Letter 3029: [Bishop Avitus to Amandus.

[Bishop Avitus to Amandus.] It has long been the case that we keep putting off, whether through forgetfulness or through the press of business, a matter that is most necessary and was established by the fathers not without divine inspiration. But the bonds of necessity must sometimes be broken, so that the debts owed to the commandments may at last be paid. The synods, then, which the care of our elders had decreed should be held twice a year by the bishops, we have been holding, if you weigh it well, with such regularity that we manage but a single one after every two years. For on account of this negligence the venerable Pope of the City [Rome], being incensed at us, has more than once had biting writings delivered to me. Wherefore the church of Vienne, through me, makes its supplication, if you think it fitting; and the reviving wholesomeness of a custom long interrupted demands that what has hitherto lain torpid through disuse should be roused up again. It is just, as far as I judge, that, with the earlier ordinances now treated under the favorable occasion of our common presence, we should together, both among ourselves and for ourselves, as the order of our conversation shall determine, either bring forward the old matters or, if it be necessary, also join our own to them. For this reason all of us brothers together ask that, God favoring us, you would deign to be present on the eighth day before the Ides of September [September 6th] in the parish of Epao [Epaone], where a place sufficiently suitable for the assembly has been chosen, midway and with everyone's fatigue taken into account, just as the time too has been chosen which, so far as can be done, being free from the pressure of rural labor, permits everyone a more unhindered journey. And yet the more important cause of the church would demand that any business of worldly affairs whatsoever be set aside. We therefore supplicate and beseech, we call to witness and adjure, that no obstacle of any excuse draw anyone away from so holy an arrangement; that no entanglement of temporary necessity hinder anyone from such a bond of charity. But if perhaps, which God forbid, so great a bitterness of bodily infirmity should come upon someone that his spiritual desire is overcome by carnal disadvantage, let him take care to present to the brothers in his stead two presbyters of great and approved life, fortified with the instruction of his mandate. And let him deign to choose such men as their knowledge no less than their reverence may rightly cause to take part in the council of bishops; men with whom it may be a pleasure for the highest pontiffs to confer in discourse; men who, when they have been chosen with such discernment, may have the authority granted by law to maintain and to subscribe the decisions on behalf of their own bishop. But let nothing extort this except the utmost necessity. For the rest, the greatness of fraternal love and of pastoral diligence is not proved except by the greatness of labor. For your Holiness surmises, after this long silence of our neglect, how either those matters which, God granting, are to be treated should be decided, or how those things which shall have been decided ought to be made known to all the ministers of the churches of our province.

[Avitus episcopus Amando], Diu est, quod rem valde necessariam et non sine divina inspiratione a patribus institutam aut oblivione aut occupatione differimus. Sed rumpenda sunt interdum vin- cula necessitatum, ut aliquando impleri possint debita praeceptorum. Conventus ergo, quos bis per annum a sacerdotibus fieri cura seniorum decreverat, si bene perpenditis, adsiduitate vel singulos post biennia faceremus. Nam et venerabilis papae urbis nobis ob hanc neglegentiam succensentis mordacia mihi nonnumquam scripta perlata sunt. Vnde supplicat per me, si dignamini, ecclesia Viennensis, poscit intermissae consuetudinis rediviva salubritas, quod hactenus infrequentatum torpuit, excitari. Iustum est, quantum reor, ut constitutis prioribus sub communis praesentiae oppor- tunitate tractatis nostris simul nobisque, prout ordo collocutionis invenerit, vel in- sinuemus vetera vel, si necesse est, etiam nostra iungamus. Idcirco cuncti simul poscimus fratres, ut deo favente octavo iduum Septembrium die in parochia Epao- nensi adesse dignemini, ubi medius atque omnium fatigatione perpensa conventui satis opportunus locus electus est, sicut et tempus, in quantum fieri potest ab in- stantia ruralis operis vacuum liberiorem cunctis permittit excursum. Quamquam ec- clesiae potior causa intermitti quaslibet terrarum posceret actiones. Supplicamus ergo et quaesumus, testamur obtestamurque, ne quem a dispositione tam sancta obex ul- lius excusationis abducat; ne quem a tali caritatis vinculo nexus temporaneae neces- sitatis impediat. Sed si forte, quod deus avertat, tanta acerbitas corporeae infirmitatis ingruerit, ut spiritale desiderium carnali vincatur incommodo, duos presbyteros magnae ac probabilis vitae mandati instructione firmatos fratribus pro se praesentare procuret. Et tales dignetur eligere, quos episcoporum concilio non minus scientia quam reveren- tia iure faciat interesse; cum quibus delectet summos pontifices conferre sermonem; quos ad definitiones pro episcopo suo continendas subscribendasque cum fuerit soller- tia eligi, sit auctoritas legi. Set istud non extorqueat nisi summa necessitas. Ceterum dilectionis fraternae ac pastoralis diligentiae magnitudo nisi laboris magnitudine non probatur. Conicit enim sanctitas vestra, post hoc longum abusionis nostrae silentium qualiter aut definiri, quae praestante deo tractanda sunt, aut, quae definita fuerint, universis ecclesiarum provinciae nostrae ministris debeant intimari.