Letter 13015: I have received word that Jews in Naples have been holding public spectacles and games on our feast days — and...
Those who with sincere intention wish to bring strangers to the Christian religion and the right faith ought to pursue this by gentleness, not by harshness, lest adversity drive far away those whose minds clear reason could have attracted. For those who act otherwise and wish under this cover to remove them from their accustomed religious observance prove that they are attending to their own causes rather than God's. For the Jews dwelling in Naples have complained to us that certain persons are attempting unreasonably to drive them from certain solemnities of their festivals and their celebrations.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Qui sincera intentione extrancos ad christianam religionem ad fidem*' cupiunt
rectam adducere, blandimcntis debent, non asperitatibus studere^, ne quorum mentem
roddita plana'* ratio poterat provocare, pellat procul adversitas**; nam' quique* aliter
agunt et^ eos hoc sub vehiminc a consueta ritus sui volunt cultura suspendere, suas
illi* magis quam I)ei probantur*' causas attendere*^ ludaei siquidem Neapolim " habi-
tantes questi nobis sunt asserentes, quod quidam eos a quibusdam feriarum suarum
sollemnibus" inrationabiUter nitantur arcere, ne illis sit licitum festivitatum suarum
sollemnia colere, sicut eis nunc usque et parentibus eorum longis retro temporibus
licuit observare vel colere. Quod si ita se veritas habet, supervacuae rei videntur
operam® adhibere. Nam quid utilitatis^ est, quando, et si contra longum^ usum fuerint
vetiti, ad fidem illis et' conversionem nihil' proficit? Aut cur ludaeis, qualiter ceri-
monias suas^ colere debeant", regulas ponimus, si per hoc eos lucrari non possumus?
Agendum ergo est, ut ratione potius et mansuetudine provocati^ sequi nos velint, non
fugere, ut eis ex eorum^ codicibus ostendentes quae dicimus ad simmi matris ecclesiae
Deo possimus adiuvante convertere. Ttaque fraternitas tua eos monitis quidem, prout
potuerit, Deo adiuvanto ad convertendum accendat* et^ de suis illos sollemnibus»
inquietari denuo non permittat, scd omnes festivitates feriasquc suas, sicut hactenus
tam ipsi quam parentes eorum per longa colentcs retro tempora tenuerunt*, liberam
habeant observandi celebrandique licentiam.
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