having called them together in common, to search out their wishes. And if no diversity separates them from the unity of the election — if indeed you find the wishes and consent of all to persevere in our aforesaid son Constantius — then you shall cause him to be consecrated by his own bishops, as the custom of antiquity requires, with the assent of our authority, the Lord consoling and helping: so that, this custom being kept, both the apostolic see may retain its own vigour, and may not diminish its own rights granted to others. (Book III, letter
30.) But when, after some years, Constantius, having discharged the pontificate distinguishedly, had fallen asleep in the Lord, the clergy and people of Milan, electing the deacon Deusdedit, were terrified by King Agilulf into electing the one whom the Lombard barbarity had wished. But they, directing their decree to Gregory, ask counsel and permission. To whom he wrote back thus, among other things: 'Let not that which you have indicated to be written to you by Agilulf move your Charity.'
For as to the fact that we should wish to consult wholesomely for your advantage, by no reasoning do we grant our consent to a man who is not elected by catholics, and especially by Lombards, since he is evidently shown to be an unworthy vicar of Saint Ambrose, if one elected by such men is ordained.' And after a few words: 'That therefore no delay may arise in ordaining the deacon Deusdedit, who has been elected by you, we have sent Pantaleo our notary, who, our consent's authority assenting, may cause him, as is the custom, to be consecrated.' (Book IX, letter 4.) 25.
Gregory, that most valiant soldier of Christ, manfully defended those who were sorely oppressed by adverse powers, and those unjustly cast down he not only did not reckon among the deposed, but even restored to their former grades by the privilege of his authority. For Anastasius, patriarch of Antioch — who, reproving with free voice John of Constantinople the prelate, had been thrust into exile by the command of the emperor Justin, and had remained so from the very times of Pope John until the times of his own pontificate — as soon as he obtained the supreme priesthood, reckoning him among the patriarchs, he encouraged him with such writings:
'Moreover,' he says, 'just as to the other patriarchs your peers, I have directed to you a synodical letter, because with me you are always that which you received to be by the gift of Almighty God, not that which by the will of men you are thought not to be.' Likewise writing to the same in another letter, after some things: 'I make known to your Fraternity that from the most serene lords I have asked, with as many prayers as I could, that they might grant that you, your honour being restored, may come to the thresholds of Saint Peter, prince of the apostles, and, so long as it shall thus please God, may live here with me, so that, while I shall have deserved to see you, we may relieve the weariness of our pilgrimage by speaking in turn of the eternal fatherland.'
At length the most zealous father Gregory kept pressing upon the emperor Maurice with his suggestions, until, after the courses of many years, the great Anastasius was restored to his own throne. To whom, congratulating him, he wrote back, saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will, because that great river which had once left the parched rocks of Antioch, having returned to its own channel, waters the valleys subjected and lying near, that one may bear thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold fruit.' (Book V, letter 39.) 26.
Hadrian, bishop of the city of Thebes, unjustly deposed by John of the First Justiniana and by another John, bishop of Larissa, he not only restored to his own see, but even, defending his church by Roman law, withdrew it from the power of the bishop of Larissa, saying among other things: 'We have found that the bishop Hadrian both laboured under your hatred contrary to sacerdotal manners, and by no right was condemned by your Fraternity's sentence in pecuniary causes. Since therefore, being deposed also by the aforesaid John, bishop of the First Justiniana, contrary to law and canons, he could not be deprived of the grade of his honour, we have decreed that he be restored to his own church, and recalled to the order of his own dignity.'
And whereas it had been fitting that you should thereby be deprived of the communion of the Lord's Body — because, having despised the admonition of my predecessor of holy memory, whereby he exempted him and his church from the jurisdiction of your power, you again presumed to reserve to yourself some right and dominion over them — nevertheless we, decreeing more humanely, and meanwhile preserving to you the sacrament of communion, decree that your Fraternity abstain from all jurisdiction of the power previously held over him and his church, and, according to the writings of our predecessor, if any cause, whether of faith or of crime or pecuniary, should arise against the aforesaid Hadrian our fellow-priest;
let it be examined either by those who are or shall be our representatives in the royal city, if it is a middling question; or let it be brought here to the apostolic see, if it is arduous: so that it may be decided by the sentence of our audience. But if, contrary to these things which we have established, at any time whatsoever or on any occasion or by any surreption, you should attempt to come, know yourself to be deprived of the sacred communion; nor do we decree that you receive it, except at the last time of your life, unless by the granted command of the Roman pontiff. For these things we have sanctioned by a definition consonant with the holy Fathers, that whoever knows not how to obey the sacred canons, is not worthy either to administer the sacred altars or to receive communion. (Book III, letter
7.) Likewise to John, bishop of the First Justiniana: 'After the long tribulations which Hadrian, bishop of the city of Thebes, suffered from his fellow-priests as though from enemies, he took refuge in the Roman city. And although against John, bishop of Larissa, his first complaint had been, it was not adjudged by him in pecuniary causes, the laws being reserved: yet after these things he complained most grievously rather against the person of your Fraternity, by whom he alleged that he had been unjustly cast down from the grade of the priesthood.' And below:
'But as to that which pertains to the present,' he says, 'the aforesaid decrees of your sentence being first quashed and reduced to nothing, we decree, by the authority of the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, that you, deprived of the sacred communion for the space of thirty days, implore from Almighty God our Lord pardon for so great an excess, with the utmost penitence and tears. But if you shall have known yourself to have fulfilled this our sentence too remissly, know that not only the injustice but also the contumacy of your Fraternity is, with the Lord's help, to be punished more severely.'
'But the aforesaid Hadrian, our brother and fellow-bishop, condemned by your sentence, as we have said, in no wise subsisting according to the canons or the laws, we arrange, Christ accompanying us, that he return to his own place and order: so that neither may the sentence pronounced against the course of justice harm him of your Fraternity, nor may your Charity remain uncorrected before the future indignation of the Judge, for the appeasing of it.' (Book III, letter 6.) 27. Hence it is that, crimes excepted, Gregory deposed none of the priests, but rather, according to the qualities of their offences, deprived them of communion venially. Whence, writing to John, bishop of Callipolis, after some things, he says:
The register-woman whom our brother and fellow-bishop Andrew, bishop of Tarentum, had chastised with cudgels — although we do not believe that she died in consequence, since she survived eight months afterward — nevertheless, because he had her afflicted in this manner contrary to the order of his own profession, suspend him for two months from the solemn celebration of Masses, so that at least this discipline may teach him with what shame he ought to conduct himself toward others. (Book iii, letter 46.) 28. Whenever anything concerning the offences of priests had to be examined, Gregory, with the utmost strictness and great caution, weighing the precise measure of each particular head of the case, promulgated his sentence with more difficulty than ease. Hence, writing to Natalis, bishop of Salona, he says:
Since all matters require the diligence of investigating the truth, yet those which pertain to the deposition of priestly ranks must be weighed the more strictly; for in these the question is treated not so much of human ordinances as, in a certain manner, of a divine withdrawal of blessing. For it has been reported to us that Florentius, bishop of the city of Epidaurus, was accused by certain persons in criminal cases, and that — with no canonical proofs sought out, and without the preceding judgement of a priestly council — he was deposed from the office of his dignity not by law but by mere authority.
Therefore, since no one can be removed from the rank of the episcopate except for just causes and by the concordant sentence of the priests, we exhort your Fraternity to cause the aforesaid man to be brought out from the very exile into which he has been thrust, and that his case be examined by episcopal adjudication; and if in those matters of which he is accused he shall have been convicted by canonical proof, he must without doubt be punished with canonical retribution. But if by synodal inquiry it shall be found otherwise than has been supposed concerning him, then it is necessary both that his accusers dread the severity of just law, and that for the man accused the pledges of his innocence be preserved inviolate.
But the execution of the aforesaid business we have committed by our command to Antoninus, our subdeacon, that by his insistence both what is approved by the canonical laws may be decreed, and the decrees, with the Lord's help, may be brought to effect. (Book iii, letter 8.) Likewise to Constantius, bishop of Milan: Having read again the letters which you sent to us by Marinianus, the bearer of the present, we have written back that your solicitude was pleasing to us, in that you would by no means suffer to be dissembled those things which reached us concerning our brother and fellow-bishop Pompeius, who is still to be so named by us.
But such as was the care in the inquiry, had there been the like subtlety in the examination, nothing of what has been said about him would have remained doubtful, but it would have been plain whether it was true or fabricated. For already, some time ago in Sicily, before our brother of reverend memory Maximianus the bishop, such a question, as we have learned, was raised against him. But because his case was sought out with an altogether subtle investigation, he who had been accused of the crime was found innocent.
Now therefore, since those things which were alleged against him were not investigated with that strictness which was fitting, and the proceedings which were thereupon drawn up before your Fraternity are proved sufficient neither for his condemnation nor for his acquittal, this is no light matter, that it should be settled incautiously or in passing. For it is grave enough and unseemly that, in a doubtful matter, a certain sentence should be pronounced. And indeed these proceedings could have been suitable for a decision, if the confession of the accused had followed — provided nevertheless that the subtlety of the examination had drawn out that same confession from hidden things, and not that a vehement affliction had wrung it out, which frequently brings it about that even the innocent are compelled to confess themselves guilty.
For after the aforesaid bishop asserts, as is reported, that he is being tortured by confinement and consumed by hunger, you ought to know, if it be so, whether a confession, if it has thus been extorted, can do harm. Is it not the case that, when causes of this kind receive their sentence, and appeal is made to the Apostolic See, the very person who is being judged is present, so that most strictly and on every side the truth may be sought, in order that then, whether it ought to stand or not, the sentence may be determined? And likewise, if the aforesaid bishop should wish to appeal to the Apostolic See, must not his case be thoroughly and with all diligence examined?
And therefore, since the person is absent, and the proceedings which you have sent to us do not, as we have said, seem to have satisfied us adequately, we neither ought nor are able to decree anything rashly concerning the person of a bishop, lest — which God forbid — we be found blameworthy in our own conduct, we to whom by right it belongs to review the sentences of others. (Book x, letter 29.) Likewise to John the defender, after some other matters: Because, he says, Stephen the bishop asserts that certain things were fabricated out of hatred against him, and that he was accused on false counts, and that nothing was done in orderly fashion, but that he was unjustly condemned, it must first be diligently inquired whether the judgement was held in orderly fashion, whether the accusers were one set of men and the witnesses another.
Then the quality of the causes must be examined, whether it was worthy of exile or deposition; or whether, in the presence of him who was accused, testimony was given against him under oath; whether it was done in writing; whether he himself had liberty of replying and of defending himself. But also concerning the persons of the accusers and of the witnesses inquiry must be made subtly — of what life, of what condition, and of what reputation they are; whether they be needy, or whether perchance they had harboured any enmities against the aforesaid bishop; and whether they gave testimony from hearsay, or whether they truly attested that they knew the matter specifically; whether judgement was given in writing, and whether the sentence was recited in the presence of the parties.
But if perchance these things were not done in due solemn form, nor was the cause proved which is worthy of exile or deposition, let him by all means be recalled to his own Church. (Book xiii, letter 45.) 29. The authority of any of the supreme pontiffs Gregory in no way diminished by the greatness of his own authority, but rather strengthened it manifoldly. And although among the guilty he recognized the authority of his own primacy, yet among innocent bishops he showed himself altogether their equal. Wherefore, writing among other things to John, bishop of Syracuse, he says:
As to the fact that the primate of Byzacena, when assailed by his own bishops, says that he is subject to the Apostolic See — if any fault be found in bishops, I know not what bishop is not subject to it. But when fault does not require it, we bishops are all equal according to the principle of humility. And so forth. (Book ix, letter 12.) Likewise in the book of the Pastoral Rule: It is clear, he says, that nature begot all men equal, but, by the varying order of their merits, guilt sets some behind others. And this very diversity, which has come in through vice, is dispensed by the divine judgement, so that, since not every man is able to stand equally, one may be governed by another.
Whence all who preside ought to weigh in themselves not the power of their rank, but the equality of their condition; nor let them rejoice to be over men, but to profit them. For our ancient Fathers are recorded to have been not kings of men, but shepherds of flocks. And when the Lord blessed Noah and his sons, saying: 'Increase and multiply and fill the earth,' He forthwith added: 'And let the fear and dread of you be upon all the living things of the earth' (Genesis ix, 1-2). Since the fear and dread of them is commanded to be upon the beasts of the earth, it is assuredly forbidden to be upon men. For man is by nature set above the brute animals, but not above other men.
And therefore it is said to him that he is to be feared by the animals, and not by men. For to be proudly exalted is contrary to nature: to wish to be feared by an equal; and yet it is necessary that rulers be feared by their subjects, when they perceive that God is by no means feared by them, so that at least by human dread those may fear to sin who do not dread the divine judgements. Yet let those set in charge by no means be proud on account of this fear that is exacted, wherein they seek not their own glory, but the righteousness of their subjects. For in this, that they exact fear of themselves from those who live perversely, they lord it as though not over men but over animals; because, namely, in that part in which their subjects are beast-like, in that same part they ought also to lie prostrate under fear.
But very often the ruler, by the very fact that he stands pre-eminent above the rest, swells up with elation of thought. And while all things lie ready for his use, while his commands are swiftly fulfilled according to his wish, while all his subjects extol with praises whatever has been well done, but contradict with no authority the things ill done; while they very often praise even the things they ought to have censured — his mind, seduced by those things which lie beneath at hand, is lifted above himself; and while outwardly he is surrounded with boundless favour, inwardly he is emptied of truth, and, forgetful of himself, he scatters himself abroad into the voices of others, and believes himself to be such as he hears himself to be outwardly, not such as he ought to have discerned himself to be inwardly. He despises his subjects, and does not acknowledge them to be his equals by the order of nature.
And those whom he has surpassed by the lot of power, he believes that he has also transcended by the merits of his life. He esteems himself to be wiser than all whom he sees himself to be more powerful than. For he sets himself upon a certain summit in his own esteem, and, though he is bound by an equal condition of nature with the rest, he disdains to regard the rest as on a level with himself; and thus he is led even to the likeness of him of whom it is written: 'He beholds every high thing, and he himself is king over all the sons of pride' (Job xli, 25). He who, coveting a singular summit and despising the companionable life of the angels, said: 'I will set my throne toward the North, and I will be like the Most High' (Isaiah xiv, 13-14).
By a wondrous judgement, therefore, he inwardly finds the pit of his own downfall, while outwardly he exalts himself on the summit of power. For he is made like to the apostate angel, when a man disdains to be like to men. Thus Saul, after the merit of his humility, grew into the swelling of pride at the summit of power. For through humility he was set over others, and through pride he was reproved, the Lord bearing witness, who says: 'When thou wast little in thine own eyes, did I not make thee head over the tribes of Israel?' (1 Samuel xv, 17). Formerly he had seen himself little in his own eyes; but, propped up by temporal power, he no longer saw himself as little. For, preferring himself in comparison with the rest, because he could do more than all, he esteemed himself great above all.
But in a wondrous manner, when he was little in his own sight, he was great before God; but when he appeared great in his own sight, he was little before God. Very often, therefore, while the mind is puffed up by the abundance of subjects, it is corrupted into the excess of pride, the very pinnacle of power acting as a flatterer. And that power he governs well who knows both how to hold it and how to war against it. He governs it well who knows through it to be lifted up above faults, and knows also with it to be composed on a level with the rest. For the human mind is very often exalted even when it is upheld by no power: how much more does it raise itself on high when power too is joined to it?
Yet that power he rightly dispenses who knows carefully both to take from it what helps, and to fight against what tempts, and to see himself, with it, on a level with others, and yet to set himself before sinners with a zeal for retribution. But this discretion we more fully recognize if we look upon the examples of the first shepherd. For Peter, holding by God's authorship the principate of God's holy Church, refused to be venerated immoderately by the well-doing Cornelius who was humbly prostrating himself before him, and acknowledged himself to be his equal, saying: 'Rise, do not do this; I myself also am a man' (Acts x, 26). But when he discovered the fault of Ananias and Sapphira, he straightway showed with how great a power he had risen above the rest (Acts v).
For by his word he struck down their life, which by his searching spirit he detected; and he recalled that he was supreme within the Church against sins — a thing which, when honour was vehemently paid to him in the presence of the well-doing brethren, he would not acknowledge. There the holiness of his action merited the communion of equality; here the zeal of retribution laid bare the right of his power. And a little after:
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But when those set in charge correct their delinquent subjects, it remains necessary that they carefully take heed that, through the debt of discipline, they indeed smite faults by the right of their power, but that, through the guardianship of humility, they acknowledge themselves equal to the very brethren who are corrected — although very often it is even fitting that we prefer, by a silent thought within us, those very ones whom we correct. For their vices are smitten through us by the vigour of discipline; but in those things which we ourselves commit, we are not lacerated even by the reproach of a word from anyone. The more, therefore, are we the more bound before God, the more we sin with impunity before men. And the rest. (Pastoral Rule, part ii, chapter 6.) 30.
Having preserved this equality, Gregory writes to Romanus, defender of Sicily, saying: It has reached us that, if anyone has a case against any clerics whatever, you, despising their bishops, cause those same clerics to be produced for judgement before you. If this is so — since it manifestly is highly unbecoming — we by this authority command you that you presume not to do this again; but if anyone has a case against any cleric, let him approach that cleric's bishop, so that either the bishop himself may take cognizance of it, or at least judges be appointed by him. Or if perchance on this account recourse must be had to arbiters, let the officer deputed by the bishop compel the parties to choose a judge.
But if anyone, whether cleric or layman, has a case against a bishop, then you ought to interpose yourself, so that either you yourself may take cognizance between them, or at least, at your admonition, they may choose judges for themselves. For if his own jurisdiction is not preserved to each bishop, what else is brought about, save that the ecclesiastical order is confounded through those very persons by whom it ought to have been guarded? (Register, book xi, letter 37.) 31. Just as Gregory left no one convicted of a crime without canonical punishment, so assuredly he punished by the rule of the canon the false informer. Hence, writing to the subdeacon Anthemius, he says:
Since crimes which are heaped upon the innocent, and especially upon men in sacred orders, are to be more severely punished, consider how guilty are all of you who sat in the case of John the deacon, seeing that no penalty proceeding from your decision chastised Hilarius, his accuser. Nor believe that this is a fit excuse for you, that our brother and fellow-bishop Paschasius alone is said to have deferred you, as though you were wishing to judge. For if the zeal of rectitude had been strong in you, one man could more easily have been reasonably persuaded by many, than many be, without cause, put off by one.
Since, therefore, the evil of so great a wickedness ought not to pass without worthy retribution, we wish our above-written brother Paschasius to be admonished to first deprive that same Hilarius of the office of the subdiaconate, which he unworthily discharges, and to have him publicly chastised with blows and deported into exile, so that the punishment of one may be the correction of many. But if perchance the already-lacerated reputation of his deacon does not move him to lenity, and he prove sluggish in this — which we do not believe — let your Experience do the things which we have said, and report to us concerning that man's neglect. (Register, book xi, letter 71.)
For this reason Gregory commands the subdeacon, who did not prove what he had alleged, to be deprived of his office; because, according to the canonical judgements of the Fathers, he who does not prove the calumny he has brought ought to incur the penalty which, had he proved it, the accused would assuredly have sustained. And by this — because the subdeacon could not prove the crime against the deacon — since he did not possess the imposition of the hand which he might have lacked, he was deprived not of the priesthood but of his office, and, as one truly infamous, deserved to be chastised with blows. For he to whom, as to a layman, any crime is proved by three witnesses, it is no wonder that, when he fails to prove what he has alleged, he is, like a layman, subjected to bodily infamy by the likeness of law.
For what it would be for a deacon to lose his rank, that it was for a subdeacon to lose the fullness of his good name. 32. Crimes once heard, Gregory in no way passed over unexamined, even if the accused had returned into favour with his own accuser. Wherefore, writing to all the bishops of Corinth, he says: It is our desire to bring the discordant back to concord, and that those be united in grace whom diversity of will makes to be divided from mutual love. Reading over, therefore, the writings of your Fraternity, we have learned that those who had said certain things against our brother and fellow-bishop Hadrian have now come into friendship with that same bishop, and great gladness has for the present been made to us at their unity.
But since we do not suffer those things which have been said to remain unexamined, we are directing a deacon of our see to investigate them, because the nature of the reported deed vehemently impels us that we ought by no means to dissemble the things which we have heard — especially since you have indicated that the accusers and the accused have made peace among themselves. This it is necessary for us to scrutinize more subtly, lest perchance their concord be a bought one: which if — God forbid — it shall be found to have been made not from charity but for a reward, this must be punished with the greater amendment. For we who canonically, God revealing it, hasten to cut away preceding evils, if indeed they be true, in no wise dismiss without retribution a fault committed afterward. (Register, book iii, letter 39.)
Likewise to John, bishop of the Corinthians, after some other matters: As for Paul, he says, the deacon, the bearer of the present letter — although his own fault vehemently confounds and convicts him, in that, deceived by a promise, he desisted from the accusation of his bishop, lately deposed, and, from a zeal of covetousness, consented rather to keep silence against his own soul than to bring forth the truth — nevertheless, because it befits us to be more merciful than strict, we pardon him this fault, and judge that he is to be received back into his order and place. For we believe that the affliction which he has endured from the time of the sentence pronounced can suffice for the punishment of this fault.
But Euphemius and Thomas, who received sacred orders in return for deserting the accusation, we wish to be deprived of those same orders, and, deposed as they are, so to remain; nor do we decree that they be ever, under any pretext of excuse, recalled to sacred orders. For it is exceedingly unworthy, and contrary to the rule of ecclesiastical discipline, that they should discharge an honour which they received not from merits, but as the reward of a crime.
Yet because it befits us to give heed to mercy rather than to strict justice, we wish those same Euphemius and Thomas to be recalled only into the order and place whence they had been promoted to sacred orders, and, for all the days of their life, to receive the continence of those same places as they had been accustomed before. But Clematius the reader I likewise appoint, out of regard for kindness, to be recalled into his order and place. And to all these also — that is, to Paul the deacon, Euphemius, Thomas, and Clematius — let your Fraternity be zealous to furnish, without any diminution, their emoluments according to the place and order in which each of them is, as each was wont to receive, from the present indiction. (Register, book v, letter 52.)
33. The customary stipends of clerics the most merciful father Gregory withdrew on no occasions of any sickness whatever. Hence, writing to Candidus, bishop of the old city (Civitavecchia), he says: Since, when a bodily beating occurs, it is unknown whether it happens by God's judgement for cleansing or for retribution, affliction ought not to be added by us to those who have been scourged, lest — which God forbid — the offence of the fault look back upon us.
And because the bearer of the present, Calumniosus, asserts that on account of this beating which he sustains the customary emoluments are being denied to him by your Church, therefore we exhort your Fraternity by the present letter that this sickness ought in no way to impede him from receiving those things which are customary; because, as you know, to various men serving in the Church various infirmity often befalls. And if by this example they shall be deterred, no one henceforth can be found to serve the Church; but according to the order of his place, let your Fraternity — out of the very scantiness that can befall the Church, in the contemplation of the divine judgement — not cease to furnish to the sick man whatever things could have been supplied to him were he well.
(Register, book ii, letter 8.) 34. The undertakings made by venerable bishops to their own clerics Gregory strengthened by the authority of the Apostolic See. Hence he writes to John, bishop of Palermo, saying: The desires of petitioners are always to be fulfilled, as often as those things are requested which do not deviate from reason. And therefore, because certain heads of agreement, which you promised to observe toward your clerics at their petition, are asked by them to be confirmed by our authority, we exhort your Fraternity by these addresses to observe, without any gainsaying, the things which the present writings contain.
First, that of the revenues of the Church you should furnish without any delay the whole fourth portion to the clerics of your church, according to each one's merit or office or labour, as you yourself shall foresee to give to each. But as to that which shall accrue from the offering of the faithful — that is, the fourth part in coin or in the storehouse — do not defer to give it to them according to former custom. But all the rest of the movable goods you should retain in your own power; let all the immovables be aggregated to the ecclesiastical revenues, so that, the quantity being multiplied, they may, God bestowing, be of advantage to the uses of your clerics.
But remember that a keeper of records is to be appointed, together with the consent of the elders and clergy, who each year should solemnly render his accounts, in order to cut off suspicion of fraud. And at the time of vintage let the same clergy obtain the remedy of buying wine from the possessions of your church at just prices, so far as it is to be sold. For it is quite contrary to reason that what can be sold to strangers should be denied to the clerics when the price is paid. The possessions, therefore, or whatever other things belong to ecclesiastical right and are unduly held by strangers, hasten with all zeal — civility being preserved — to restore into the right of your church, so that you may not be able to be seen negligent in anything.
But if anything concerning any cleric shall reach your ears which could justly offend you, do not easily believe it, nor let a matter unknown kindle you to retribution; but, in the presence of the elders of your church, let the truth be diligently scrutinized, and then, if the quality of the matter shall demand it, let canonical strictness smite the faults of the delinquent. All these things, therefore, let it be the care of your diligence so carefully and mildly to observe, that neither may you seem to have been unmindful of your promise, nor may they be able to find just occasion of murmuring against you. (Register, book xiii, letter 44.) Likewise to Maximianus, bishop of Syracuse, after a few things:
We have learned that of the revenues newly acquired by the Church the canonical disposition of the fourths by no means takes place, but that the bishops of the localities distribute only the fourth of the ancient revenues, while now retaining the newly-acquired ones for their own uses. Wherefore let your Fraternity briskly hasten to amend the depraved custom that has crept in, so that, whether from past revenues or from those which have newly come in or shall come in, the fourth may be dispensed according to the canonical distribution. For it is incongruous that one and the same substance of the Church should be reckoned by a twofold right, as it were — that is, of usurpation and of the canons. (Book iii, letter 11.) 35.
Those deprived of communion by other bishops Gregory restored to their former communion. Wherefore, writing to Magnus, presbyter of the church of Milan, he says: Just as, when fault demands it, one is worthily driven away from the sacrament of communion, so upon the innocent such a retribution ought by no means to be inflicted. For we have ascertained that Laurentius, formerly our brother and fellow-bishop, deprived you of communion though no faults existed on your part; and therefore, fortified by the authority of this our precept, discharge your office in security, and take communion without any dread. (Book iii, letter 26.) 36. Those who cleared themselves from the crime of any heresy Gregory not only received, but even declared to be catholic.
Hence he writes to John, bishop of Constantinople, saying: Just as the depravity of heretics is to be repressed by zeal for the right faith, so the integrity of a true confession is to be embraced. For if he who confesses faithfully is despised as to belief, the faith of all is brought into doubt, and, out of an incautious strictness, deadly errors are engendered; and hence not only are the erring sheep by no means recalled to the Lord's folds, but even those placed within are cruelly exposed to be torn by savage teeth. Let us therefore, dearest brother, subtly ponder this, and let us not suffer anyone truly professing the catholic faith to be afflicted under the pretext of heresy, lest — which God forbid — we permit heresy to come to be under the guise rather of correction.
But we are exceedingly angered that those who had been deputed by you as judges in a matter of faith against John, presbyter of the Church of Chalcedon, neglecting the truth, believed rumour, and were unwilling to believe him who strictly professed — especially since his accusers, when questioned as to what the heresy of the Marcionists was, which they kept mentioning and whereby they were contriving to make him guilty, replied by a manifest profession that they did not know. From which fact it is evidently recognized that they wished, without regard to God, not justly, but against their own souls, to burden his person by mere will alone.
We therefore, having convened a council, as the tenor of the proceedings held before us shows, examining and treating with care all the things that were necessary, since we were able to find the aforesaid presbyter guilty in nothing — chiefly because the statement of faith which he presented to the judges deputed by you agrees in all things with the sincerity of the right faith — for this reason, rejecting the sentence of those same judges, by our own definition we have declared him to be catholic and free from every heretical charge, the mercy and grace of Christ our God and Redeemer revealing it. (Book VI, Letter 15.) Likewise to the Emperor Maurice, a little further on:
Having read again in council the things that were done against John, a presbyter of the church of Chalcedon, together with the record of the judgement, we have recognized that he had endured a still greater injustice, inasmuch as, while he cried out and showed himself to be catholic, it was not the guilt of any crime but a long and uncertain accusation that wore him down — to such a degree that his very accusers professed by open reply that they did not themselves know the heresy of the Marcionists which they alleged; and those who ought at once to have been driven back at the threshold of the trial were permitted to remain uncertain in their accusation of him. But, lest at least mere rumour should have been able to tear him apart, he presented a booklet of faith, in which he strove openly to show himself a professor and follower of the right faith.
But the judges deputed by our most holy brother and fellow bishop John, unjustly and unreasonably neglectful, while they strove to busy themselves with his oppression, rather showed themselves to be blameworthy. For no one doubts that it is faithlessness not to keep faith with the faithful. (Book VI, Letter 16.) Likewise to Count Narses concerning the same, after other matters: Concerning the presbyter John, know that his cause has been decided through a synod, in which I clearly perceived that his adversaries wished to make him a heretic, and long strove to do so, but were in no way able. (Book VI, Letter 16.) Likewise to Athanasius, a presbyter of Isauria:
Just as we are afflicted and grieved concerning those whom the error of heretical depravity has cut off from the unity of the Church, so we rejoice together with these whom the profession of the catholic faith holds within its bosom; and just as with pastoral solicitude it behoves us to oppose their impieties, so it is fitting to bestow our favour upon their pious professions, and to declare that the things they hold are sincere.
And therefore, when concerning you, Athanasius, presbyter of the monastery of Saint Milas, which is called Tannacus, situated in the province of Lycaonia, a suspicion contrary to sound faith had arisen, so that the integrity of your profession might be able to appear, you chose to have recourse to the Apostolic See over which we preside, asserting also that, having been bodily beaten, you had done certain things unjustly and by violence. And although the censure of the canons by no means accepts those things which are done by the force of compulsion, and they are rightly held to be void — because he himself dissolves the case who compels an unjust confession — yet that confession is rather to be received and embraced which is shown to proceed from a spontaneous will, as you are recognized to have done in our presence.
Yet, lest anything ambiguous should be able to remain to us, we determined that we should write concerning you to the most holy John, once our brother, the bishop of the city of Constantinople, so that he might inform us by his letters what had been done. He, often admonished by us, writing back, made known that a certain codex had been found in your possession, in which many heretical things were contained, and that on this account he had been stirred up against your charity. And because he took pains to send it to us for satisfaction, we ran through its earlier parts with careful reading; and since we found in it the manifest poisons of heretical depravity, we forbade that it should be read again.
But because you attested that you had read this in simplicity, and, to cut away the matter of ambiguous suspicion, you handed to us a booklet written out in your own hand, in which, setting forth your faith, you most openly condemned all heresies generally, or whatever is against the integrity of the catholic profession, and you professed that you had always received and do receive all that the four holy universal synods receive, and that you had condemned and do condemn what they condemned;
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you also promised that you both accept and keep that synod which was held in the times of the Emperor Justinian concerning the Three Chapters, and, being forbidden by us to read that very codex in which the poison of a pestilential deceit is entwined, you most willingly consented, reproving also and condemning all the things which are said against the integrity of the catholic faith in it, or covertly inserted therein, nor did you promise to read it again:
Moved by this consideration, after your catholic faith shone forth clearly to us, God guarding it, even from the page of the booklet you had reproved, we decree that you are free from every stain of heretical perversity according to your profession, and we pronounce that you have shone forth as catholic and a professor of a faith sincere in all things and a follower, by the grace of Jesus Christ the Saviour; granting also free permission for you nonetheless to return to your monastery, to your own place and rank. (Book VI, Letter 66.) 37. Gregory invited schismatics to come to receive satisfaction, promising them that, even if they should be nowhere willing to return to the unity of the Church, he would use no violence upon them.
Whence, writing to Peter and Providentius, bishops of Istria, he says: May God, who rejoices in the unity of the faithful and reveals the truth to those who seek it, open to your heart, most beloved brethren, with how great a desire I long that you be held within the bosom of the holy universal Church, and remain in concord within its unity. Which I do not doubt will come to pass if, casting away the goad of contention, you set your mind to being truly satisfied concerning those things about which there is doubt. Moreover, I have been informed by the account of my notary Castorius, on his return, that your fraternity has a desire of coming to me, if it should be promised that you will suffer no annoyance.
Knowing this, I both desire it and, kindled with the ardour of charity, invite you to undertake the labour of coming to me: so that, conferring together as equals, we may both in common speak of the things that are true and pleasing to our Redeemer, and hold them fast in every way. But I, with the grace of divine protection favouring me, am prepared to give you satisfaction concerning the things about which you doubt, and I trust in the clemency of our almighty God, that my satisfaction will so inwardly cleave to you that nothing ambiguous can henceforth remain to your charity.
For those things which the four most holy synods held and defined, just as our predecessor Leo, the most holy pope, so we too hold, follow, and keep them, nor do we in any way dissent from their faith. But because a person present gives more satisfaction than a letter, I exhort you, most beloved brethren, that you ought to come to me, as I have said before, provided only that, once the matter is grasped, no dissension may sever you from the concord of the holy universal Church.
Yet let your charity be assured of this, that I will both receive you with the affection that is fitting and dismiss you with grace, nor do I permit you, or any others whosoever who shall wish to come to me for this cause, to suffer any affliction or annoyance; but whether the divine mercy shall have pricked your heart to consent to me, or, which God forbid, it should befall that you persist in that dissension, we shall take care to dismiss you, according to my promise, to return to your own homes whenever you wish, without harm or annoyance. (Book V, Letter 51.) 38. He compels Severus, bishop of Aquileia, who is the head of the whole schism, to come to Rome, saying:
Just as the Lord embraces with total eagerness one walking through byways who again takes up the straight path, so at length He is grieved with greater sorrow over one who deserts the way of truth once known than with the joy with which He had rejoiced over him when converting; for it is a lesser fault not to know the truth than not to remain in it once acknowledged, and one thing is that which is committed by one who errs, another that which is perpetrated through knowledge. And we indeed, as much as we had rejoiced that you had long since been incorporated into the unity of the Church, are now the more confounded that you are severed from the catholic society.
For which reason, by the bearer of the present letter now at hand, according to the command of the most Christian and most serene lord of affairs, we wish you together with your followers to come to the thresholds of the blessed apostle Peter, so that, God being the author, a synod having been gathered, whatever shall be just may be judged concerning that doubt which is disputed among you. (Book I, Letter 16.) But Severus, compelled at once by the apostolic and imperial command, with the exarch Smaragdus pressing, and likewise Antoninus, defender of the Roman Church, is brought to Ravenna. There, fearing to undergo a synodal conflict with Gregory, he returned to the unity of the holy universal Church, John, pontiff of Ravenna, mediating.
But when, after the space of a year, he had returned to his own parts, being persuaded by other schismatics, he not only returned to his former vomit, but even, having obtained by stealth a command of Maurice — ever an adversary to God — by which it was ordered that the schismatics should by no means be compelled to return to the unity of the Church, and with the remaining bishops joining themselves to him, he stirred up the greatest seditions. Wherefore Gregory was intent on receiving none of those returning at all without a sworn guarantee. And this being given, he commended him to the same exarch Patricius by a letter of this kind:
Firminus, our brother and fellow bishop, prelate of the church of Trieste, before the arrival of your excellency, coming to his senses by wholesome counsel from the schism to which he had clung, and returning to the unity of Mother Church, was confirmed by our letters, so that, fixed and stable in strength of mind within the bosom of the true Mother Church which he had acknowledged, he might remain. Hearing this, Severus, bishop of Grado, the head of that same schism, first began to recall him from his good purpose by various persuasions, if he could. And when, God being the author, he was by no means able to accomplish this, he did not fear to stir up a sedition of his fellow citizens against him.
But how much the aforesaid Firminus, our brother and fellow bishop, suffered from that same instigation, you will be able to learn there more fully and more truly, from close at hand. Therefore, your excellency's commands having been dispatched, order more strictly those who are known to hold your place in the parts of Istria, God being the author, that they both ought to defend our oft-mentioned brother from the annoyances brought upon him, and by all means to procure his quiet, which will be profitable to many for imitation; so that this provision of yours may be both the longed-for security of the converted, and an occasion arisen for those who follow. (Book XIII, Letter 35.)
Finally Severus, because he did not merit to return to the unity of the holy universal Church, by his own madness incited the Roman pontiff even to rend the unity of his own diocese, so far that from the very time of his death the diocese of Aquileia was divided into two metropolitans — namely of the catholics and of the schismatics — nor could it afterwards, although all generally have returned from the schism to unity, be reformed up to this present time to the union of its former conjunction. 39. Just as Gregory diminished for none of the clergy the allowances of a quarter on account of bodily infirmity, so he taught that no pontiff ought to be succeeded on account of any sickness whatsoever.
Whence, writing back to Anatolius, subdeacon of Constantinople, he says: Your dearness wrote to me that our most pious lord commands that my most reverend brother, bishop of Prima Justiniana, be succeeded on account of the affliction of the head which he suffers, lest perhaps, while that city does not have the rights of a bishop, it perish — which God forbid — from the enemy. And these things indeed the canons nowhere command, that on account of the sickness of a bishop, a bishop should be succeeded; and it is altogether unjust that, if a bodily trouble rush upon him, the sick man be deprived of his honour. And therefore this can in no way be done by us, lest a sin come upon my soul from his deposition.
But it is to be suggested that, if he who is in office falls sick, such a steward be sought for him as can undertake his whole care, and fill his place in the governance of the church — he himself not being deposed — and in the guardianship of the city, so that neither may almighty God be offended, nor the city be found to be neglected. But if the same most reverend John should perchance, on account of his trouble, petition that he ought to be released from the honour of the episcopate, he himself giving the petition in writing, it is to be granted. But otherwise we are by no means able, out of the fear of almighty God, to do this. But if he should be unwilling to petition that which pleases the most pious emperor, whatever the emperor commands to be done is in his power: as he knows, let him himself provide;
only let him not cause us to be mixed up in the deposition of an innocent man. But whatever he himself shall do, if it is canonical, we follow; but if it is not canonical, in so far as we are able without sin on our part, we bear it. (Book XI, Letter 47.) To pontiffs voluntarily renouncing their sees, Gregory in no way denied successors, and he judged that they should afterwards be sufficiently maintained from the revenues of the church they had left. Whence, signifying to Marinianus, bishop of Ravenna, he says: How the church of Rimini has hitherto been destitute of pastoral governance — the bodily trouble, as is known, of the priest ordained by us being the impediment — your fraternity has long since known.
And when, moved by the prayers of the inhabitants of that place, we more often exhorted him that, if he should feel himself improved from the same affliction of the head by which he was held, he should return to his church, the Lord assisting, a respite being given, he was awaited during these four years. And when we more urgently exhorted him — the clergy and citizens coming thence and pressing us with their prayers — that, if he were able, he should, the Lord assisting, return with them, a supplication having been given in writing, he petitioned us that, because on account of the same trouble by which he was held he could in no way rise up to the governance of that church or to the office he had undertaken, we ought to ordain a bishop for that church itself.
Whence, because the enjoined care of solicitude for all the churches constrains us, lest the flock of the faithful should longer lack pastoral guardianship, compelled by their prayers and by this man's renunciation arising from his own incapacity, it seemed good to us that a bishop ought to be ordained for the same church of Rimini; and the customary directives being given, we did not cease to admonish the clergy and people of that church that they should concur with harmonious provision in electing a prelate for themselves. (Book III, Letter 19.) Likewise to Bishop Etherius:
Although what we speak of is very sad to us, and fraternal compassion rather urges us than permits us to define anything concerning the things we have heard, yet the solicitude of the governance we have undertaken strikes our heart with an insistent goad, that we should with great care look out for the churches, and, before their usefulness can perish, dispose, God being the author, what ought to be done. It has come to us, then, that a certain bishop has so incurred an affliction of the head that whatever he is wont to do with a mind alienated, it is a thing of groans and weeping to hear. Lest therefore, the shepherd languishing, the flock — which God forbid — be exposed to be torn by the teeth of the ambusher, or the usefulness of that same church perish, it is necessary for us to treat the matter with cautious provision.
And therefore, because — the bishop being alive, whom not a crime but the necessity of infirmity withdraws from his office — no reason allows another to be ordained in his place while he refuses, if he is accustomed to have intervals of the sickness, let him himself, a petition being given, confess that he can no longer rise up to this ministry — namely, the intellectual offices — infirmity overthrowing him, and let him seek another to be ordained in his place. Which done, by the solemn election of all, let another who shall be worthy be consecrated bishop; yet so that, as long as life shall hold that same bishop in this world, the sustenance due to him be ministered from the same church.
But indeed, if at no time he returns to the function of a sound mind, a person is to be chosen who is faithful and of approvable life, who can prove suitable for the governance of the church, and can think upon the usefulness of souls, restrain the unquiet under the correction of discipline, bear the care of ecclesiastical affairs, and show himself mature and effective in all things; who also, if he shall have outlived the bishop who now is sick, ought to be consecrated in his place. (Book XIII, Letter 5.) 40. Gregory ordered that a violated virgin should either receive her ravisher as a husband, or that her ravisher, chastised with beatings, should be assigned to a monastery. Whence he writes to Felix, bishop of Siponto, saying:
We were expecting your fraternity to convert some to God by its preaching, and to recall the evildoers to rectitude. On which account we are exceedingly saddened, because on the contrary your fault has been manifestly shown in the depravity of your nephew Felix, in that you nourished such a one. It has come to us, therefore, that the above-written Felix deceived the daughter of your deacon Evangelus by rape.
Which, if it is true, although by the law he ought to be punished with a grave penalty, we nevertheless, somewhat softening the harshness of the law by disposing in this manner, command that either he have as wife her whom he violated, or else, if he shall think fit to refuse, that he, strictly and bodily chastised, and excommunicated, be shut away in a monastery in which he may perform penance, from which let there be for him no license of departing without our command. (Book III, Letter 43.) 41. A man converted without the will of his own wife, even if he had already been tonsured, Gregory ordered to be restored to his wife. Wherefore, writing to Hadrian, notary of Palermo, he says:
Agathosa, the bearer of the present letter, has complained that her husband has been converted, against her will, in the monastery of Abbot Urbicus. Which, because there is no doubt that it pertains to the fault and blame of that same abbot, we command your experience that you discuss it with diligent inquiry, lest perhaps he was converted with her will, or she herself promised to change her state; and if you shall find this to be so, both provide that he remain in the monastery, and compel her, as she promised, to change her state.
But if none of these things is so, and you shall have learned that the aforesaid woman committed no crime of fornication — on account of which it is lawful for a man to leave his wife — lest his conversion become for the wife left behind in the world an occasion of perdition, we will that you ought to restore her husband to her, even if he has already been tonsured, every excuse ceasing: because, although worldly law commands that, for the sake of conversion, the marriage can be dissolved with either party unwilling, divine law does not permit it to be done.
For, the cause of fornication excepted, it by no reason concedes that a man leave his wife, because after by the union of marriage of man and woman one body is made, it cannot in part be converted and in part remain in the world. (Book XI, Letter 50.) 42. Gregory strove to shake off the perfidy of the Jews by reasonings rather than by violences. Wherefore, writing to Virgilius and Theodore, bishops of the Gauls, after some other matters, he says:
Very many men of the Jewish religion dwelling in this province, and continually travelling about the parts of Marseilles for various business, have brought to our notice that many of the Jews settled in those parts have been led to the font of baptism by force rather than by preaching. Now such an intent I indeed judge to be worthy of praise, and I profess that it proceeds from love of our Lord; but this same intent, unless a fitting effect of Holy Scripture accompany it, I fear lest either the work of reward not proceed therefrom, or, according to something, losses of the souls which we wish to snatch away — which God forbid — should follow.
For when anyone comes to the font of baptism not by the sweetness of preaching but by necessity, returning to his former superstition, he dies the worse from that whence he seemed to have been reborn. Let your fraternity therefore provoke men of this kind by frequent preaching, so that they may desire to change their old life rather from the sweetness of the teacher. For thus both your intent is rightly accomplished, and the mind of the convert is not again turned back to its former vomit.
There is therefore to be applied to them a discourse which both ought to burn away the thorns of errors in them, and by preaching may illumine what grows dark in them, so that for these things your fraternity may receive a reward by frequent admonition, and may lead as many of them as God shall have granted to the regeneration of a new life. (Book I, Letter 47.) Likewise to Victor, bishop of Palermo: Just as the Jews ought not to have license to presume anything in their synagogues beyond what is permitted by law, so in those things which have been conceded to them they ought to sustain no prejudice. (Book VIII, Letter 25.) 43. Just as Gregory denied that the Jews should be baptized by force, so he in no way permitted Christians to be subjected to them in any manner whatsoever.
Whence, writing to Libertinus, praetor of Sicily, he says: It is reported that Nasas, a certain most wicked man among the Jews, under the name of the blessed Elijah has constructed an altar with a rashness deserving punishment, and has there deceived many of the Christians by sacrilegious seduction to adore it; but he has also, as is said, purchased Christian slaves, and assigned them to his own services and profits. Whereas, therefore, most severely against him should vengeance have been taken for such great crimes, the glorious Justinus, soothed — as has been written to us — by the medicine of avarice, has deferred to avenge the injury of God.
But let your glory investigate all these things with strict examination, and if it shall find such a thing to be manifest, let it hasten so most strictly and bodily to take vengeance upon that same wicked Jew, that from this cause it may both win for itself the grace of our God, and show itself by examples worthy of imitation to those who come after, for its own reward. But whatsoever Christian slaves it shall be evident that he purchased, lead them to liberty according to the precepts of the laws without any ambiguity, lest — which God forbid — the Christian religion be defiled, being in any way subjected to the Jews. (Book III, Letter 38.) Likewise to Venantius, bishop of Luni:
It has come to us by the report of many that Christian slaves are held in servitude by the Jews dwelling in the city of Luni. Which matter has seemed to us the more harsh in proportion as it is the more laborious through the patience of your fraternity. For it behoved you, out of respect for your place and with regard to the Christian religion, to leave no occasion to Jewish superstition, lest simple souls should serve, in a certain manner, not so much by persuasions as by a kind of right of power. Wherefore we exhort your fraternity that, according to the track of the most pious laws, it be lawful for no Jew to retain a Christian slave in his ownership; but if any are found in their possession, let liberty be preserved to them, by the help of protection, from the sanction of the laws. (Book IV, Letter 21.)
44. If Gregory could not, on account of the length of the journey through the provinces, free any Christians from the servitude of the Hebrews by legal force, he judged that they ought to be redeemed at his own expense. Whence, writing to the presbyter Candidus throughout the Gauls: Dominicus, he says, the bearer of the present letter, has with tears made known to us that four of his brothers, redeemed from captivity by the Jews, are then held at Narbonne in the servitude of those same Jews. And because it is altogether grievous and execrable that Christians be in the servitude of the Jews, we exhort your dearness by this present writing, that you strive with all subtlety and solicitude to investigate;
and if it is truly so, and it shall be established to you by manifest truth that neither do they themselves have wherewith to redeem themselves, nor does the above-written bearer have it, let it be of your zeal to redeem them, knowing that whatever you shall give for them will without doubt be reckoned to your account. (Book VII, Letter 24.) 45. Slaves of the Jews once having fled to the Church, he ordered never to be returned by any persuasions whatsoever. Whence, writing among other things to Januarius, bishop of Cagliari, he says: It has come to us that male and female slaves of the Jews, fleeing to the Church for the cause of the faith, are either restored to their unbelieving masters, or their price is given, lest they be restored.
We therefore urge you by no means to permit so wicked a custom to remain, but that when any slave of the Jews takes refuge in venerable places for the sake of the faith, you should in no way allow him to suffer prejudice; rather, whether he was formerly a Christian or is now to be baptized, let him by every means be defended into liberty by the devout patronage of ecclesiastical piety, without any loss to the poor Christians. (Book IV, letter 9.) 46. Gregory not only lawfully recalled Christian slaves to their former liberty, but also in no way permitted pagans who wished to come to the faith to be sold. Whence, writing among other things to Fortunatus, bishop of Naples, he says:
It behooves your Fraternity to be watchful, so that if from among the Jews' body of slaves not only a Jew but even any of the pagans should wish to become a Christian, then, after his will has been made manifest, there be no power granted to any of the Jews to sell him under any device or pretext whatsoever; but let him who desires to be converted to the Christian faith be by every means vindicated into liberty by your defense. As for those who must in this manner lose their slaves, lest perhaps they reckon their own interests to be unreasonably hindered, it is fitting that you observe this with careful consideration:
namely, that if pagans whom they have bought for the sake of trade from foreign parts should happen, within three months while a buyer is being found to whom they ought to be sold, to flee to the Church, and should say that they wish to become Christians, or should have declared such a will even outside the Church, then their price shall be received from the Christian buyer. But if, after the aforesaid three months, any such slave of the Jews declares his will and wishes to become a Christian, let no one thereafter dare to buy him, nor let his master under any color of occasion dare to sell him, but let him without doubt be led to the rewards of liberty, because his master is understood to have kept him back not for selling but for serving himself. (Book VI, letter [32].)
47. He in no way recalled into their servitude pagan slaves who had gone before their Jewish masters, that is, to the faith, even if the masters themselves afterward followed them into Christianity. Whence, to John, bishop of Syracuse: Felix, he says, the bearer of these presents, has complained to us that, though he was born of Christian parents, he was given as a gift by a certain Christian to a Samaritan — which is a crime to tell; and while neither the reason of law nor the reverence of religion permits men of this superstition to possess Christian slaves in any manner whatsoever, he nevertheless asserts that he remained in his service for eighteen years.
But when your predecessor of holy memory, Maximian, came to know this, being stirred, as was fitting, with priestly zeal, he freed him from the wicked servitude of the Samaritan. But because the same Samaritan's son is said to have become a Christian after five years, and certain men are striving to reduce the aforesaid Felix back into his service, as far as he himself says, let your Holiness diligently inquire into these matters of which we have been informed; and if it be established to be so, let it take care to protect him, and permit him to be burdened by no one under any occasion whatsoever:
for since the laws forbid that slaves of a superstitious sect who precede their masters to the faith be openly reduced back into their service, how much more should this man, born of Christian parents and made a Christian from infancy, in no way have to endure this contention? Especially since he could not even have been his father's slave, seeing that it is clear he can rather suffer from the laws the penalty coming upon a wicked presumption. (Book VIII, letter 21.) 48. Gregory did not even permit any of the pagans to be circumcised. Wherefore, to Leo, bishop of Catania:
A matter, he says, altogether detestable to us and hostile to the laws has come to our notice, which, if it be true, vehemently accuses your Fraternity, since it proves you to be culpable of too little vigilance. For we have learned that Samaritans dwelling in Catania have bought pagan slaves and have presumed, with rash daring, to circumcise them. And therefore it is necessary that you by every means exercise priestly zeal in this cause, and with all liveliness and solicitude take pains to investigate;
and if you find it to be so, vindicate those slaves without delay into liberty by every means, and extend to them ecclesiastical protection, nor suffer their masters to receive anything of the price in any manner whatsoever — masters who are not only to be punished with this loss, but are also to be struck with another penalty from the laws. (Book VI, letter 33.) 49. Truly, because the perfidy of the Jews was accustomed to mock the zeal of Christians by gifts given against it, Gregory not only took absolutely nothing from them, but rather judged their gifts to be execrable. Whence he writes to Reccared, king of the Visigoths, after other matters, saying:
Moreover, he says, I make known that, from your work in the praises of God, there has grown up this which I have learned from the narration of my most beloved son Probinus, the presbyter: that when your Excellency had issued a certain enactment against the perfidy of the Jews, those against whom it had been promulgated endeavored to bend the rectitude of your mind by offering a sum of money, which your Excellency despised, and, seeking to please the judgment of Almighty God, preferred innocence to gold. In which matter the deed of King David comes to my memory, to whom, when the water he longed for from the cistern of Bethlehem — which lay amid the enemy's ranks — had been offered by the soldiers who served him, he straightway said:
Far be it from me, that I should drink the blood of these men (1 Chron. xi, 19). And because he poured it out and would not drink it, it is written: He poured it out as a libation to the Lord (ibid. 18). If therefore the water despised by an armed king was turned into a sacrifice to God, let us weigh what a sacrifice a king offered to Almighty God, who, for love of Him, despised to receive not water but gold. And so, most excellent son, I will confidently say that you poured out gold to the Lord as a libation, in that you would in no way have it against Him. And so forth. (Book IX, letter 122.) 50.
Hence it is that, as it is handed down by our elders, and as we ourselves, even down to our own times, while we were still growing to manhood, beheld with our own eyes, an ancient custom prevailed that all men of that superstition, however exceedingly beautiful the wares they had brought, might never enjoy the pontiff's discourse, never obtain the apostolic gaze, but, sitting outside the veil of a very long portico — not indeed on benches, but on the marble pavement — counted out the prices they had received, evidently lest they should seem to have received anything from the hand of the pontiff.
For Nicholas the pontiff, of reverend memory, so abhorred Arsenius, once bishop of the city of Horta, who was then first endeavoring to introduce Jewish furs, that he wished to take away from him the palatine procession, unless, by abjuring the garments of the superstitious people, he should take pains to proceed in the customary manner with the priestly insignia. 51. Gregory refuted as follows the forerunners of Antichrist who were preaching that the Sabbath ought to be observed: It has reached me that certain men of a perverse spirit have sown among you certain depraved things contrary to the holy faith, so that they forbid any work to be done on the Sabbath day. Whom shall I call other than preachers of Antichrist?
For he, when he comes, will cause the Sabbath day and the Lord's day to be kept from all work. For because he feigns to die and to rise again at the same time, he wishes the Lord's day to be held in veneration; and because he compels the people to Judaize, so as to bring back the outward rite of the Law and subject to himself the perfidy of the Jews, he wishes the Sabbath to be observed. For that which is said by the prophet — Bring no burdens through your gates on the Sabbath day (Jer. xvii, 22) — could be held only so long as it was lawful to observe the Law according to the letter.
But after the grace of our Almighty Lord Jesus Christ appeared, the precepts of the Law which were spoken by way of figure cannot be kept according to the letter. For if anyone says that this concerning the Sabbath must be observed, he must of necessity say that carnal sacrifices are also to be paid; let him say too that the precept concerning circumcision of the body is still to be retained even now. But let him hear the Apostle Paul speaking against him: If you are circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing (Gal. v, 2). We therefore receive spiritually that which is written concerning the Sabbath, and spiritually retain it. Now the Sabbath is called a rest. But we have as our true Sabbath our very Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ;
and whoever knows the light of faith, if he draws the burdens of sin to his mind through his eyes by lusting, he brings burdens through the gates on the Sabbath day. Therefore we do not bring burdens through the gates on the Sabbath day, if, being established in the grace of our Redeemer, we do not draw the weights of sin to the soul through the bodily senses. For the same Lord and our Redeemer is read to have wrought many things on the Sabbath day, so that He rebuked the Jews, saying: Which of you does not loose his ox or his ass on the Sabbath day, and lead it to water (Luke xiii, 15)? If therefore Truth itself has commanded that the Sabbath be not observed according to the letter, whoever keeps the idleness of the Sabbath according to the letter of the Law, whom else does he contradict but Truth itself?
Something else too has been brought to me, that it has been preached to you by perverse men that no one ought to wash on the Lord's day. And indeed, if anyone desires to wash for the luxury and pleasure of the soul, we do not grant that this be done even on any other day. But if for the necessity of the body, we do not forbid this even on the Lord's day. For it is written: No one ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it (Eph. v, 29). And again it is written: Make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences (Rom. xiii, 14). He therefore who forbids provision to be made for the flesh in its concupiscences, surely grants it in its necessities. For if to wash the body on the Lord's day is a sin, then neither ought one to wash even the face on that same day.
But if this is granted for a part of the body, why should it be denied to the whole body when necessity demands it? On the Lord's day, however, one ought to cease from earthly labor and by every means to be intent upon prayers, so that whatever of negligence is committed during the six days may be expiated by prayers on the day of the Lord's resurrection. (Book XIII, letter 1.) 52. So great a grace of compassion overflowed in Gregory toward all, that you might see, if you will, that he bore another's infirmity in his own body. Whence, writing to John, bishop of Ravenna, he says: By the Lord's commandments we are enjoined to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to grieve over their languors as over our own infirmities.
Mindful of these things, your Fraternity, in a manner befitting you, both took pains beforehand out of compassion to visit our brother and fellow-bishop Castorius, and afterward, when the trouble of his body increased, to receive him in the city of Ravenna. Whence you have without doubt made not only us a debtor of the charity bestowed, but also God, to whom you are proved to have grieved together in your brother's infirmity, and not only to have visited but also received the sick man in the affliction of His member. Him indeed I was altogether refusing to ordain there, on account of his simplicity; but the importunity of the petitioners brought it about that I could in no way gainsay them. But if it can be done, you consult much both for me and for him if you send him to me by way of Sicily.
(Book II, letter 55.) Likewise to Leontius, bishop of Urbino: We are keeping at Rome our brother and fellow-bishop Castorius on account of the trouble of his body; and because he is now not strong enough to return to his own church, therefore, in his absence, we provide that the care of visiting his church be delegated to your Fraternity. (Book III, letter 24.) Likewise to all the inhabitants of Rimini: If, most beloved sons, you would more attentively consider your fault, you ought to purge yourselves before God by assiduous prayer, because you received your bishop neither with a devout mind nor as sons;
whom the disquiet and tribulation inflicted by you brought to this point, that he incurred a bodily ailment, although in him we have found nothing of those things which have been written to us, but saw only that infirmity was present in him, on account of which we have taken care to keep him here. (Ibid., letter 25.) Likewise to Eulogius, patriarch of Alexandria: Before this time the writings of Boniface my chartulary-responsal, who dwells in the royal city, greatly troubled me, for they said that your Holiness, most sweet and most delightful to me, had suffered a failure of the bodily light [of sight].
By which writings I was smitten with grievous sorrow; but suddenly, by the prospering grace of our Creator and Redeemer, I received the letter of your Beatitude, and, learning that you were sound of that bodily ailment which I had heard of, I rejoiced exceedingly, because so great a gladness of heart followed as had before been preceded by the bitterness of sadness. For we know that in the help of Almighty God your life is the salvation of many. (Book XIII, letter 42.) Likewise to Rusticiana the patrician: Whenever anyone comes to us from the royal city, it is our care to inquire about the well-being of your body.
But, my sins bringing it about, I always hear what it wearies me to hear, that in so great a frailty and weakness they still report the pains of gout to be increasing in you. But I pray Almighty God that all the things which are done in your body may be directed to the salvation of the soul, that temporal scourges may prepare for you eternal rest, and that through those pains which have an end He may grant you joys without end. (Ibid., letter 22.) Likewise to Marinianus, bishop of Ravenna: Certain men coming from Ravenna found me stricken with the gravest sorrow, because they reported that your Fraternity was sick with a vomiting of blood.
On which account I anxiously and individually had those physicians whom we know to be learned in reading sought out here, and I have sent to your Holiness in writing what each of them felt and what each prescribed — who nevertheless prescribe rest and silence before all things. Whether your Fraternity can have this in your own church, I am very doubtful:
and therefore it seems to me that, a church having been set in order there — either those who may celebrate the solemnities of the Masses, or one who may take charge of the bishopric's care, exhibit hospitality and reception, or one who may preside over the guarding of the monasteries — your Fraternity ought, before the summer season is upon us, to come to me, so that I may especially, as far as I am able, take care of your sickness and guard your rest; for they say that the summer season is exceedingly perilous to men of slender health with this ailment. And I greatly fear lest, if you take up any cares along with the adversity of the season, you be endangered still further by that same trouble.
For I myself am very weak, and it is altogether useful that, with God's grace, you return sound to your church, or at least, if you must be called [to death], that you be called amid the hands of your own people; and I, who see myself near to death, if Almighty God shall wish to call me first, ought to pass away amid your hands. (Register, book XI, letter 55.) 55. Gregory decreed that on account of the incursions of the barbarians litanies should be held twice in the week. Wherefore, writing to all the bishops of Sicily, he says: Above the afflictions and groanings which we here sustain by the yearly continuation of enemies, a greater fear torments us, because we know that our enemies are hastening with every effort to the invasion of Sicily.
But lest, while they are plotting this, the multitude of our sins afford them success, let us with our whole heart betake ourselves to the remedies of our Redeemer, and let us meet with tears those whom we cannot resist by strength. For what you must beware of, and what must be more vehemently dreaded, you ought to gather from the desolation of this province. And so I exhort you, most dear brothers, that every week, on the fourth and sixth day, you inexcusably proclaim a litany, and against these incursions of barbaric cruelty implore the aid of the protection from on high. (Book XI, letter 51.) 51.
At length Gregory foretold that Sicily, defiled with the simoniac heresy and with lust, would perish, as is now seen to be the case, writing to Maximian, bishop of Syracuse: So many evils, which are being done in that province, are reported to us one after another, that, our sins bringing it about — which may Almighty God avert — we believe it will speedily perish. (Ibid.) 55. But he writes also to Maximus, bishop of Salona, with prophetic spirit, that things worse than the former were to come, saying: When our common son the presbyter Veteranus came to the city of Rome, he found me so weakened by the pains of gout that I could in no way answer your Fraternity's letters by my own hand.
And indeed concerning the nation of the Slavs, which greatly threatens you, I am both grievously afflicted and troubled. I am afflicted in those things which I already suffer in you; but I am troubled because through the approach of Istria they have already begun to enter Italy. But what shall I say of Julian the Scribo? When everywhere I see that our own sins answer for us, so that both from without we are troubled by the nations, and from within by perverse judges? But do not by any means be saddened over such things, because those who shall live after us will see worse times, so that in comparison with their own time they will reckon us to have had happy days. But in so far as your Fraternity is able, it ought to set itself in opposition on behalf of the oppressed;
which [effort], even if it should be of no avail to profit, that very devotion of mind which it has given suffices before Almighty God. For it is written: Deliver those who are led to death, and cease not to free those who are dragged to destruction (Prov. xxiv, 11). But if you shall say: My strength does not suffice — He who is the searcher of the heart Himself understands. In everything therefore that you do, seek to have the searcher of the heart appeased. Whatever there is by which you may please Him, do not omit to do it. For human terrors and favors are like smoke, which, snatched by a gentle breeze, vanishes. Know this most certainly, that no one can please God together with wicked men.
Let your Fraternity therefore reckon that it has pleased Almighty God in as great a measure as it shall have known that it has displeased perverse men. Yet let this very defense of the poor be moderate and grave, lest, if you do anything too rigidly, men suppose that out of youth you are growing proud. But your defense on behalf of the oppressed must needs be found such that both the humble may feel protection, and oppressors may not easily find what they may reprehend out of an ill-willing mind. I attend therefore to what is said to Ezekiel: Son of man,... unbelievers and subverters are with you, and you dwell with scorpions (Ezek. ii, 6). And blessed Job says: I was a brother of dragons, and a companion of ostriches (Job xxx, 29). And Paul says to his disciples:
In the midst of a depraved and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world (Phil. ii, 15). So much the more cautiously ought we to walk, as we know that we live among God's enemies. (Register, book X, letter 36.) 56. Conscious of this his caution, Gregory says to Romanus the defensor: It has reached us that certain men, holding altogether too little discretion, desire us to be entangled in their perils, and so wish to be defended by ecclesiastical persons that those ecclesiastical persons themselves may be held liable by their fault.
Therefore by this present injunction I admonish you, and through you our brother and fellow-bishop the lord John, or the others who may be able to be involved, that ecclesiastical patronages — whether you receive my writings, or even though they have not been directed at all — you ought to extend under such great moderation that, if any are entangled in public thefts, they may not seem to be unjustly defended by us, lest we in any way transfer to ourselves the ill repute of evildoers by the presumption of an indiscreet defense; but, as far as is fitting, by admonishing the church and applying a word of intercession, succor those whom you are able, so that you may both bring help to them and not defile the good repute of holy Church. (Book IX, letter 27.) 57.
Likewise to Januarius the bishop, after certain matters: If any of those concerning whom there is some question should perhaps take refuge in the church, it ought to be so arranged that neither may they themselves suffer violence, nor may those who are said to be oppressed suffer harm; therefore let it be your [care] that an oath be sworn to them by those whom it concerns, touching the keeping of law and justice, and that they be admonished in all things to go forth and render account of their own deeds. For these too it befits you to appoint a defensor of your church, by whose solicitude the things which shall have been promised to them may be kept. (Book X, letter 38.) 58.
How great was Gregory's humility may be most manifestly gathered both from many things and from these: that in his letters he named all priests as brothers and fellow-ministers, clerics of diverse order as most beloved sons, but laymen as lord men and women as lady women, and did not with equanimity permit himself to be called by anyone supreme pontiff or universal or lord. For, to pass over those things which have been comprised on this subject, writing to Rusticiana the patrician, he says: I have received your Excellency's writings, which, when I was placed in the gravest sickness, relieved me altogether by their concern for [my] health, by their devotion, and by their sweetness.
But one thing I received with difficulty, because in those same letters it was said to me all too often (whereas it could have been said but once): Your handmaid, your handmaid. For I, who through the burdens of the episcopate have been made the servant of all, by what reasoning do you call yourself my handmaid, whose own [servant] I was before I received the episcopate? And therefore I ask, through Almighty God, that I may never find this word addressed to me in your writings. (Book XI, letter 44.) 59. In the meekness of this humility Gregory did not refuse to give satisfaction not only to Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards, concerning the Three Chapters, but also, among others, to Savinus too, his own subdeacon, saying:
Malicious men, going forth, have troubled your souls, understanding neither what they say nor concerning what things they affirm, alleging that something has been diminished from the holy Council of Chalcedon in the times of Justinian of pious memory — which [Council] we venerate with all faith and all devotion; and thus we receive the four synods of the holy universal Church as the four books of the holy Gospel. But concerning the persons about whom something had been done after the conclusion of the synod, it was ventilated in the times of the same Justinian of pious memory; yet in such a way that neither was the faith in anything violated, nor was anything else done concerning those same persons than what had been established at the same holy Council of Chalcedon.
But we anathematize anyone who has presumed to diminish anything from the definition of faith which was set forth in that same synod, or to change its meaning as though correcting it; but just as it was set forth there, so in all things we keep it. It befits you therefore, most dear son, to return to the unity of faith, that you may be able to conclude your end in peace, lest the malignant spirit, who cannot prevail against you through other works, find from this cause whereby he may stand in your way, on the day of your departure, at the entrance of the heavenly kingdom. (Book III, letter 10.) 60. Likewise to Gregoria, chamberlain of the Augusta, after other matters:
As to what your Sweetness added in your letters — that you make yourself importunate with me until I write that it has been revealed to me that your sins are forgiven — you have asked a thing both difficult and useless. Difficult indeed, because I am unworthy that a revelation should be made to me; but useless, because you ought not to be made secure concerning your sins until that last day of your life, when you shall no longer be able to bewail those same sins; and until that day comes, you ought always, ever suspect, ever trembling, to fear your faults, and to wash them away with daily weeping. (Book VII, letter 25.) 61. Likewise to Anastasius, presbyter of Isauria, after certain matters: I know how perfect your Fraternity is in charity;
and he who loves Almighty God much, it behooves that he presume much concerning his neighbor. For it is not places or ranks that make us near to our Creator, but either good merits join us to Him, or evil ones disjoin us. Since therefore it is still uncertain who is inwardly of what sort, why do you not dare to write, when you are ignorant which between me and you is the superior? And indeed I know that you live well, but I know myself to be laden with many sins. But even if you yourself are a sinner, yet you are much better than I, because you carry only your own [sins], but I carry both my own and the sins of those who have been committed to me. In this therefore I regard you as lofty, in this as great, that you have made no progress at all before human eyes in a great and lofty place:
in which [place], often while honor is bestowed outwardly by men, the mind is plunged to the depths, because it is weighed down by rending cares. But for you Almighty God, according to that which is written, has disposed ascents in the heart, in the vale of tears (Ps. lxxxiii, 6). But you could seem to me much loftier, much more sublime, if you had not even taken up the leadership of the monastery which is called Neas. (Book VII, letter 32.) 62. Likewise to Stephen the bishop, among other things: You show me favor in your letters much, and beyond what I, unworthy, ought to hear. And it is written: Praise not a man while he lives (Ecclus. xi, 30).
But although I was not worthy to hear such things, I beg through your prayers that I may be made worthy — so that, if you have not spoken well of me because these things are so, they may become so because you have spoken them. (Book VII, Letter 8.) 63. But lest the humility of so great a bishop be thought to be pressed home by words alone, it remains that from the accounts of the Greeks, recently translated for me, the same Father's humility be demonstrated by living deeds, in which indeed it is thus reported. Abbot John, a Persian, being a holy and reverend man, related to us concerning the great Gregory, the most blessed Roman pope, saying: Once I went to Rome to venerate the tombs of the holy apostles Peter and Paul;
and one day, as I was standing in the middle of the city, I saw Pope Gregory about to pass by me, and I resolved to prostrate myself before him. So when the pope had drawn near to me, seeing that I was moving to cast myself down before him, as I speak before God, brethren, he first cast himself down before me upon the ground, and did not rise before I rose first; and having embraced me with much humility, he gave into my hand three coins, and ordered that a cloak and all my necessities be given to me. I therefore glorified God, who had bestowed on him such humility toward all, and such almsgiving and charity. (Spiritual Meadow, ch. 151.) 64.
Hence it is that the most patient shepherd Gregory, having some time before been accused before the emperor Maurice — who was utterly hostile to him — of having so long afflicted in custody Bishop Malchus, the steward of his patrimony, over withheld rents, until he breathed forth his spirit, wrote to his deacon Sabinianus at Constantinople, saying: There is one thing that you should briefly suggest to our most serene lords: that if I, their servant, had wished to involve myself in the death of the Lombards, today the Lombard people would have neither king, nor dukes, nor counts, but would be scattered in utter confusion. But because I fear God, I dread to involve myself in the death of any man whatever.
But this same Malchus, the bishop, was neither in custody nor under any affliction; rather, on the day on which he pleaded his case and was condemned, without my knowledge he was led by the notary Boniface into his own house. There he dined, and was honored by him, and in the night was suddenly found dead. (Book IV, Letter 47.) 65. Therefore in all his words and works Gregory weighed the imminent last day of the future retribution, and pondered all the affairs of all men the more cautiously the more nearly he observed the end of the world to be pressing on, as its ruins grew ever more frequent. Wherefore in his homilies on the Gospels he testifies, saying:
Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be great earthquakes in various places, and pestilences and famines. And after certain things interposed, he added: And there shall be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea and of the waves. Of all these things, some we now behold already come to pass, others we dread as about to come near at hand. For that nation should rise against nation, and their distress press upon the earth, we now discern more in our own tribulations than we read in books. That earthquakes have overwhelmed countless cities in other parts of the world, you know how often we have heard. Pestilences we suffer without ceasing.
Signs indeed in the sun, and moon, and stars we have not yet openly seen; but that these are not far off, we now gather from the very change of the air. Although, before Italy was given over to be smitten by the heathen sword, we saw fiery ranks of battle in the sky, and that very blood glittering which afterward was poured out from the human race. But the confusion of the sea and of its waves has not yet arisen as something new; yet since many things already foretold have been fulfilled, there is no doubt that the few that remain will also follow, for the certainty of things to come is the manifestation of things past. And a little after: Behold, my brethren, we now perceive what we used to hear. The world is pressed by new and ever-multiplying evils daily.
Out of that countless multitude you behold how few of you remain, and yet still daily the scourges press on, sudden calamities crush us, new and unforeseen disasters afflict us. For just as in youth the body flourishes, the breast remains strong and unimpaired, the neck is brawny, the arms are full; but in the years of old age the stature is bent, the withered neck droops, the breast is oppressed by frequent sighs, strength fails, and gasping shuts off the words of the speaker (for if weakness be lacking, for old men their very health is often a sickness): so also the world in its earlier years flourished as though in youth, was robust for propagating the offspring of the human race, rich in the health of bodies, in strength, in abundance of resources;
but now it is weighed down by its very old age, and, as it were, pressed toward its neighboring death by ever-increasing troubles. (Homily I on the Gospels.) And again: Go, preach, saying that the kingdom of heaven shall draw near (Matt. x, 7). This now, my dearest brethren, even if the Gospel be silent, the world itself proclaims. For its ruins are its voices. For he who, worn down by so many blows, has fallen from his glory, shows us, as it were, another kingdom now near at hand which is to follow; and to those very ones by whom he is loved, he is now bitter. For his own ruins proclaim that he is not to be loved.
For if a shaken house threatened its own ruin, whoever dwelt in it would flee, and he who had loved it while standing would hasten to withdraw from it as fast as possible as it fell. If therefore the world falls, and we by loving it embrace it, we choose to be crushed rather than to dwell safely, for no reason separates us from its ruin whom love binds fast in its sufferings. It is therefore easy now, when we behold all things destroyed, to detach our mind from its love. But this was most difficult in that time when the apostles were sent to preach the invisible heavenly kingdom, when far and wide they beheld all the kingdoms of the earth flourishing. (Homily IV on the Gospels.) 66.
But what Gregory has described concerning the calamity of this city, I will point out, so that those who, now dwelling in its ruins, do not suppose it to have been more orderly and thereby more powerful, may tremble. For he speaks thus in his eighteenth homily on the exposition of Ezekiel: What is there now, I ask, that pleases in this world? Everywhere we behold mourning, everywhere we hear groaning. Cities are destroyed, camps are overthrown, the fields are laid waste, the land is reduced to solitude. No farmer remains in the fields, scarcely any inhabitant in the cities;
and yet these small remnants of the human race are still daily and without ceasing smitten, and the scourges of heavenly justice have no end, because not even amid the scourges have the faults of our conduct been corrected. We see some led into captivity, some mutilated, some slain. What is there, then, that pleases in this life, my brethren? If we still love such a world, we love not joys but wounds. And she who once seemed to be mistress of the world — such as she now remains, we behold Rome, worn down in manifold ways by immense sorrows, by the desolation of her citizens, by the assault of enemies, by the frequency of ruins:
so that in her we see fulfilled what was foretold against the city of Samaria through the prophet Ezekiel: Set on the pot, set it on, I say, and put water into it, and gather its pieces into it; and a little after: Its cooking has boiled up, and its bones are boiled away in the midst of it; and again: Heap together the bones, which I will kindle with fire; the flesh shall be consumed, and the whole mixture shall be cooked, and the bones shall waste away. Set it also empty upon the coals, that it may grow hot, and its bronze may melt (Ezek. xxiv, 10 and following). For then the pot was set for us, when this city was established.
For then water was put into it, and its pieces were gathered together, when peoples flowed to it from every side, who, like heated water, boiled with the deeds of the world, and, as it were, like pieces of flesh, were melted in their own very fervor. Of which it is well said: Its cooking has boiled up, and its bones are boiled away in the midst of it: because first indeed within it the activity of worldly glory grew violently hot, but afterward that very glory with its followers failed. For by the bones are signified the powerful ones of the world, and by the flesh the peoples: because as flesh is borne by the bones, so through the powerful ones of the world the weakness of the peoples is governed. But behold, now all the powerful ones of this world have been taken away from her: therefore the bones have been boiled away.
Behold, the peoples have failed: her flesh has been melted away. Let it therefore be said: Heap together the bones, which I will kindle with fire; the flesh shall be consumed, and the whole mixture shall be cooked, and the bones shall waste away. For where is the senate? where now is the people? The bones have wasted away, the flesh is consumed, every rank of worldly dignities within her is extinguished. Her whole mixture has been boiled away, and yet even us few who remain, still daily the swords, still daily countless tribulations press upon. Let it therefore be said: For since the senate is gone, the people has perished; and yet among the few who remain, sorrows and groans are daily multiplied: now empty Rome burns.
But why do we say these things about men, when, with ruins ever multiplying, we see her very buildings also being destroyed? Whence it is fittingly added concerning the now-empty city: Let it grow hot, and let its bronze melt. For now the very pot too is consumed, in which formerly the flesh and bones were consumed: because after the men failed, the walls also fall. For where are those who once rejoiced in her glory? Where is their pomp? where their pride? where the frequent and unrestrained rejoicing? There has been fulfilled in her what is said against destroyed Nineveh through the prophet: Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the pastures of the young lions (Nahum ii, 11)?
Were not her leaders and princes lions, who, ranging through the various provinces of the world, seized their prey by raging and slaying? Hence the young lions found their pastures: because boys, adolescents, worldly youths and the sons of worldly men flocked hither from every side, when they wished to advance in this world. But behold, now she is made desolate, behold, she is worn down, behold, she is oppressed by groans. Now no one runs to her to advance in this world. Now no powerful and violent one remains, who by oppressing might snatch away plunder. Let us therefore say: Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the pastures of the young lions? There befalls her what we know was said of Judea through the prophet: Widen your baldness like the eagle (Micah i, 16).
For baldness in a man is wont to occur on the head alone, but the baldness of the eagle occurs over the whole body, because when it has grown very old, its feathers and plumes fall from all its members. She therefore widens her baldness like the eagle, because she has lost her feathers since she has lost her people. For the plumes of her wings have fallen, with which she was accustomed to fly to her prey, because her powerful men, through whom she seized what belonged to others, have been extinguished. Likewise in the second book of the Dialogues: Moreover, he says, the bishop of the church of Canusium was accustomed to come to Benedict, the servant of the Lord, whom, for the merit of his life, he loved greatly as a man of God. So while he was holding conversation with him about the entry of King Totila and the destruction of the city of Rome, he said:
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Perhuncregemcivitasistadestruetur, utjamampliusnoninha-bitetur. CuivirDeirespondit: Romaagentibusnonexterminabitur, sedtempestatibus, coruscis, turbini-busacterraemotufatigatamarcescetinsemetipsa. Cujusprophetiaemysterianobisjamfactasuntluceclariora, quiinhacurbedissolutamcenfc, eversasdomos, destructasecclesiastuibinecernimus; ejus-queaedificialongoseniolassata, quiaruiniscrebres-centibusprosternantur, videmus.i (Dial. I. n, c. 15.) IteminepistolaJoanni, episcopoRavennati, postali,ua:
By this king this city shall be destroyed, so that it shall no longer be inhabited. To whom the man of God replied: Rome shall not be exterminated by the nations, but, worn down by tempests, lightnings, whirlwinds, and earthquake, it shall wither away within itself. The mysteries of which prophecy have now become clearer to us than light, we who in this dissolved city behold the shattered walls, the overthrown houses, the destroyed churches; and we see its buildings, wearied by long age, laid low as its ruins ever multiply. (Dialogues, Book II, ch. 15.) Likewise in the letter to John, bishop of Ravenna, after some other things:
If there is in any way a chance sometime of gaining it, let your fraternity act with the exarch, that we may make peace with Ariulf, if we can do anything, because the soldiery has been withdrawn from the city of Rome, as you yourself know. But those of the Theodosian band who have remained here, receiving no pay, scarcely apply themselves even to the guard of the walls; and a city forsaken by all, if it does not have his peace, how shall it subsist? (Register, Book II, Letter 46.) 67.
With so great tumults of cares Gregory was burdened, for the safeguarding alike of souls and of the city, that, falling into mental afflictions, he not only did not (as he had proposed) treat in order the mysteries of Ezekiel, but, weighed down also by hostile incursions and by many bodily infirmities, he desisted altogether from the labor of exposition, and lamented that he had arrived at those days, and demanded with all his efforts the dissolution of his own body. Wherefore to the same bishop John he complains, saying: That I have answered your beatitude on few matters, impute this not to my sloth, but to my sickness:
for, by reason of my sins, at that time when Ariulf, coming to the city of Rome, killed some and mutilated others, I was affected with such great sadness that I fell into a mental affliction. (Ibid.) Likewise in the exposition of the last vision of the prophet Ezekiel: Because, with many cares pressing on, it was not permitted to search through in order before your charity the whole book of the prophet Ezekiel, it pleased your good desires to request that at least his last vision — which was made to him concerning the building set upon the mountain, and which is more obscure than all his visions — should be expounded. And indeed it is necessary for me to obey your will. But there are two things which in this matter disturb my mind.
One, that this same vision is veiled with clouds of such great obscurity that scarcely anything is seen in it, with the understanding shining through only faintly. The other, that we have now learned that Agilulf, king of the Lombards, hastening with all his might to besiege us, has crossed the Po. Whence consider, dearest brethren, in dark and mystical meanings what a wretched mind can avail, occupied by the disturbances of its own fear. For the more it busies itself about earthly things, the less it sees in those things that are heavenly: for this reason, that it is drawn outside itself by its cares, it is far less within itself; because it is written: The earthly habitation presses down the mind that ponders many things (Wisdom ix, 15).
For that which, even when gathered together, does not suffice to penetrate the things above, consider what it can do when divided. But we all know that even a river which is divided into many streams is dried up from its channel. Likewise in the treatises on the same prophet, homily 11: Whether, he says, the righteous man fall into fault, or the sinner into death, the watchman must fear lest his own silence involve him equally in the guilt of those who sin. But meanwhile, while I speak, I wish to turn my eyes away from my very self, and behold, again the divine discourse dashes me against my very self, so that I may see my own negligence, and dread that these things which I hear are said to me. For, as I said above, whose heart, scattered among countless cares, gathers itself to itself?
For when can I both carefully attend to all the things that are around me, and, with a united mind, contemplate my very self? When can I both correct the wickednesses of the wicked by pursuing them, and guard the deeds of the good by praising and admonishing, and show terror to some and sweetness to others? When can I both think on those things that are necessary for the brethren, and bear anxiety against hostile swords in the watches of the City, and provide lest by a sudden incursion the citizens perish, and amid all these things fully and effectively dispense the word of exhortation for the guardianship of souls? For to speak of God belongs to a very quiet and free mind.
For then the tongue is well directed in discourse, when securely the mind has rested in tranquillity: because water when shaken does not render the image of the beholder, but then the face of the one gazing into it is seen, when it is not moved. What exhortation, then, can your watchman make to you, dearest brethren, whom the confusion of so many affairs disturbs? And a little after: A priest, even after compunction and tears, is compelled to take cognizance of whatever things are necessary for his sons, and to hear with patient mind those things which are matter for flight, and after the sighs for heavenly things, to bear the burdens of any carnal men whatever, and often to pour his heart into a different disposition according to those who come upon him. For sometimes he rejoices over spiritual gains;
but when someone mourning comes upon him, unless he takes that man's grief into himself, he does not have compassion on his tribulation. And sometimes he mourns over the losses of souls; but suddenly there come upon him those who rejoice over their own prosperities, and if the priest does not rejoice together with their joy, he is believed to love less the sons in whose joy he does not exult, especially since Paul says: Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep (Rom. xii, 15). I see, therefore, nothing so burdensome in the order of priests as to bend the rigor of the mind by compassionating, and to change the disposition according to those who come upon him; and yet this is very necessary.
For when a sinner is brought back to the grace of good work by his preaching, if he who preaches appears ungrateful? (Preface to Book II on Ezekiel.) Likewise at the end of the same volume: Behold, these things, as the Lord bestowing it enabled us, we have searched out before you, dearest brethren. But let no one reproach me if after this discourse I shall cease, because, as you all discern, our tribulations have grown greater. On every side we are surrounded by swords, on every side we fear the imminent peril of death. Some return to us with hands cut off; others are reported captured, others slain. Now I am compelled to hold back my tongue from exposition, for my soul is weary of my life (Job x, 1).
Now let no one require in me the study of the sacred eloquence, for my harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep (Job xxx, 31). Now the eye of my heart does not keep vigil in the discussion of mysteries, for my soul has slumbered from weariness (Ps. cxviii, 28). Now less is reading sweet to my mind, for I have forgotten to eat my bread because of the voice of my groaning (Ps. ci, 5). And to him who is not permitted to live, how can it be pleasing to speak of mystical things from the meanings of Sacred Scripture? And I who am compelled daily to drink bitter things, how far can I proffer sweet ones? (Last homily.) Likewise to the patrician Italica and to Venantius, the ex-monk patrician:
Certain persons coming from Sicily I took care to ask, with the affection which I owed, concerning the welfare of your excellency, but they answered me sad tidings about the constancy of your illnesses. But in saying this, neither do I find anything else concerning myself which I ought to report to you, except that, by reason of my sins, behold, it is now eleven months that it is very rare if I have ever been able to rise from my bed. For I am pressed by such great pains of gout, and by such great anguishes of troubles, that life is to me a most grievous punishment. For daily I fail in pain, and I sigh, awaiting the remedy of death.
But among the clergy and people of this city such great languors of fevers have rushed in, that scarcely any freeman, scarcely any slave has remained who could be fit for any office or ministry. And from the neighboring cities the ravages of mortality are daily reported to us. But how Africa is being laid waste by mortality and languors, the nearer you are, the more subtly, I believe, you have learned. But those who come from the East report more grievous desolations. In all these things, therefore, since, as the end of the world draws near, we recognize that there is a general devastation, we ought not to be too much afflicted over our own troubles. (Register, Book IX, Letter 123.) Likewise to Eulogius, patriarch of Alexandria:
A year having passed, I received the most sweet writings of your holiness, to which, on account of the excess of my sickness, I have not until now been able to reply. For behold, now nearly two years are being completed in which I am held to my little bed, and I am afflicted by such pains of gout that scarcely on feast days am I able to rise for the space of three hours to celebrate the solemnities of the Masses. But soon I am compelled by grievous pain to lie down again, so that I cannot endure my torment, with groaning breaking in upon me. This pain is at times milder for me, at times excessive, but neither so mild that it departs, nor so excessive that it kills. Whence it comes that I who am daily in death, am repelled from death.
Nor is it any wonder, for as a grievous sinner I am long held shut up in such a prison of corruption; whence I am compelled to cry out: Bring my soul out of prison, that I may confess to your name, O Lord (Ps. cxli, last verse). But since by my own prayers I do not yet merit to obtain it, I ask that the prayer of your holiness may afford me the help of its intercession, and may render me free from the burden of sin and corruption unto that liberty of the glory of the sons of God, which you know well. (Book X, Letter 35.) Likewise to the same: But I ask that your holiness may pray more earnestly for me, because I am pressed unceasingly by pains of gout, and by the swords of the barbarians, and by the afflictions of cares.
But if you bestow on me the aid of your prayer, I believe that you will bravely help me against all adversities. (Book IX, Letter 78.) Likewise to the same: I ask therefore that you pray more earnestly for me, a sinner, because both bodily pain and bitterness of heart from the afflictions of cares, and the immense devastation of mortality, amid so many swords of barbarians, vehemently afflict me. Amid all these things I seek not temporal but eternal consolation, which I am not able to obtain through myself, but I trust to obtain it through the intercession of your beatitude. (Book XIII, Letter 41.) Likewise to Marinianus, bishop of Ravenna: It is now a long time that I am not able to rise from my bed:
for now the pain of gout tortures me, now I know not what fire with pain spreads itself over my whole body; and it frequently happens that at one and the same time in me heat contends with pain, and in me both body and mind fail. But by how many other necessities, besides these infirmities which I have set forth, I am beset, I am not able to enumerate; but I say briefly: so does the infection of a noxious humor soak into me that to live is a punishment to me, and I longingly await death, which I believe to be the only remedy for my groanings.
Therefore, most holy brother, entreat the mercy of divine goodness for me, that it may propitiously mitigate the scourges of its chastisement toward me, and grant the patience to endure, lest by excessive weariness — which God forbid — my heart break forth into impatience, and lest the fault which could have been healed through the blow should increase through murmuring. (Book XI, Letter 32.) Likewise to the patrician lady Rusticiana: About the trouble of gout which you signified has befallen you, I have been both vehemently saddened and gladdened. Gladdened, because the noxious humor, seeking the lower parts, has assuredly deserted the upper. But saddened, because I fear that you, with a body so very frail, endure excessive pains. For where flesh is lacking, what strength can there be to resist pains?
For me indeed, whom you know what manner of man I have been, bitterness of mind and constant exasperation, and through this the trouble of gout, has so affected, that my body is as if dried up in the grave; whence it comes that I am now rarely able to rise from my bed. (Book XI, Letter 44.) Likewise to the same: I live in such great groaning and occupations, that it grieves me to have arrived at the days which I am living, and the expectation of death is to me a consolation. Whence I ask that you ought to pray for me, that He may the sooner lead me out of this prison of the flesh, lest I be tormented longer by such great labors. (Book XIII, Letter 22.) Likewise to Anastasius of Antioch:
I ask that you pray more earnestly for the infirmity of my heart, that Almighty God, through your intercession, may guard my mind from all evils, and may the sooner snatch me out of so many storms of this tempest, and lead me to the shore of eternal rest. (Book VIII, Letter 2.) 68. Gregory, at length at some time divinely heard amid such great prayers, after he had illustrated the see of the Catholic and Apostolic holy Roman Church for thirteen years, six months, and ten days by most felicitous teachings and works alike, in the second year of the reign of Phocas, in the seventh indiction, on the fourth of the ides of March, was withdrawn from the corruption of the flesh, to be exalted with the glory of perpetual incorruption.
He indeed, throughout all the time of his life, just as he did not at all build new basilicas, so of course he yearly repaired with the utmost zeal the roofs and structures of the old ones that had been built: heaping upon these revenues, lights, offices, and gifts, in the basilica of the blessed apostle Peter he fashioned a canopy of purest silver, which had been transferred by Pope Leo III from the Sistine basilica dedicated to the name of holy Mary; and in the basilica of the blessed apostle Paul, over the altar, he likewise provided another canopy.
Moreover his venerable body, in the outermost portico of the basilica of the blessed apostle Peter, before the then most ancient sacristy — in which, namely, Leo, Simplicius, Gelasius, and Symmachus, bishops of the apostolic see, together with certain others, are buried, and by their epitaphs are proclaimed to this day — was buried, adorned with this inscription: Receive, O earth, a body taken from your own body. That you may render it back, when God gives it life. The spirit seeks the stars; the laws of death shall do no harm, to whom this way is rather the death of another life. In this tomb are enclosed the limbs of the highest pontiff, who may live everywhere forever in his countless good deeds. He overcame hunger with feasts, cold with clothing, and shielded souls from the enemy with sacred admonitions.
And he fulfilled in deed whatever he taught in word, that he might be an example, speaking mystical words. By tender piety he turned the Angles to Christ, acquiring for the faith armies from a new people. This was his labor, this his zeal, this his care, O shepherd, that you might offer to the Lord many gains of your flock. And made hereby God's consul, rejoice in triumphs, for you now hold the reward of your works without end. 69. Now, this most generous shepherd being dead, a most violent famine fell upon that same year; and how great a patron Rome then lost, although the want of resources showed it to almost the whole world, the ferocity of the envious nevertheless in no way acknowledged.
For, as is handed down by our forebears, when the instigators of old calumnies were noisily proclaiming that Gregory was a squanderer and a dissipator of the manifold treasure of the patriarchate, and when their personal grounds failed them, they began alike to pant after burning his books. And when they had already burned some of them, and wished to consume the rest with fire, Peter the Deacon, his most intimate friend, with whom he had discussed the four books of the Dialogues, is believed to have resisted most vehemently, saying that the burning of his books availed nothing toward blotting out his memory, since copies of them, sought by many different people, had penetrated to the whole circuit of the world;
adding that it was a monstrous sacrilege to burn so many and such books of so great a Father, upon whose head he himself had most frequently beheld the Holy Spirit in the likeness of a dove as he was expounding.
And when the Deacon perceived that the once-devoted people were, taking occasion of the times, contending together with the envious, he is said to have moved everyone to this verdict: that if, confirming what he had said by an oath, he should straightway deserve to die, they would desist from the burning of the books; but if he should survive his own testimony, then he too would put his hand to burning the rest. And so the venerable Levite Peter, ascending the ambo with the Gospels, no sooner had he borne witness to Gregory's holiness than, amid the words of his true confession, he breathed out his spirit; and, a stranger to the pain of death, he was found worthy, as a confessor of the truth, to be buried beside the base of the pyre, as is seen to this day. 70.
Hence it is that customarily the Holy Spirit is depicted in the form of a dove above the head of Gregory as he writes, and that the greater part of his expositions, which indeed is remembered to have been burned by the envious, is not extant. Their sum he himself seems to indicate to John, subdeacon of Ravenna, his agent, writing among other things thus: "Because my once most beloved son Claudius had heard certain things that I said concerning the Proverbs, the Song of Songs, the Prophets, and also the books of Kings and the Heptateuch, which I could not commit to writing on account of my infirmity, he himself set them down in his own manner, lest they perish through forgetfulness, so that at a fitting time he might bring these same things to me and they might be dictated more correctly.
And when he had read them to me, I found that the sense of my words had been very unprofitably altered. Wherefore it is necessary that your Experience, setting aside all excuse and delay, should go to his monastery, cause the brethren to assemble, and, in all truth, bring into the open whatever leaves of writing on various Scriptures he brought forth: these do you receive, and transmit to me with all speed." (Register, book xii, letter 24.) For truly, since the diligence of Gregory — who survived after these things nearly three years — could not be deceived, it is certain beyond doubt that he composed more books than are now possessed. The memory of these someone touches upon in his epitaph, saying: "He expounded Job, Ezekiel, the Gospels, and the Pastoral, and many other things."
So that you may understand thereby those which can no longer be found, since in truth they were consumed by fire before they were published, just like his other works which are now kept in the holy Roman Church still under guard, lest they should be altogether divulged. 71. And so, if the whole time of Gregory's labor of composition, in which he expounded the books now possessed, be more carefully weighed, it extends from his diaconate down to the second-to-last year of his pontificate; and although, as the perfidy of the Lombards raged, he desisted from the exposition of the books after the treatises on Ezekiel, yet from the expounding of letters, as long as he was able to live, he never entirely ceased; of which indeed he left behind in his chest as many books as the years he lived on.
Whence he left the fourteenth book of letters, of the seventh indiction, unfinished, since it does not reach to the end of that same indiction. Out of their multitude, in the times of Pope Hadrian the First, certain decretal letters were excerpted according to the several indictions and gathered into two volumes, as is now seen. And Gregory, being long ago placed in the monastery — where the angel of the Lord had found him writing under the guise of a shipwrecked man — had doubtless dictated certain things, so that he might arrive, the readier by so much as he was the more learned through the habit of dictating, at the exposition of that great profundity which he was able to penetrate in the book of Job.
72. Therefore Gregory, during his diaconate, while the responses of the Apostolic See detained him in the city of Constantinople, and while an embassy enjoined upon him for causes of the faith of the Visigoths had brought Leander, the Spanish bishop, thither — at the most urgent insistence of that same Leander (as I recall having said in the first book), together with the brethren who then adhered to Gregory — he began to expound the book of blessed Job (Book i, 27). With these set before him, he delivered the earlier parts of the book by word of mouth; and because he found a somewhat freer time, he dictated the later parts by way of treatise.
And when ampler intervals of time were available to him, adding much, subtracting little, and leaving some things just as they had been found, he composed by way of correction, arranging into books those things which had been excerpted before his eyes as he was speaking. When, now made bishop of Rome, he was dictating the last parts, carefully attending to the style in which he had spoken the first, he brought it about that the things he had spoken, being run through with diligent correction, should be raised, as it were, to the likeness of the dictated portions, and that the things he had dictated should not differ greatly from the language of one speaking in conversation: so that, while this is aimed at, that is drawn toward it, and a matter not dissimilar might be shaped in a somewhat dissimilar manner as published. Yet the third part of that work he left almost just as he had brought it forth in conversation:
because, while the brethren were drawing him on to expound other things, they were unwilling that this part should be more subtly corrected. As, at their many biddings, he endeavored to comply — now through the ministry of exposition, now through the ascent of contemplation, now through the instrument of moral teaching — he completed this work, extended through thirty-five books, in six codices. Copies of these he first distributed throughout the monasteries of the City, but last of all he sent them to that same bishop Leander. 73. But at the very outset of his episcopate, when he had been humbly rebuked by John, bishop of the city of Ravenna, as to why a man so well-suited had wished, by hiding himself, to flee the burdens of pastoral care, he composed the book of the Pastoral Rule:
which, distinguishing it by a fourfold plan, he thoroughly taught to be greatly pondered: when the necessity of affairs demands it, how each one may come to the summit of governance, and, rightly arriving at this, how he may live, and, living well, how he may teach, and, teaching rightly, how he may daily recognize his own weakness with as great consideration as he is able — lest either humility should shun the approach, or one's life contradict his arrival, or teaching desert one's life, or presumption exalt one's teaching. First, then, let fear temper the desire; but afterward let life commend the mastership which is undertaken by one who does not seek it; then it is necessary that the good of the pastor, which is shown by living, be propagated also by speaking;
but at the last it remains that consideration of one's own weakness should press down each and every perfect work, lest the swelling of pride should extinguish these before the eyes of the hidden Judge. And because he had learned that certain unskilled men had conspired toward the priesthood, and foresaw that certain others would so conspire — men who, not knowing how to measure themselves, longed to teach what they had not learned, and who esteemed the weight of mastership the lighter, the more they were ignorant of the force of its greatness —
these he rebuked at the very opening of his book, so that if ever the unlearned and headstrong should aspire to hold the citadel of teaching, they might be driven back from the ventures of their own rashness at the very door of Gregory's discourse. This book Anatolius, a deacon, his apocrisiarius, had once offered to the emperor who sought and commanded it; and the great Anastasius, bishop of Antioch, rendered it into the Greek tongue and procured the venerable work for the Eastern churches. 74. Then, as I have already related in the second book of this work, while Gregory still had sufficient voice and bearing for speaking, going about through the stations he declaimed twenty homilies on the Gospel before the people at various times;
but the remaining homilies of the same number he indeed dictated, yet, with his stomach growing weary from continual illness, he permitted others to pronounce them (Book ix, letter 52): copies of which he sent to Secundus, the servant of God, at his request. 75. And when Gregory was earnestly asked by your household that he should describe some things concerning the miracles of the Fathers, he wrote to Maximianus, bishop of Syracuse, saying: "My brethren, who live intimately with me, in every way compel me to describe briefly some things concerning the miracles of the Fathers which we have heard were done in Italy. For this matter I very greatly need the solace of your charity, that you would briefly indicate to me the things which come back to your memory, and whatever you have chanced to have known.
Now concerning the lord abbot Nonnosus, who was near the lord Anastasius of Pentomis, I remember that you related some things to me which I have committed to forgetfulness. These, therefore, and if there be any others, I ask to be set down in your letters and transmitted to me with speed, if indeed you do not set out to me yourself." (Register, book iii, letter 51.) Hence Gregory, being strengthened, interrupting his deeper pursuit of exposition, distinguished the miracles of the holy Fathers — which he had brought forth by way of inquiry and response with Peter his deacon — merely by a prefacing of names, and arranged them into four books:
so that, just as in the books of his expositions he had taught by what virtues one must sweat and toil, so also, by the miracles of the saints thus described, he might display, clearer than light, what had been the brightness of those same virtues. These books Zacharias, bishop of the holy Roman Church, most learned in the Greek and Latin tongue, in the times of the emperor Constantine, after nearly one hundred and seventy-five years, translating into the Greek language, spread abroad to the Eastern churches — although the cunning perversity of the Greeks, in the commemoration of the Holy Spirit as proceeding from the Father, craftily scraped away and removed the name of the Son. 76. He also treated the first and last parts of the prophet Ezekiel, which
seemed more obscure, at the request of the Romans, and, distinguishing them by twenty-two homilies, he demonstrated how much light they hold within; and in treating of these, as was shown above, he made an end. 77. Although these books are truly declared by the doctors of a later time to have been published with the most correct opinions and composed in the most brilliant style of rhetorical eloquence, blessed Gregory, out of the sweetness of his humility, professes them to be uncultivated, writing to bishop Leander among other things:
"I ask that, running through the words of this work (doubtless the Moralia), you do not seek in them leaves of words; because through the sacred utterances the frivolousness of unfruitful loquacity is diligently restrained by their treaters, since in the temple of God it is forbidden that a grove be planted. And all of us doubtless know that, as often as the stalks thrive in the leaves of a too-luxuriant crop, the grains swell with less fullness of ears. Wherefore I have disdained to observe even that very art of speaking which the disciplines of exterior schooling instill. For, as the tenor of this very epistle also declares, I do not flee the collision of metacism, I do not avoid the confusion of barbarism, I disdain to preserve the hiatuses and inflections of motion, and even the cases governed by prepositions:
because I deem it exceedingly unworthy that I should confine the words of the heavenly oracle under the rules of Donatus; for indeed these have not been observed by any interpreters in the authority of Holy Scripture. And since our exposition without doubt arises from this source, it is surely fitting that, as offspring brought forth, it should imitate the appearance of its own mother." (Preface to the book of the Moralia.) In which words Gregory is recognized to have made no study of a pompous manner of speaking, but rather to have fallen into it from the former habit of secular training. The harmony of his eloquence Isidore, bishop of the city of Seville, admiring in his exposition of Genesis:
"These things," he says, "are taken from the authors Origen, Victorinus, Ambrose, Jerome, Cassian, Augustine, Fulgentius, and, in our own times, the distinctly eloquent Gregory." But Bede the presbyter also, in his book On Figures, showing that orators make a homoeoteleuton, set forth an example, saying: "Blessed Job, known to God alone and to himself, being brought to our knowledge in his temptation, was touched with a wound so that he might scatter the fragrance of his powers so much the more widely as, after the manner of aromatics, he gave forth a better scent from the intention of the trial." With which figure he who said this, blessed Pope Gregory, is known to have used most frequently;
and I think these are the kinds of discourses which Jerome calls the polished declamations of rhetoricians." 78. But Gregory, admonished by the caution of his own humility, not only despised the fragrance of his own eloquence, but even, in comparison with another's treatise, calling his own composition bran, most vehemently forbade that his books be read as long as he lived, writing to Innocent, prefect of Africa, among other things: "That you wished a codex to be transmitted to you concerning the exposition of holy Job — we entirely rejoice at your zeal, since we behold your Eminence to study that matter which neither permits you to go wholly forth outside, and again gathers back to the heart those who have been scattered among secular cares.
But if you desire to be fattened with delicious fare, read the little works of blessed Augustine, your own compatriot, and do not seek our bran by comparison with that fine wheat-flour of his." (Register, book x, letter 37.) Likewise to John, bishop of Syracuse: "Moreover, I hear that your Fraternity causes some of those things which I remember to have written to be read at your table before strangers. This seems to me not fitting to be done, because this which you do out of charity, certain persons, as far as concerns me, can impute to vainglory. Therefore before strangers read the sayings of the ancients, by whose authority those who hear may be able to be reformed." (Book viii, letter 9.) Likewise to John, subdeacon of Ravenna, after many things:
"That," he says, "which has been brought to me by the report of certain persons — namely, that my most reverend fellow-bishop Marinianus has the commentaries on blessed Job read publicly at the vigils — I have not received graciously, because that work is not for the people, and to untrained hearers it produces hindrance rather than progress. But tell him to have the commentaries on the Psalms read at the vigils, which especially form the minds of the worldly to good morals. For I do not wish, while I am in this flesh, that anything I may have chanced to say should easily become known to men." (Book xii, letter 24.) 79.
With how great consideration Gregory — who has been sufficiently shown, as I think, to have come humbly to the summit of governance, and, arriving at this work, to have lived well, and, living well, to have taught rightly — recognized his own weakness, he makes manifest in the last book of the Moralia, when he says: "This work being therefore completed, I see that I must return to myself. For our mind is much scattered outside itself, even when it endeavors to speak rightly. For the integrity of the soul, while words are being considered as to how they should be uttered, they diminish, because they draw it outward.
Therefore from the public of speech one must return to the court of the heart, that, as in a certain council of deliberation, I may summon the thoughts of the mind for the discerning of myself, so that there I may see whether I have said anything either incautiously evil or not well good. For then good is spoken well, when he who speaks aims, by that which he says, to please Him alone from whom he received it. And indeed, though I do not find that I have said any evil things, yet, because I have not by any means left them entirely unsaid, I do not defend myself. But if I have said any good things, receiving them from God, I confess that by my own fault I have said them less well.
For, returning inward to myself, having set aside the leaves of words, having set aside the branches of sentences, while I subtly inspect the very root of my intention, I recognize that by it I willed above all to please God; but into that same intention, by which I strive to please God, the intention of human praise stealthily, I know not how, insinuates itself. And when at length and tardily I discern this, I find that I am doing otherwise than I know myself to have begun. For thus often our intention, while it is rightly begun before the eyes of God, being secretly subjoined, and, as it were, catching it upon the road, the intention of human praise overtakes it:
just as food is indeed taken out of necessity, but in the very eating, while gluttony stealthily creeps in, the delight of eating is mingled in; whence it very often happens that the refreshment of the body, which we began for the sake of health, we complete for the sake of pleasure. It must therefore be admitted that our right intention, which seeks to please God alone, is sometimes accompanied insidiously by a less right intention, which seeks to please men out of the gifts of God. But if we examine ourselves strictly concerning these things by divine light, what place of salvation remains amid such things, when both our evils are pure evils, and the goods which we believe ourselves to have can by no means be pure goods?
But this I believe to be worth my while, that I unhesitatingly disclose to fraternal ears everything which I secretly reprehend in myself. For because in expounding I did not conceal what I felt, in confessing I do not hide what I suffer. Through exposition I have laid open the gifts, through confession I uncover the wounds. And because in this so great human race there are neither lacking small ones who ought to be instructed by my sayings, nor lacking great ones who ought to have pity on my acknowledged weakness, through these two things I bestow care upon some brethren as much as I can, and I hope for it from others. To those I have said, by expounding, what they should do; to these I lay open, by confessing, what they should spare. To the former I do not withhold the medicaments of words; to the latter I do not conceal the laceration of my wounds.
Therefore I ask that whosoever shall read this may, before the strict Judge, bestow upon me the solace of his prayer, and may wash away with his weeping everything sordid that he detects in me. But the virtue of prayer and of exposition being compared, my reader surpasses me in recompense if, when he receives words through me, he renders tears for me." 80. The venerable body of this most blessed Gregory, translated by Gregory the Fourth, prelate of the Apostolic See, after about fifty years, is placed before the new sacristy, with apses constructed, as is now seen, beneath the altar of his name:
where his anniversary solemnity is celebrated with most pleasing veneration, all vying to keep vigil through the night, at which his pallium, and his phylacteries, and also his girdle are customarily kissed. These things, considered one by one, present with clear signs both the antiquity of the man, and the modesty of his attire, and the character of his regular way of life. For in that his pallium, woven of gleaming-white fine linen, is seen to have been perforated by no needles, it is recognized that it was thus wrapped about the shoulders, but not fastened, just as is shown in the most ancient mosaics or paintings.
But that the phylacteries of relics are seen to have been fabricated of thin silver, and, with a cheap little cloth, suspended from the neck, is demonstrated by the modesty of his attire. Furthermore, in the slenderness of the girdle, which never exceeds the measure of a single inch, it is made clearer than light that he preserved the character of the regular way of life once established by holy Benedict — whose life, in describing it, he had also praised the Rule in the Dialogue — especially since the same venerable doctor Gregory did not know the Greek tongue, and sent the monks of his own monastery, bound assuredly by the rules of Benedict, into Saxony. 81. Indeed, that he did not know the Greek tongue, he himself testifies, writing in a letter to Eusebius, bishop of Thessalonica:
"The bearer of the present letter, Theodore, a lector of the Church, coming to the thresholds of the holy Apostles, while as a man (being, as it were, a newcomer) he was held to be unknown, innocently deposited with Andrew the monk, who had been enclosed at Saint Paul's, the goods and papers which he had brought, as with one indeed long known, believing that his mind (as we too had previously supposed) accorded with his habit. But that man was found of such great depravity that, if a little more had still been permitted to his folly under the appearance of enclosure, he would deceive the souls of many by the falsehood of his malice, and would generate whatever scandals, no light ones, he could.
For among other things which the same Andrew most wickedly thought and did, he also falsified that very letter which you sent to us, while it was deposited with him by the aforesaid lector, so that whoever should read it would clearly convict you of holding views neither catholic nor right. From which matter it happened that, while we were diligently seeking the truth, the iniquity which lay hidden in him was made public: and such things were found in him as would not be believed even of any wicked layman whatsoever. And because among his various evils he also wrote certain discourses, and titled them under our name, and we are suspicious lest he has transmitted them somewhere, let your Fraternity take pains;
and if it find any such thing, let it cause them to be excised and by all means abolished, so that what an untrained man, ignorant of letters and of divine Scripture, prefaced under our name, as we have said, may not be able to infect the minds of certain persons. For we neither know Greek, nor have we ever composed any work in Greek." (Register, book xi, letter 69.) 82. But that the monks who were sent by Gregory into Saxony were bound to the rule of holy Benedict, this too, among other things, shows: that from his disciples scarcely can any monk be found in those parts by whom the Rule of Benedict is not observed, both in profession and in habit.
Wherefore, just as it is established that the Gregorian monastery was converted from Latinity into Greekness by necessity rather than by will, so faithfully it awaits that, with the Lord favoring, it will again be turned back into the cultivation of Latinity. 83. In the atrium of this venerable monastery, by Gregory's command, beside the nymphaeum two very ancient images, painted with artistry, are seen even to this day. In one of them blessed Peter the Apostle is beheld sitting, having likewise received by his right hand the right hand of Gordianus, the regionary — that is, the father of Gregory — standing. Of this Gordianus the chasuble is of a chestnut color, beneath the chasuble a dalmatic, having leggings on his feet;
of tall stature, a drawn-out face, green eyes, a modest beard, thick hair, a grave countenance. In the other, however, the mother of Gregory, Silvia, is depicted sitting, covered with a white veil so rolled back from the right shoulder toward the left that beneath it she draws her hand as though from a chasuble; and about the breast, below the throat, an inner tunic of a whitish color appears, which flows down over the feet with a great fold; distinguished by two bands, after the likeness of dalmatics, but altogether broader; of full stature, a face round indeed and white, but already wrinkled with age, which very old age itself signifies to have been most beautiful;
with gray-blue and large eyes, modest eyebrows, comely little lips, a cheerful countenance, bearing on her head a matronly mitre, embroidered with a rarity of gleaming-white fine linen; with two fingers of her right hand making as though she would fortify herself with the sign of the cross, but in her left holding an open psalter, in which this is written: My soul lives, and it will praise thee; and thy judgments will help me (Psalm cxviii, penultimate verse). But from the right elbow all the way to the left, rising about the shoulders, an inscription bends back, which reads thus: Gregory made this for Silvia his mother.
But also, in a little apse behind the brethren's storeroom, Gregory is shown painted, by the mastery of the same artist, on a plaster roundel: of just and well-formed stature, with a face so moderately tempered between the length of his father's face and the roundness of his mother's, that with a certain roundness it seems most becomingly to be drawn out; a beard, after his father's manner, somewhat tawny and modest; so bald that in the middle of his forehead he has twin, rather thin, curls, bent back toward the right; a round and spacious tonsure, with dark-ish hair, becomingly curled, hanging down to the middle of the ear; a comely forehead, with raised and long, but slender, eyebrows; eyes dark in the pupil, not indeed large but wide-open; full lower eyelids;
a nose, from the root of the descending eyebrows subtly straight, broader about the middle, then a little curved back, and at the extremity prominent with open nostrils; a red mouth; thick and somewhat divided lips, composed cheeks; a chin becomingly prominent from the boundary of the jaws; of an aquiline and lively color, not yet, as afterward befell him, cardiac; of a mild countenance; beautiful hands; with rounded fingers, apt for writing. Moreover, a chasuble over the dalmatic, chestnut-colored; the Gospel in his left hand, the manner of a cross in his right;
with a moderate pallium drawn, namely, from the right shoulder below the breast over the stomach in a circular fashion, then deposited upward over the left shoulder behind the back, of which the other part, coming over the same shoulder, hangs by its own straightness, not through the middle of the body, but from the side; but about the crown of the head it displays the likeness of a square tablet, which is the token of a living person, not a nimbus. From which it is most manifestly declared that Gregory, while he was still alive, wholesomely willed his own likeness to be painted, in which he might be gazed upon rather frequently by his own monks, not for the glory of pride, but for the caution of acknowledged strictness. There he himself dictated a distich of this kind:
O Christ, mighty Lord, bestower of our honor, govern with your accustomed mercy the office granted to me. 85. It was also in the time of Peter the archdeacon, and by order of John the hegumen, that the monk Saturninus painted, to the right and left of the blessed Gregory, the images of the holy apostles, just as they are now to be seen. In that very place a candle is sometimes lit by divine agency, and in an image of the same likeness the blessed Gregory is often shown to be present on behalf of the governance of his monastery. 86.
For to touch on but a few things out of many: in the time of the pontiff Leo the Fourth, when Megistus, bishop of Ostia and librarian of the Apostolic See, presided over that same monastery, John the priest, its provost, living shamefully with a certain woman, was seized with a most violent pain of the gout. Cauterized by the hand of physicians, he began to discharge pus through the wound of the burning. Unable by any arts to check it, he was brought to such despair that he ceased from every visit to that woman, and she joined another man to herself under the same crime.
But after a year the priest, returning to his former health, although he had resolved to touch her no more, nevertheless sent a messenger to that same woman and declared that he would return on the coming Lord's Day. When this message was received, and he rejoiced that the little woman's wish agreed with his own desire, he went off to the baths. Returning thence, he so gave himself up to draughts of wine and to songs in his mirth that, sleep creeping over him, he was never able to be present at the night offices with the brethren. That same night the blessed Gregory, appearing in a dream to a certain priest and monk, said: Rise, and tell the provost that, doing penance, he should scatter the private hoard which he was not ashamed to amass, for the sin of his conscience:
for on the third day he shall be utterly cut off from life. When the provost heard this, he was greatly terrified. And because he could not be unbelieving toward Gregory's command, he began his penance, and while he in health was distributing all his goods, he was seized with so great a burning of fever that, from the dawn of the day until the third hour, casting out his tongue from his mouth with a mighty roaring as though from fire, he drew his last breath. The priests, seeing him laboring so grievously, appointed monks there who should commend his departure with psalmody, while they themselves strove to offer solemn sacrifices to almighty God on his behalf.
But the monks, deserting the psalmody, did not fear to disparage the dying brother among themselves; when behold, the priests, returning from the solemnities of the Masses about the seventh hour, marveled to find John the priest — whom they had left struggling unbelievably with death — feeling somewhat better; and when they began to call him by name, at once he, blinking his eyes and smiling, said: May the Lord spare you, brethren: why did you wish to trouble me? For from the very beginning of this day until now I have stood before Christ, who presides with many thousands of angels, at judgment with the devil, and, with the holy Andrew and Gregory assisting me, I answered all his accusations well.
Know, moreover, that I carried to Christ, who most searchingly required it, even down to the footstool of his feet, an account of the monastery's sextarius, modius, and pound, the custom of the alms and of the lights, and every measure. But of one accusation, I confess, being convicted, I was greatly afraid, and, as you saw, was harassed with much travail, and I have not yet been able to free myself from it. And when the brethren inquired about it, he said: I dare not tell it; for when you called me, and I was commanded by the holy Gregory to return, so that I might render you an account of the measures and customs of the monastery, the devil complained, thinking that the Father had sent me back to penance. Wherefore I gave the blessed Gregory as surety that I would not reveal to anyone the calumny that was raised.
As they pressed him the more, and promised that they would entreat the Lord on his behalf, that he might reveal the matter to the brethren, he began to declare the houses of certain dead and the merits of the living, saying: This one is worthy, that one is unworthy. Being questioned again, he turned to the monks who a little before had remained with him, saying: All the things wherein you disparaged me there, brethren, I heard, although I could not answer, and you caused me no small hindrance, because, being accused at one and the same time both by you and by the devil, I did not know to which calumny I should first reply. But whenever you see anyone departing this life, have compassion on the common lot, and do not judge him who goes to the judgment of so strict a Judge along with his own accuser.
When these things were finished, he bade all withdraw, keeping with him only the priest who had foretold his death. He, fearing to remain alone, kept another with him, urging him not to fear at least to disclose to him the cause for which he had contended. That other groaned deeply, and, turning his head to the wall, cried out, saying: O Andrew, Andrew, may you perish this year, you who by wicked counsel drove me into danger! Immediately Zacharias the physician, who the year before had apostatized and returned to his own people, namely the Saracens, was present, and, touching his temples, began to swear that the priest would by no means die of that same sickness. When the sick man heard him, he repelled him with great indignation, saying:
Brethren, now my whole body is dead; in my utmost throat I keep the breath that is yet allowed me, being about to die at once; only chant psalms, that I may again behold the angels whom I was seeing, and by a sign show them to you. As they prayed, he began to tremble all over, to grow pale, to gaze upward with longing; when suddenly, perceiving the spirit approaching, rolling his eyes terribly, he gave a sign to the monks and departed; and he left them stricken with such terror that for many nights they were afraid to lie alone. 87. On the same day, as was afterward ascertained, and at the same moment when the dying priest had imprecated danger upon Andrew, that same Andrew, tenant of the Barbilian estate, situated namely on the Ostian Way, fell into his bed;
in which, seized for a long time by continuous wasting, he became so wholly withered that his entire body seemed to be dissolving piece by piece. And when he could be consumed by his flesh flowing away, yet could not die, his wife, who could no longer bear the stench of the wounds and her husband's torments, understood that he had by no means incurred the afflictions of so great a sickness without a sentence of divine vengeance. Weeping, she took care to inquire, that — since he could not be summoned in vain by the dying provost — he should reveal to the monks what he had committed with him, if perchance the Lord, receiving his confession, might free him from such torments.
But he, knowing that the evil he had done could not remain hidden, asked that the monks of the monastery be summoned, and confessed to them that together with that same provost he had stolen certain charters of the monastery, and, having received the price, had handed them over to outsiders; and that he was certain he could not die for this crime until he revealed it before all. That this was indeed true, the outcome of the affair plainly showed. For as soon as so great a crime became known to all, he who a while before, wishing to die, could not, breathed his last amid the words of his confession.
Him therefore almighty God willed to be tormented long, but permitted him not to be able to die until he confessed his guilt, so that by the example of his torment He might show what those who consume the goods of Gregory ought certainly to expect for themselves. 88. In the time of the same pontiff, Athanasius presided over the monastery of that same Father, a man indeed conspicuous for charity and a most careful executor of his monastery's affairs. When he perceived the time of raging famine coming, lest necessity should perhaps fall upon the monks, he withdrew the refreshment of the forty poor whom the blessed Gregory had decreed to be fed once a year.
Perceiving that he had done this with impunity, he also entirely forbade the dinner of the twelve poor and the twelve pence which, on the day of the blessed Gregory's burial, in commemoration of the twelve once invited by him — of whom the thirteenth professed himself to be an angel — were customarily fed; when in that same time of Lent the blessed Gregory appeared in a dream to the same priest and monk mentioned above, saying: Go and tell the hegumen: Because he has diminished the custom which I established, the Lord will also diminish his days. When the hegumen heard this, at first indeed he trembled, but afterward believed the less, the longer he knew his life to be extended.
And behold, during those very Paschal white days, while standing with the brethren at the vesper offices in the oratory of Saint Severinus, he saw the wall burning, and commanded the brethren to extinguish it. When they believed him to be drunk with wine, he at last threw down the rod he was holding, and, passing his hands over the wall, tried to put out from without the flames which, it was evident, were devouring its inmost part. Then, returning to his lodging, he was kindled with so great a burning of fever that he could by no means reach the seventh day. Because, therefore, while he thought he had taken counsel for the monks, he did not fear to harm the poor, and thereby altogether offended him by whom he believed he could appease Gregory:
in vain did he wish to extinguish the flames of the wall, because he refused to extinguish the flames of his own stinginess. 89. In the same time, likewise, behind the apse of the oratory of Saint Mary ever Virgin, joined to the oratory of Saint Barbara, where Gregory was wont to celebrate the praises of the Lord, a demon appeared, and, making for itself a lodging in the cave which is seen there, in the night hours crashed with so great a din that it was thought to be tearing up all the foundations of the monastery. Sometimes it was heard, carrying off horses from the stables, to run about the whole night; and it was proved to have plunged two of them into a precipice.
And when by the dread of so great a noise it had utterly driven the monks away from the dining-hall, in which they were wont to lie for the air because of the heat's fervor, one of them, trusting in the power of almighty God, lying down before the opening and having made his prayer, began to sleep. To him the demon appeared in the likeness of a cat, and attacked him to tear him with its claws. When the monk had repelled it by prayer, he gave himself again to slumber, when suddenly the demon appeared in the likeness of a certain Ethiopian, threatening with a lance, saying: I indeed go hence, but I leave you wounded. Having said this, it brandished the lance and struck the monk, as it seemed, in his sleep. He wailed with such cries as though he had truly been struck;
and when the monks ran up, though frightened, he told what he had seen, and thereafter no demon came there any more. 90. In the time of the pontiff Benedict also, when Lucidus, bishop of Ficulea, presided over that same monastery, while a very great multitude was daily perishing from a pestilence of the throat, this same monk, his throat blocked, came near to death; and to him in his despair the blessed Gregory appeared in a dream, saying: Do you wish to be made whole? And he answered that he did. And the blessed Gregory said: If you promise me that you will say what I shall tell you, know that you are to be healed; but if not, that you will very quickly die. And when he promised with full certainty that he would say it, he heard:
Go, announcing to the monks Sabas, John, Benedict, Martin, Palumbus, and Antony, to Laurence the cook, to Gemmosus the carpenter, to Acceptus the baker, and to the laymen Andrew, Romanus, and Leo, that beginning from tomorrow they shall all follow one another day by day in dying. After their decease announce that Lucidus the bishop, who holds that monastery, shall die on the seventh day. When these things were said, bidding the monk to open his mouth, he thrust two fingers into his throat, and breaking open the ulcer, enjoined him to spit it out. He, coughing, in very truth cast forth a portion of clotted blood in the shape of a stone; and being freed from the very gates of death, that same night, against the hope of all, he took part in the matin hymns.
To the wondering brethren he made known the manner of his healing, and indicated when and how he had foreseen those of the monastery's household who would die; concerning the death of the bishop alone he kept silence for the time, being in doubt. And at once the rumor, flying, ran into the ears of all those appointed to death; and when they knew from the monk's report that they would die on a certain day, having disposed of their little possessions, they thus followed one another into death, just as they had been named in the dream. 91.
And since the priest-monk feared to reveal so dire a message to Lucidus the bishop, yet dared not keep utterly silent, he at last hurried out of the monastery and came to the bishop's house — not far from the river Tiber, in the district near the basilica of the holy Cyrus and John — to announce the dream. Learning that the bishop was dining with the pontiff in the palace, he waited for his return, and, when the bishop came clothed in priestly vestments, radiant in color and also most sound in health, he took care to salute him. To him the bishop said: Even now throughout the whole city you are held as divine, because of those you foretold would die, only one has remained. But he said:
Would that, just as he too whom you think to be alive is dead, so he himself who is foretold to follow this one might leap forth from life. And when the bishop inquired about it with every curiosity, and the monk hesitated to speak, at last, when he learned that he himself would die on the sixth day, he grew pale and trembled; and, recovering his strength, he gnashed against the monk and held him back as he wished to return. He wandered restlessly into the inner parts of his chamber; little by little he felt his throat pain him at food. Then, feeling a soft throbbing in himself, he soon recognized the signs of fever; he believed the monk; he set his house in order; and, wreathed with the same insignia with which he had returned from the patriarchate, he came to the monastery over which he presided.
On the second day of the week, while all marveled at so sudden a conversion, he took the monastic habit; and as the ailment gradually grew worse, at the dawn of the sixth day he fell into a light sleep. And being roused again, he declared that Saint Andrew the apostle had appeared to him, and that he was to be called about the third hour, and that it had been commanded him that — since the monks, held in suspense by the expectation of his death, could not celebrate the accustomed offices of Saint Fabian — they should soon deliver his body to burial, and, having received from him candles and incense, should hasten to perform the solemnities of the feast. And so at the third hour the bishop died joyful, so that in the very joy of his countenance it might be shown to all beholders that his conversion had been pleasing to God. 92.
At the same time the full brother of that same monk suffered a madness of mind, so that, fleeing human company, for a long time he wandered restlessly through solitary crypts and filthy tombs. His brother, grieving exceedingly at his madness, daily besought the holy Gregory with poured-out tears that he would deign to restore his brother to him safe and sound. And so, when on a certain night he rested after weeping of this kind, the blessed Gregory appeared to him, saying: Seeing your tears, I have received your prayer; and behold, I will today bring back your brother to you whole. And this shall be a sign to you, that, as soon as day dawns, by command of the pontiff the priest who is shut up here shall be brought out.
Rising at the morning hour, he told the brethren. Now at that time this same priest Campanus, from the place called Claustrum not far from Terracina, accused by his own people of a certain crime, was held in that same monastery; and, with many years slipping by, being now despised by his accusers, he had also been consigned to oblivion by all his own, since he had been able to have no kinsman, no acquaintance in the City who might make suggestion about him to the pontiff; and though the monks indeed were busy on his behalf, they had no means of gaining access. The pontiff, remembering him by divine inspiration, at dawn ordered him to be brought out of the prison and set free.
And not long after, the monk's brother returned so sound that thereafter he seemed to serve in the monastery of that same Father all the more faithfully, the more he remembered that he had been brought back to his former health by that one's aid. 93. In the time of the pontiff Nicholas also, of reverend memory, while Zacharias, prelate of the city of Anagni, was managing the governance of that same monastery — as remains to this day — a demon assailed the Barbilian estate, of which I made mention above, on account of the crimes of its inhabitants; and, in the likeness of a young bull, running back to the house from the meadows with bellowing, it was felt invisibly to strike a man with its little horns by night, and, dragging the oxen from their stalls, to weary them with a most swift course through the neighboring fields and crossroads.
And when it did this for a long while, and frequently threatened harm to the country folk, by blows of this kind it afflicted and destroyed a certain Saxulus, a tenant of that same estate. Then, assailing the herdsmen, it overpowered them with such slaughter that within the space of three months it left no one there except one only, named Ursellus, whom it was likewise afflicting. He, coming to Rome, while he was telling the brethren of the peril of so great a calamity, in the midst of his speech went out of the gates of the monastery, and, to the astonishment of the monks, did not return until morning had come. Being curiously questioned by them as to whither he had just carried himself off with such sudden swiftness, he confessed, saying:
While I was revealing to you the madness of the demon, the young bull appeared, and, clasping me with its forefeet and butting me with its little horns, began to drive me before it, and the whole night compelled me to climb over walls and trees. And when at last it tried to drown me by way of the bridge, I leaped out of its embraces, and, fleeing it with all my effort, came to the gates of this monastery which the hegumen Euthymius had made; finding them shut, I seized both its rings with both hands; and while it was struggling to tear me away from them, a certain bald pontiff, thrusting himself sideways through the chinks of the gates, struck the young bull's head with a rod, and, driving it into flight, freed me from its blows.
Therefore, when the inhabitants had perished, and no dweller approached that place, and thereby the monks were troubled at the desolation of the spot, Gregory, appearing in a dream to one of them, bade that, if they wished to drive the demon from the monastery's estate, the brethren should proceed with litanies, sprinkling exorcised water, from the oratory of Saint Martina as far as the oratory of Saint Mary, established there in the Lord's house. When this was done, the demon was so repelled from all possession of the monastery that afterward, along the borders of the confines, it was noted to cast flames from its mouth, nostrils, and eyes, and to drive the swine from the swineherd, but was never permitted to enter within the bounds of the monastery. 94.
At another time also, Theutgaudus, formerly bishop of Trier, who together with Guntharius, bishop of Cologne on the Agrippina, had been deprived of the priestly office by Nicholas of reverend memory, by the liberality of the pontiff Hadrian received a lodging in that same monastery. To him the blessed Gregory, appearing in a dream, struck the greatest terror, by which he might be driven forth from his monastery. He, judging that what he had seen had been a phantasm, having made his prayer, began to sleep again. To him Gregory, appearing wreathed in pontifical habit, said: Did I not tell you to withdraw from my monastery — which in prosperous circumstances I dedicated to the Lord through the invocation of Saint Andrew the apostle — because it might in no way be permitted to become a lodging-place?
And when Theutgaudus answered that he had received license to lodge there from the pontiff, Gregory said: Both you who asked and he who granted, both of you have acted against God, whose vengeance you shall very quickly incur. Waking, Theutgaudus trembled, and, having made his prayer, wished to give himself back to slumber, when suddenly, hearing the sound of those coming, he was greatly afraid, and feigned to sleep. Gregory therefore, approaching, holding Saint Andrew the apostle by the right hand, commanded the subdeacon who went before him with a light, saying: Seize him. And when he, seized, had sat up on his little bed with closed eyes, Gregory said: Look upon us. Gazing at them, Theutgaudus trembled the more, and heard him threatening him thus:
Because, having been admonished a second time, you were unwilling to believe the words of my mouth, and by your disobedience so provoked me that I have now taken pains to weary the apostle of God to come hither, know and understand that unless you depart today from this my monastery, in the coming week you shall be deprived of life together with all your people. But if you depart, from this momentary sentence you shall indeed be freed; yet neither you nor any of those dwelling here with you shall see his native land again. At once Theutgaudus flung himself from his little bed, and revealed the dream first to his own people, then to the monks of the monastery, and lastly to whomever he could. And because he could not more quickly obtain another lodging from the pontiff, settling among the Sabines, in that same year he was deprived of life together with all his people. 95.
At the same time also Suppo, count of Picenum, arrived there, who indeed showed the monks very great munificence, and in the affairs of so venerable a monastery forbade the usurpation of his own men. A certain familiar of his, named Faraldus, whenever Suppo went forth to the palace, did not fear to bring harlots thither — to the monks' detestation — and to celebrate with them unlawful feastings and dancings. And this same man, seeking a privy at the beginning of night, was hung in the air by his hair by unclean spirits; and while, hanging the whole night, he had no use of his voice, at the matin hours the blessed Gregory showed himself to him to be seen, saying:
Enemy of God, are not the other evils which you obstinately work in my monastery enough for you, that besides you bring theatrical little harlots into the monastic cloister as though into a theater? Believe me, this year you shall perish. Then he began with great effort to plead for penance, and to promise full correction henceforth. At once Gregory commanded him to be let go; and falling to the ground, because he refused to be corrected, in that same year he proved by dying that Gregory's sentence had been true. 96. A man of the same count, at another time, was called Indulfus. When the cook asked him for pence to buy wood, he could by no means obtain it;
but by a wicked right he received license to attack and plunder the huts, and the windows, and the boards of the neighboring dormitory, and with their fires to prepare his dinner for himself. When on the following night this same Indulfus was going to the privy, he was questioned by a certain old man as to why he had so wantonly commanded the monastery's boards to be burned. But he, upbraiding the holy old man in the Gallic manner as a windbag, was indeed lightly struck by him with a rod; yet the proud man fell with such weight that he lay half-dead upon the ground. At the same moment, under the same appearance, that same old man appeared to a certain cleric sleeping outside, saying:
Rise, and tell the count that from this my monastery — in which it is by no means permitted for a lodging-place to be made — he should depart safe, before he provokes me to wrath. Behold, upon his familiar who is bound to me — whom, indeed, I left struck down as he went to the privy — I will pour out a fitting remedy. When the cleric asked who he was, he declared himself to be the very one who could easily be recognized from the picture which stood above his little bed. At once the cleric, rising, snatched up a light, and from the likeness of the picture recognized that Saint Andrew the apostle had appeared to him. And so he went on to Indulfus lying there, and found him now half-dead.
Beginning to cry out with great wailings, he compelled both the count and all who slept under those same dwellings to come with pitiable outcry, and, pouring water on the face of the fallen man, through the invocation of Saint Andrew the apostle he at last made him speak at some point; and he revealed to the count, together with him, all the things which had been disclosed to him. The count, when day had come, called the monks and, full of complaint, began to inquire what he had committed against Saint Andrew. But they showed the dormitory of the cooks destroyed by their hands. And when the count, devoted to God, wished to subject them to punishment, they confessed that they had destroyed that building by the orders of Indulfus.
When, for its repair, the count wished to give the monks silver, Sergius, master of the soldiers, resisted, promising that he would at once restore it better on his behalf. Soon the count, humbly withdrawing from the monastery's cloister, betook himself with all his people to the house of Peter, son of the late Charles; nor did he thereafter allow a lodging to be given him in that same monastery. But Indulfus, left behind in the house of that same Sergius, master of the soldiers, perished utterly, and showed by his own ruin that the holy apostle had prevailed against him. 97. Recently a certain priest, Dominic, while Zacharias the bishop, of whom I have spoken before, was bearing the charge of the Gregorian monastery, became provost of the monastery;
who, corrupted by the frailty of the flesh, carried off or seduced a certain nun named Eupraxia from the monastery of Saint Andrew the apostle, which is called Clivus Scauri, and placed her in the region of the Seven Ways, at a place called Vipera. When the corrupted nun, because she did not have a latrine and an oven adjoining, frequently seemed to be a nuisance to him, the wretched priest, linking sin to sin, in order that he might be able to please his little harlot, did not shrink from offending the blessed Gregory. Plundering the wood and tiles of his marvelous — nay, most health-giving — fountain, he did not blush to build a privy and an oven for the prostituted woman.
When these things were done, and on the following night he was sleeping more securely, free from the complaints of the lascivious woman, in that same house, he saw two certain terrible chamberlains leading him back with bound hands to the venerable monastery. Questioning them by whose command they did such things to him, he heard that the Roman pontiff had commanded this. Now at that time John, pontiff of the holy Apostolic See, was traversing the shores against the incursions of the Saracens; and the bound priest, recalling his absence, added reproachfully: The lord pope set out yesterday against the Saracens, and how do you say that he himself ordered me to be bound, seeing that you have not seen him since? But they said:
If John the pope departed hence, holy Gregory remained here, who, surveying the cloisters of his monastery in his accustomed manner, found his fountain despoiled by you, and we saw the oven and privy of your little harlot covered with its coverings. When the priest heard this, blushing, he trembled; and — as you shall see him held by their violence in the court of the monastery — he heard a certain subdeacon coming forth from the innermost parts and saying to the chamberlains: Stretch him out, and with fifty red-marked rods beat the belly, and with as many the back, of this fornicating and sacrilegious priest.
Roused indeed by these pains, the priest, already fevered, was set upon a horse and, supported on either side by others, hastened back to the monastery, and made known to the brethren the sentence of his own guilt. Torn by invisible blows under the guise of a fever, he could say nothing else but: 'Lord, I am being paid back; Lord, I am being paid back.' And when he was asked why he repeated this so often, he said that he was groaning under a continual scourging; and thus on the sixth day he died with this pitiable cry upon his lips. Indeed, it has been proved by very many instances that those defiled by the contagion of fornication cannot survive long at all in that same venerable monastery.
By this token, even to this day the weight and the whole measure which the same blessed Gregory established is preserved in that peck-measure (modius); and if anyone should wish to make loaves from a measure of it for the use of the monastery, thirty-five are produced, each of just three pounds; but if anyone should make them for another's use, he never reaches that number. When the aforesaid bishop Zacharias wished to learn this for certain, for the celebration of the feast of the blessed apostle Andrew he gave the bakers a measure of ten pecks of wheat; and from these, to the astonishment of those same bakers, he received loaves multiplied as if from eleven pecks. Assuredly, if they, carefully counting them beforehand, had found any surplus, they would without doubt have kept it for themselves.
Indeed, how frequently blessed Gregory appears—both there and in the basilicas of the apostles, and also in the patriarchate—now exhorting the innocent, now deterring the guilty, in the very likeness of his own recognizable form: because I am not now able to recount this, here, with the Lord's assistance, I make an end of this work, and I leave the remaining miracles of the same Father to be recorded after me by men more learned than I. His venerable merit indeed, as long as the orbit of this world revolves—so that I may confess it with Paul, that most eloquent man—shall ever receive increase:
For it is without doubt ascribed to his grace, whether that the Church of the English is ever made fruitful with new offspring, or that by his teachings throughout the whole world many who were estranged through sin are brought back to the mercy of Christ, or that all good men, kindled by his exhortations, seek the heavenly homeland with longing. 100. Behold, most zealous of pontiffs, compelled by the force of your command, while I have desired to cull certain deeds of blessed Gregory your predecessor—the apostle, that is, of the Saxon race—I, an unskilled writer, have described a rhetorician. But I beseech that, with the same care with which you long ago bade me pluck out these things, you would bring them, as you have begun, to the notice of all:
so that in that which I rejoice to have pleased your sacred and holy judgment, I may not at all be assigned to be judged by anyone, but rather be found among those who shall judge. Indeed, most recently, when with the Lord's cooperation I was eager to close this fourth book, on the night when the venerable day of the Lord's Resurrection was dawning, while I was writing in my sleep, a certain one under the likeness of some ancient plotter openly presented himself to be seen; and, adorned in priestly fashion with a most white and at the same time most thin tunic—through whose very sheerness the blackness of the tunic beneath shone through—he soon stood close by, and, with puffed-out cheeks, could not contain his laughter.
While I was thinking to prepare a curule seat for him, seeing him laughing beyond measure, I seemed to accost him, asking why a man of such weighty office should make such a wanton uproar in the silence of the night. But he said: 'Because you write about the dead, whom while living I never once saw.' And when I had replied that I was writing all the more truthfully in that they were unknown to me by face, yet not unknown by reading, and without any fault of envy or flattery, he answered: 'You, as I see, have done what you wished; but I shall not cease to do what I shall be able to do.' Saying this, he utterly extinguished the flames of the lamp by whose light I happened to be enjoying; and yet the whole wick he could not extinguish;
yet he so terrified me, placed as I was in darkness, that I thought I would forthwith be cut down by swords at his hands. When after a little while, as I was in despair, blessed Gregory appeared to me, made bright with much light—accompanied on his right by Pope Nicholas of reverend memory, and on his left, as it seemed to me, by his deacon Peter—saying: 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?' And when I, struck by my former fright, could not answer him, the kindly father Nicholas, pointing out with his finger the adversary lurking behind the curtain which then surrounded my little bed, said: 'Because this envious one has, so far as lay in him, extinguished the very flames of the lamp.'
At once Gregory, seizing the hand of the deacon in which he seemed to hold a great torch, and scorching with its flames the face and countenance of the wanton one, blackened him after the likeness of an Ethiopian. From this burning, a tiny spark descending from the mouth of the wanton one set his gleaming tunic ablaze quicker than a word could be spoken; and thus he appeared wholly most black. And when the deacon said that the adversary was blackened enough, blessed Gregory said: 'We have not blackened him, but have shown that he was black.' Then, having encouraged me in my misfortune with various consolations, he departed. And the torch indeed he carried away with him, but he left the place where I was sleeping truly shining with so great a light that, on waking, I again and again called out to the boys sleeping before me;
nor did they in any way answer, sunk in heavy sleep, or manage to rise, before the abundance of the light that had been left, gradually withdrawing itself, had wholly flowed away. But concerning these matters, let God see to it; I, however, strengthened by the confidence of divine hope—since Gaudericus, bishop of Velletri, requests it—shall, with the Lord's help, turn my pen to the merciful bishop of the Roman see: so that I, who, worn down by continual misfortunes, cannot repay to my friends—by whom I am somehow sustained—the merit due them, may at least be known not to have withheld the words which I am able to offer.