Letter 1023: Gregory to Peter, subdeacon [Gregory's administrator in Sicily].

TO PETER THE SUBDEACON. That he provide Marcellus with the necessities for food and clothing, and take care that shepherds be substituted in the place and stead of those who have fallen. Gregory to Peter the subdeacon. It has been made known to us that Marcellus of the Church of Baruni [name uncertain in the manuscripts], in the same place in the city of Panormus [Palermo], assigned to penance in the monastery of Saint Adrian, not only suffers want of the necessities of food, but also endures the excessive distress of nakedness. On account of this matter we hold it needful to enjoin upon your diligence, by this present order, that you appoint for him, for food and clothing and bedding toward his maintenance, and a yearly allowance for his boy, as much as you shall foresee to be sufficient; so that his want and nakedness may, by such provision, be able to have remedy, in such a way that what you shall have assigned to that same man may afterward be charged to your accounts. Do this, therefore, in such a way that, by fulfilling our command, you may by this very service be made a partaker in this same reward. Moreover, we have taken care to commission you to investigate this, the old custom which had by now taken root being set aside: that if any cities in the province of Sicily are known to be vacant of pastoral governance because of the lapse of priests through sins, you examine, from the clergy of those same Churches, or from the monasteries, whether any worthy men can be found for the priestly office, and that you transmit them to us, with the gravity of their character first inquired into, so that the flock of each place may not have to be found bereft for a long time through the lapse of its pastor. But if you find places indeed vacant, and no one suitable for such a dignity is found from that same Church, report to us likewise with careful inquiry, so that God, whom He shall have judged worthy of such ordinations, may be able to be provided. For it is not fitting that, by the excess of one man, the Lord's flock should be able to dissolve along precipices without a shepherd. For thus both the ordering of the places will come about, and there will remain no suspicion that the lapsed may return to their former rank, in which they may the better repent. EPISTLE XIX. TO NATALIS, BISHOP OF SALONA. That he restore the archdeacon Honoratus to his rank; then, if the controversy remains, let them plead the case at Rome. (See book II, epistle 18.) Gregory to Natalis, bishop of Salona. The proceedings which you directed to us, drawn up in the secretarium of your council, in which the archdeacon Honoratus is condemned, we have recognized to be full of the seed of quarrels, since at one and the same time one person, unwilling, is advanced to the honor of the priesthood, while another, as though undeserving, is removed from the office of the diaconate. And just as it is just that no one be compelled to be promoted against his will, so I think it must be judged that no innocent man be unjustly cast down from the ministry of his order. Nevertheless, because discord is hateful to God, we admonish you to restore his own to the archdeacon Honoratus, and that, being in concord, they render the services proper to the divine ministries. For our hearing and inquiry, if the matter of scandal is still being nourished among you, let the aforesaid archdeacon present himself, having been admonished, and let your Charity, on behalf of your party, send an instructed person, so that, with these being present, and the Lord assisting us, the zeal of partiality for persons being laid aside, we may be able to decide the things that belong to the favor of justice.

AD PETRUM SUBDIACONUNM. Ut Marcello ad victum et veslitum necessaria provideat, pas(ores in lapsorum locum et vicem curet 8ub>litui. Gregorins Petro subdiacono. Insinuatum nobis est Marcellum * Barunitanze B Ecelesiz, ibidem in Panormitana civitale, in mona- sLle1io $ancli Adriani in penitentiam deputatum, nou solum vicius necessKilatem pati, Sed et nudilatis ni- miam $ustinere molestiam. Pro qua re nece-se habe- mus $lrenvitati tur praesenti jussione precipere, ut ipsi pro victu et vestimento stratoque Þ ad continen- tiam, pueroque £cjus ZQZ annonam, quantum pro- 8pexeris satis es$e, conStituas; ut inopia nuditasque ejus tali providentia possint habere consvItum, ut ca quz eidem viro deputaveris, luis postmodum possint rationibus imputari. Ita ergo fac, ut et nostram jus- ' Errsr. XY. — © ha seribitur in plerisque Mss. In un» tamen e Vatlicanis legitur, Barro/itann, in alio Barulitane. In Excusis, Barbicane, vel Barubi- cane. Tal. wm part., cap. 20, adn. 21. Dens diqnum juiicaverit. Verum non raro Gregorius preposlero o0:dine vorces disponit et contexit. 4 In Norm., Corb., Turon., per presumpta. nendo, hac ipsa possis participari mercede. Prelerea hoc tivi indagandum mandare curavimus, veleri que jam inoleverat consuetudine postpoxita, ut $i que cj- vitates in provineia Sicilie pro peccaiis per Sacerd9- tum lapsus a pastorali regimine vacare noscuntur, de clero Ecclesjiarum ipsarum, vel ex monasteriis, $i qui digri ad sacerdotalem locum possunt inveniri, per- Spicias, et ad nos inquisita primitus morum gravilate transmilt+s, ut grex uniuscvjusque loci per pastoris lapsum inveniri non debeat longo tempore destitutus, Si vero vacantia quidem loca repereris, et nullus tali dignitate ex eadem Ecclesia congruus inveniatur, ad nos similiter inquisitione solerli renuntia, ut Deus quem dignum talibus ordinationibus judicaverit, va- leat © provideri. Non enim oportet ut unius excessu grex dominicus 4 per praxrupta possit Sine - pa-tore diſluere. Ita enim et locorum ordinatio proveniet, et revertendi © lapsis ad gradum priorem, quo melius peniteant, Suspicio non manebit. EPISTULA XIX. AD NATALEM EPISCOPUM SALONITANUM. Honoratum archidiaconum $810 gradui restituat; de- inde, si manet conlroversia, Rome causam dicant. (Vide l. 11, ep. 18.) Gregorius Natali episcopo Salonitano. Gesta (Grat. dis. 74, cap. 2) que nobis in concilii veslri conſeeta ® secretario direxistis, in quibus ar- dylgentiam in persona incestuosi Corinthii exbibet Theodoretns, h:rretic. Fabul. lib. v, cap. 28, de pce- nitent:a : De eo autem qui Corinthi ſornicatus es, quid d'cent, qui non s0lum divinis 84cramentis dignus est ha- bitus, 8ed docendi quoque gratiam as+eculus es! ? (Quare cum tanquam de vero, docto et s1piente 8e jactarent, qui 8b eo erant, divinus Apostolus iilos reprehendit, di- cens : « Et vos in/lati eslis, et non polius luctum habui- slis, ut tollatur de medio restrum qui hoc ſecit. » Sed lamen cum eum qui doctor eral, et maximum flagitium paira:e ausns. ſueral, Satane lradidisset, rursus illum ex ejus manibus e:ipuilt, et corpori Ecclesie tradidit, etc. Tum coneludit : Hlujusmodi habebant commisera- tionem Ecclesice magistri. Eraut enim medici 8pirilales, $4'.0rum quilem raletudinem conservantes, male autem ' afſoclorum miorbos profl:gantes. Gussanv. De irrevoca- hi:i lypSorum clericorum depositione, infra, ad epist. 92, lib. 1x. EpisT. XIX. — © Vox apud jurisconsultos obvia, pro loco in quo judicr's causas audiunt. In conciliis et scriptoribus ecclesiasticis usurpatur pro parie len- Concinit cum Epaonens), cap. 22, Agathensi, cap. D Pi ab a'liis secrrla, in quam episSC-Pus, SACeriiotes Z0 : Si episcopus, presbyter, aut diaronus c pitale cri-— men commigert, aut charias ſalsaverit, ant les{monium ſal-um dixeril, ab officii "onore deposilus, in monasle- rio relrudutur, et ib1 quaniu rizerit, (aicam tantum- modo communionem accimal. lun»eent.us I, epi-l. 2, ad Exuperium, rights adversus Sacerdotes mconti- nentes. Neoc:rsariense , Cap. 9 et 10, obscurius lo- quitur, et alias difficu}t-tes movet. Quamobrem cur cum libellaticis et sacriſicatis, cum h:rrelicis et $Cini- $maticis ſacilius aliquand» dispe:$atum $18, non li- quet. Fortassis extranei alliciendi erant quoquomodo, filii $everius caStigandi. Monet Santius Augu-linus lib, 1 conua Cresconium, cap. 16, aliter paganos, aliter h;xreticos recipi. Sic Donabsiis nihil non _con- cedit, ut ad Ecclesiz redeant unitatem. De iis qui carne lapsi sunt, legat stndioous Sanctum Augnsi- num, episl. v4, ad Aurehum, ubi locum explicat Rom. xm, quzritque cur hoc viti genus Acerrime pre caieris ab Ecclesia vindicetur. Ejus lamen mn- et ministri sese recipiebant ante et posl 82crum. Sic apuil Severum Sulpicium, dialogo 2, de Vita $:ncti Martini, cap. 1, Conc. Lao cenum, cp. 21, appellat Secrelarium Sive diacon'cum. Sidovius Aprilin., lb. v, epist. 17, vocat receplorium. S nctvs Gregorius, epist. 56, bb, v, salutator.um. Erat autem Secreia- rium majus, et Secretarium minus. Maju3 proprie Salutatorium dicebatur, quod in eo episecopi Sacra ſacturi, antequam ad altare procederent, fideli m Salutationes exciperent, Seu illorum $e oraiionibus commendarent. In illo filii Ecclesie admittebaitur, vidue profitebantur, et cogebantur quaadoque con- Ci'la. Carthagin. concil. tertium, quartum, Sextum, Septunum, Milevitanum atque Africacnum plenarium habita swnt in 8ecretcrio basilica, ut habet Singulorum inscriptio. CaSarauguStanum quoque et Arelat, Se- cindum, Locum in quo habita est £ynodus Chalce- don. Secretarium vocal Liberatus Diac., in Breviario, cap. lo. Vide lib. 1m, epist. 56. Ipsum in inferiort 465 EPISTOLARUM LIB. 1. — INDICT. IX. — EPIST. XXI. 466 ehidiaconus Honoratus Þ addicitur, plena esse co- A quam elegerit personam instructam ; ut omnia $ubtili giicvimus BOS semine jurgiorum, cum uno eodem- qie tempore una persona nolens ad sacerdotiii hono- rem provehitur, que tanquam immeriti © a diacona- 1s officio removetur. Et sicut justum est ut nemv crescere compellatur invitus, ita censendum ' puto, ne quisquam insons ab ordinis Sui ministerio dejicia- tur injuste. Verumitamen quia inimica Deo discordia Suam Honorato archidiacono reslituas commonemus, alque concordes divinis ministeriis competentia exhi- bere servilia. Audientiz et quezstioni nostrz, $i ad- huc inter vos causa nutritur scandali, predictus ar- chidiaconus occurrat admonitus, atque dilectio tua pro parlibus $uis dirigat personam instructam, qui- bus praxsentibus solatiante -nobis Domino, deposito $ludio personarum, que competunt ſavori juslitie decernere valeamus.