Letter 3019: Detained for two days by the presence of your glorious father, I organized the bearer somewhat late — the one...

From: Avitus, bishop of Vienne To: Prince Sigismund (later King of the Burgundians) Date: ~511 AD Context: A brief note accompanying the annual feast-day greeting for Saint Vincent's day, with a hint of anxiety about political developments in Sapaudia (Savoy). Bishop Avitus to the lord Sigismund. Detained for two days by the presence of your glorious father, I organized the bearer somewhat late — the one through whom I might fulfill the annual service of my customary devotion for the feast of Saint Vincent. My aim is that amid the affairs in which your labor keeps watch for our salvation, my ever-indebted soul may offer the tribute of sincere devotion. It is enough for the consolation of my longing if the health of all of us depends, under God, on your prosperity. But I cannot receive without some unease the reports that seem to come from Savoy by roundabout routes about developments in the province.

Avitus episcopus domno Sigismundo. Praesentia domni patris gloriae vestrae biduana occupatione detentus aliquatenus portitorem tardius ordinavi, per quem annuum de sancti Vincentii sollemnitate servitium consuetudinariae sollicitudinis cura dependeret: ut inter actiones, quibus vester pro salute nostra labor invigilat, debitor semper animus cultum merae devotionis offerat. Sufficit ergo ad consolationem desiderii mei, si omnium nostrum sanitas in vestra post deum prosperitate consistit. Ceterum non absque scrupulo potest accipi, quod de Sapaudia itineribus exquisitis videmur ad provinciam praeteriri.