Letter 1017: Inasmuch as the abominable Autharit during this Easter solemnity which has been lately completed, forbade children of Lombards being baptized in the Catholic faith, for which sin the Divine Majesty cut him off, so that he should not see the solemnity of another Easter, it becomes your Fraternity to warn all the Lombards in your districts, seein...
Pope Gregory the Great→Unknown|c. 590 AD|gregory great
arianismbarbarian invasionfamine plague
Barbarian peoples/invasions; Theological controversy; Military conflict
Book I, Letter 17
To all the Bishops of Italy.
Gregory to all.
The detestable Authari [king of the Lombards, the Germanic people who had invaded and occupied much of Italy] during this recently completed Easter season forbade the children of Lombards from being baptized in the Catholic faith. For this sin, God struck him down so that he would not see another Easter.
Your Fraternity must therefore warn all the Lombards in your districts -- since deadly plague threatens everywhere -- to reconcile their children who were baptized in the Arian heresy [a form of Christianity that denied the full divinity of Christ, widely held by Germanic peoples] to the Catholic faith, and so calm the wrath of Almighty God that hangs over them.
Warn those you can. Use every power of persuasion you possess to seize on them and bring them to the true faith. Preach to them the promise of eternal life without end, so that when you stand before the stern Judge, you may show through your efforts the gains that a good shepherd brings.
Book I, Letter 17
To all the Bishops of Italy.
Gregory to all, etc.
Inasmuch as the abominable Autharit during this Easter solemnity which has been lately completed, forbade children of Lombards being baptized in the Catholic faith, for which sin the Divine Majesty cut him off, so that he should not see the solemnity of another Easter, it becomes your Fraternity to warn all the Lombards in your districts, seeing that grievous mortality is everywhere imminent, that they should reconcile these their children who have been baptized in Arian heresy to the Catholic faith, and so appease the wrath of the Almighty Lord which hangs over them. Warn, then, those whom you can; with all the power of persuasion you possess seize on them, and bring them to a right faith; preach to them eternal life without end; that, when you shall come into the sight of the strict judge, you may be able, in consequence of your solicitude, to show in your own persons a shepherd's gains.
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Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360201017.htm>.
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Book I, Letter 17
To all the Bishops of Italy.
Gregory to all.
The detestable Authari [king of the Lombards, the Germanic people who had invaded and occupied much of Italy] during this recently completed Easter season forbade the children of Lombards from being baptized in the Catholic faith. For this sin, God struck him down so that he would not see another Easter.
Your Fraternity must therefore warn all the Lombards in your districts -- since deadly plague threatens everywhere -- to reconcile their children who were baptized in the Arian heresy [a form of Christianity that denied the full divinity of Christ, widely held by Germanic peoples] to the Catholic faith, and so calm the wrath of Almighty God that hangs over them.
Warn those you can. Use every power of persuasion you possess to seize on them and bring them to the true faith. Preach to them the promise of eternal life without end, so that when you stand before the stern Judge, you may show through your efforts the gains that a good shepherd brings.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.