Letter 13009: When the hearts of Catholic kings are so inflamed with ardent desire, by divine grace preventing them, as of their own accord to demand the things that pontifical admonitions should provoke them to, such things are to be granted with cheerful and joyful mind all the more as the very things which they desire ought to have been demanded of them, h...

Gregory to Thalassia, Abbess. When the hearts of Catholic kings are so inflamed with ardent desire by divine grace that they ask of their own accord for the very things our pastoral admonitions should have urged them to seek, such requests should be granted with cheerful and joyful heart -- all the more because these are things we ought to have demanded of them had they been unwilling. Accordingly, in response to the letters of our most excellent royal children Brunichild and her grandson Theoderic, I hereby grant, confirm, and establish privileges for the monastery of Saint Mary -- where a community of nuns has been constituted, founded in the city of Autun by Bishop Syagrius of revered memory, over which you preside. I decree: no king, no bishop, no person of any dignity whatsoever shall have the power, under any pretext or occasion, to diminish, seize, divert to their own use, or grant to other supposedly pious purposes (as a cover for their own greed) anything that has been given to this monastery by the royal children or that may in the future be given by anyone from their own possessions. All current and future gifts shall be held by you and your successors inviolate and undisturbed, provided they are applied to the uses of those for whose support they were given. On the death of an abbess, no successor shall be imposed through scheming. The king of the province, with the consent of the nuns, shall choose a new abbess in the fear of God, and she shall be ordained by the local bishop without requiring any payment.

Book XIII, Letter 9 To Thalassia, Abbess. Gregory to Thalassia, etc. When the hearts of Catholic kings are so inflamed with ardent desire, by divine grace preventing them, as of their own accord to demand the things that pontifical admonitions should provoke them to, such things are to be granted with cheerful and joyful mind all the more as the very things which they desire ought to have been demanded of them, had they been unwilling to do them. Accordingly, in accordance with the letters of our most Excellent royal children, Brunichild and her grandson Theoderic, to the monastery of Saint Mary, where there is constituted a congregation of handmaidens of God, founded in the city of Augustodunum by the bishop Siagrius of reverend memory, over which you preside, we indulge, grant and confirm by the decree of our present authority privileges as follows — Ordaining that no king, no bishop, no one endowed with any dignity whatsoever, or any one else whatsoever, shall have power, under show of any cause or occasion whatsoever, to diminish or take away, or apply to his own uses, or grant as if to other pious uses for excuse of his own avarice, anything of what has been given to the same monastery by the above-written king's own children, or of what shall in future be bestowed on it by any others whatever of their own possessions. But all things that have been there offered, or may come to be offered, we will to be possessed by you, as well as by those who shall succeed you in your office and place, from the present time inviolate and without disturbance, provided you apply them in all ways to the uses of those for whose sustentation and government they have been granted. We also appoint that on the death of an abbess of the aforesaid monastery no other shall be ordained by means of any kind of craftiness of secret scheming, but such a one as the king of the same province, with the consent of the nuns, shall have chosen in the fear of God, and provided for the ordination of. Under this head we also add, in order that we may exclude all place for avarice, that no one of the kings, no one of the priests, or any one else in person or by proxy, shall dare to accept anything in gold, or in any kind of consideration whatever, for the ordination of such abbess, or for any causes whatever pertaining to this monastery, and that the same abbess presume not to give anything on account of her ordination, lest by such occasion what is offered or has been offered to places of piety should be consumed. And, inasmuch as many occasions for the deception of religious women are sought out, as is said, in your parts by bad men, we ordain that an abbess of this same monastery shall in no way be deprived or deposed unless in case of criminality requiring it. Hence it is necessary that if any complaint of this kind should arise against her, not only the bishop of the city of Augustodunum should examine the case, but that he should call to his assistance six other of his fellow bishops, and so fully investigate the matter, to the end that, all judging with one accord, a strict canonical decision may either smite her if guilty, or absolve her if innocent. All these things, therefore, which the paper of this our precept and decree contains we decree to be observed in perpetuity for you as well as for all who may succeed you in the same rank and place, and for all whom they may concern. Moreover, if any one, whether king, priest, judge, or secular person, being aware of this our written constitution, should attempt to contravene it, let him be deprived of the dignity of his power and honour, and know that he stands guilty before divine judgment for the iniquity that he has perpetrated. And, unless he either restore what he has wrongfully taken away, or lament what he has done unlawfully with fit penitence, let him be debarred from the most sacred body and blood of our God and Lord, the Redeemer Jesus Christ, and be subject to strict vengeance in the eternal judgment. But the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be to all who observe what is just to this same place, to the end that they may both receive here the fruit of their well-doing, and find the rewards of eternal peace at the hands of the strict Judge. About this page 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/360213009.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.