Letter 1018: We have been informed that Marcellus of the Barutanian Church, who has had penance assigned him in the monastery of Saint Adrian in the same city of Panormus, not only is in want of food, but also suffers inconvenience from scarcity of clothing. Therefore we hold it necessary to enjoin your Activity by this present order to appoint for him as mu...

Book I, Letter 18 To Peter the Subdeacon [Gregory's delegate in Sicily]. Gregory to Peter. We have been informed that Marcellus of the church of Baruta, who was assigned penance in the monastery of Saint Adrian in Palermo, is not only lacking food but also suffering from a shortage of clothing. We therefore order you to provide him with whatever you judge necessary for food, clothing, and bedding, both for his own maintenance and for his servant's provision. Ensure his want and need are addressed with timely care. Whatever you allocate for this man will be charged to your accounts afterward. Act so that you both fulfill our command and, by handling this well, share in the spiritual reward. There is another matter we direct you to address, setting aside whatever old customs may have developed. If any cities in the province of Sicily are known to be without a bishop due to the failures of their clergy, investigate whether there is anyone among the local clergy or in the monasteries who is worthy of the office. After first examining their character and conduct, send them to us, so that no congregation is left shepherdless for an extended period because of its pastor's failure. If in any vacant see you cannot find a suitable candidate from the local church, send us word after equally careful inquiry, so we can provide someone whom God has judged worthy of ordination. It is not right that one person's fall should leave the Lord's flock wandering without a shepherd among dangerous cliffs. This way, the administration of these places will continue, there will be no suspicion of fallen clergy being restored to their former rank, and those under penance may repent all the more sincerely.

Book I, Letter 18 To Peter the Subdeacon. Gregory to Peter, etc. We have been informed that Marcellus of the Barutanian Church, who has had penance assigned him in the monastery of Saint Adrian in the same city of Panormus, not only is in want of food, but also suffers inconvenience from scarcity of clothing. Therefore we hold it necessary to enjoin your Activity by this present order to appoint for him as much as you may see to be needful in the way of food, clothing and bedding for his own maintenance, and provision for his servant; so that his want and nakedness may be provided for with such timely care that what you assign to this same man may be reckoned afterwards to your own account. So act, therefore, that you may both fulfil our command, and also by ordering this very thing well you may be able yourself to partake of the profit of the same. Further, there is this other matter that we enjoin you to look to without regard to the old custom that has now grown up; namely, that if any cities in the province of Sicily, for their sins, are known to be without pastoral government through the lapses of their priests, you should see whether there be any worthy of the office of priesthood among the clergy of the churches themselves, or out of the monasteries, and, after first enquiring into the gravity of their behaviour, send them to us, that the flock of each place may not be found destitute for any length of time through the lapse of its pastor. But if you should discover any vacant place in which no one of the same church is found fitted for such a dignity, send us word after the like careful enquiry, that some one may be provided whom God may have judged worthy of such ordination. For it is not right that from the deviation of one the Lord's flock should be in danger of wandering abroad among precipices without a shepherd. For thus both the administration of places will go on, and there will remain no suspicion of the lapsed being restored to their former rank; and so may they repent the better. About this page 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/360201018.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.