Letter 11037: It has come to our knowledge that, if any one has a suit against any clerics, you cause these clerics to be brought before you for judgment, setting at nought their bishops. If this be so, seeing that it is evidently very unsuitable, we order you by this our authority that you presume not to do it any more. But, if any one should have a suit aga...
Pope Gregory the Great→Romanus, Patrician, and Exarch of Italy|c. 601 AD|gregory great
Military conflict
Gregory to Romanus, guardian of Sicily.
It has come to my attention that whenever anyone has a lawsuit against a cleric, you summon the cleric before your own tribunal for judgment, setting aside the authority of the bishop. If this is true, it is clearly improper, and I order you by this authority to stop doing it.
If anyone has a suit against a cleric, let him go to the bishop, who may either hear the case himself or appoint judges. If it is a matter for arbitration, let the official appointed by the bishop compel the parties to choose an arbitrator. But if any cleric or layperson has a suit against a bishop, then you may properly intervene -- either hearing the case yourself or directing the parties to choose judges on your admonition. If each bishop does not have his own jurisdiction preserved, what happens except that the ecclesiastical order is thrown into confusion by the very people who should be guarding it?
Further, I have been told that when our most reverend brother Bishop John placed certain clerics under penance for offenses requiring it, you removed them from that penance on your own authority, without his knowledge. If this is true, you have done something altogether improper and deserving of serious reproof. Restore those clerics to their bishop without delay. And take care not to commit this fault again -- for if you are careless about this, know that you will incur my displeasure in no small degree.
Book XI, Letter 37
To Romanus, Guardian (Defensorem).
Gregory to Romanus, Guardian of Sicily .
It has come to our knowledge that, if any one has a suit against any clerics, you cause these clerics to be brought before you for judgment, setting at nought their bishops. If this be so, seeing that it is evidently very unsuitable, we order you by this our authority that you presume not to do it any more. But, if any one should have a suit against any cleric, let him go to his bishop, that either he may take cognizance himself, or at any rate that judges may be deputed by him; or, if it should be a case for arbitration, let the executive authority deputed by him compel the parties to choose a judge. But, if any cleric or lay person should have a suit against a bishop, then you ought to interpose, so that either you yourself may take cognizance of the matter between them or that on your admonition they may choose for themselves judges. For, if each single bishop has not his own jurisdiction reserved to him, what else is done but that ecclesiastical order is confounded through us by whom it ought to be guarded?
Further, it has been reported to us that, certain clerics having been sent into penance for fault requiring it by our most reverend brother bishop John, you have on your own authority, without his knowledge removed them from it. Now, if this is true, know that you have done a thing altogether unseemly, and calling for no light reproof. Wherefore restore these clerics without delay to their bishop. And beware of committing this fault in future: for, should you be inattentive, know that you will incur our anger in no slight degree.
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Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 13. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1898.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360211037.htm>.
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Gregory to Romanus, guardian of Sicily.
It has come to my attention that whenever anyone has a lawsuit against a cleric, you summon the cleric before your own tribunal for judgment, setting aside the authority of the bishop. If this is true, it is clearly improper, and I order you by this authority to stop doing it.
If anyone has a suit against a cleric, let him go to the bishop, who may either hear the case himself or appoint judges. If it is a matter for arbitration, let the official appointed by the bishop compel the parties to choose an arbitrator. But if any cleric or layperson has a suit against a bishop, then you may properly intervene -- either hearing the case yourself or directing the parties to choose judges on your admonition. If each bishop does not have his own jurisdiction preserved, what happens except that the ecclesiastical order is thrown into confusion by the very people who should be guarding it?
Further, I have been told that when our most reverend brother Bishop John placed certain clerics under penance for offenses requiring it, you removed them from that penance on your own authority, without his knowledge. If this is true, you have done something altogether improper and deserving of serious reproof. Restore those clerics to their bishop without delay. And take care not to commit this fault again -- for if you are careless about this, know that you will incur my displeasure in no small degree.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.