Letter 10049

From: Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome To: Adeodatus, illustrious layperson Date: ~600 AD Context: Gregory writes to encourage Adeodatus to despise temporal things and to love eternal ones. Gregory to Adeodatus, the illustrious. The temporal things that occupy most people's attention — wealth, status, the good opinion of the powerful, the pleasures of this life — are genuinely valuable in their way. I am not a man who thinks the material world is evil or that bodily life is something to be escaped. But they are not the most valuable things. And they pass. What seemed immovably important ten years ago often looks quite different now; what will seem important ten years from now may look equally strange to your future self. What does not pass is the love of God and the love of neighbor. What does not pass is the character you have built through years of honest dealing, genuine charity, and faithful service. These things go with you when the temporal things fall away. I am not asking you to abandon the life you live. I am asking you to hold it more lightly — to pursue it without being controlled by it. This is the freedom that genuine Christian maturity looks like. Gregory

AD ADEODATAN ILLUSTREM. Illius animum ad tempora'ium contemptum, cterno- rum vero amorem confirmat. Joanni et Leontio cow missam indicat Decii episcopi causam. Gregorius Adeodatz illustri. Magnam nobis letitiam gloriz vestre ingessit epistola, quz zterne vilz desiderium vos babere Signavit; sed quia hujusmodi studium fugitiva solet mundi gloria przpedire, hortamur ut mentis vesire Saluberrimam deliberationem res quzlibet transito- ria non revocet, nec ab inceplo eam tramite deviet. Sed magis supernz palriet amor accendat, premia mansura $ollicitenl, et ad venturi judicis promissio- riz vocate $unt, Scilicet Campania, Tuscia et Um- bria, Picenum, Sicilia, Apulia et Calabria , Brutii et 8ancli Benedicti, lib. 1, cap. 2 : Quod tes/amentum D Lucania, Samnium, Sardinia (hanc postmodum Afri- mulu@> vicissitudinis usque hodie in archivis publicis vestri reservalur monasterit. ErisT. XLY [Al. 6]. — * la Anglic., Norm:, Turon., Rbem., quaiuor Vatic., tres Colbert., Cotb., elc. in Vatic.:A legitur Eudosio. In uno ex Colbert. dicitur episcopus Ecclesie Sion. Vet. Editi retinue- runt Ecclesii nomen, at recentiores habent Eulogio. KEersrT..XLVI [AL. 47]. — * Divisa a Constantino Mag. in dieeceses $uas Italia, assignatisque superio- ris lia>b';2 vicario provinciis septein, que lalize no- meu exinde $ibi vindicaruut, sub wcario urbis Rome provinciz decem erant, quz urbicariz et suburbica- cane dicecesi attribuit Justinianus), Corcica, Valeria. Alius erat ab urbis vicario przlecius urbi : hic urba- nus magistratus ; illi vero mandala provinciarum jurd, ut loquitur Symmachus, lib. 1x, epist. 449. At vica- rium de quo hic Gregorius non tant potestatis ſui>sC arbitramur. Lib. 1v Dialog., c. 52, laudatur Joannes vir magnificus in hac urbe locum preſectorum servans. Forte Crescentius vicarius prefecti urbis vices ge- rebat. Censelt Alteserra fuisse vicarium prafe: Ui pre- torio. Cas8iodorus, Var. lib. vi, in formula vicarii urbis Rome : Habes, inquit, cum praſectis aliquam portionem....inira quadragesimum 8ancitssima urbis Jura cus!0d18..... Senit-res qui precedunt ordi:e, alt- qua videntur a le necessaria postulare, Habes q presles 8guperioribus le. 1405 EPISTOLARUM LIB. X. — INDICT. HI. — EPIST. LL 1406 nem cerla. semper aspiret, atque ex temporalibus A limus. Gloriosum enim Gregorium expreſectum, vel zlerna mercelur, ut ex hoc et in vera gloria esse, &t inter malronas possitis celestes a<cribi. Reducite ad animos prosperitates temporum , multitudinem hominum, dignilatum pompas, matronarum gloriam, divitiarum abundantiam. Attendite hc omnia ubi yel quid facta Sunt, et ex hoc pensate quam nulla sint, et quia qui ista diligit, somnium vigilans videt. Hee ilaque recordatio magna vobis debet esse In- Structio, quoniam pro magno diligi non debet quid- quid fine concluditur. lia ergo appetenda, illa sum- mopere diligenda 8unt, quz nec inventa transennt, nec adepta deficiunt. Sed quia ad eorum desiderium anhelare sine divine misericordie gratia nullus va- let, oramus omnipotentem Dominum ut h#c vobis et eligendi velle, et posse tribuat obtinendi, quatenus et hic vos in $uo vivere timore concedat, et postea in sanclarum ® martyrum $sorle recipiat. Paterna itaque charitate gloriam vestram P1v!antes, indica- mus Þ de causa ſratris et coepiscopi nostri Decii hoe nobis visum ſuisse, ut eam audiendam fratri et coepiscopo nostro Joanni et Leontiio glorioso, quia bonus et justus vir dicitur, committere deberemns : securi maxime quia ubi predicti ſratris et coepiscopi nos(ri in judicio charitas interest, nec eis subripiatur, nec pars Ecclesiz possit prejudicium sustinere.