Letter 4006: Gregory to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily. It has been reported to us that a native of the province of Lucania, Petronilla by name, was converted through the exhortation of the bishop Agnellus, and that all her property, though she had it in her own power, she nevertheless bestowed on the monastery which she entered even by a special deed...

Gregory to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily. We have received a report about a woman named Petronilla, a native of the province of Lucania. She was converted through the exhortation of Bishop Agnellus and, though she had full control of her property, she gave everything to the monastery she entered, even executing a formal deed of gift. The same bishop died leaving half his estate to his son Agnellus — said to be a notary of our Church — and the other half to the monastery. When they later fled to Sicily because of the calamity threatening Italy, this Agnellus is said to have corrupted Petronilla's morals and defiled her. Finding her pregnant, he enticed her from the monastery, taking with her all her possessions — both what had originally been hers and whatever the bishop his father had given her — and now claims these things as his own. We urge you to have both the man and the woman brought before you promptly, and to conduct the most thorough investigation. If the facts prove to be as reported to us, settle this matter — polluted as it is by so many offenses — with the utmost severity. The man, who showed regard for neither his own station nor hers, must face strict punishment. She is to be disciplined first and then placed in a monastery under penance. All property taken from the original monastery, together with all its produce and additions, is to be restored in full.

Book IV, Letter 6 To Cyprian, Deacon. Gregory to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily. It has been reported to us that a native of the province of Lucania, Petronilla by name, was converted through the exhortation of the bishop Agnellus, and that all her property, though she had it in her own power, she nevertheless bestowed on the monastery which she entered even by a special deed of gift: also that the aforesaid bishop died leaving half of his substance to one Agnellus, his son, who is said to be a notary of our Church, and half to the said monastery. But, when they had fled for refuge to Sicily because of the calamity impending on Italy, the above-named Agnellus is said to have corrupted her morals and defiled her, and, finding her with child, to have seduced her from the monastery, and to have taken away with her all her belongings, both those that had been her own and such as she might have had given her by his own father, and that, after perpetrating such and so great a crime, he claims these things as his own. We therefore exhort your Love to cause the aforesaid man, and the above-named woman, to be summarily brought before you, and to institute a most thorough enquiry into the case. And, if you should find it to be as reported to us, determine an affair defiled by so many iniquities with the utmost severity of expurgation; to the end that both strict retribution may overtake the above-named man, who has regarded neither his own nor her condition, and that, she having been first punished and consigned to a monastery under penance, all the property that had been taken away from the oft above-named place, with all its fruits and accessions, may be restored.

Gregorius Cypriano diacono et rectori Siciliz. currit Regia mnjeslas. EPISTOLAhNUM LIB. IV. — INDICT. XI. — EPIST. VIEL 674 Peil.ium est ad nos (Grat. 19, q. 3, c. 8) Petro- a mentem adversus ea maxime quez in Ecelesiis geruu- nillam nomine de provincia ® Lucania genitam, per exbortationem Agnelli episcopi ſuisse conversam , resque 8uas Oomnes, quas habere potuit, Þ licet sibi '. jure potuissent compelere, lamen eidem monasterio, quod ingressa est, etiam specialiter donationis titulo contulisse : morientemque predictum episcopum di- amidiam partem subslantiz suz Agnello cuidam filio su0, qui notarius nostrz csse ſertur Ececlesiz, atque dimidiam eidem monaslerio reliquisse. Sed cum propter jrruentem Ializ cladem Siciliam reſugissent, dicitur eam sXpe nominalus Agnellus corruptis ezus moribus stuprasse, atque sentiens gravidam, de mo- naSterio © seduxisse, reSque ejus omnes lam pro- prias, quam eas quas de parte patris ipsius habere poterat absltulisse, ac post perpetratum tale tantum- que facinus, in sui eas © dominii jure defendere, Hortamur igitur dilectionem tuam GG ut praedi- etum virum vel ante ſatam ſeminam sub districta ad te ſacias exseculione perduci, caus2mque ipsa3Mm secundum sui meritum Summa sublilitatis examina- tione perquiras. Et si ita inveneris, ut nobis nuntia- tum es1l, negotium tot iniquitatibus inquinatum, cum SUMMZ purgationis severitale deterinina ; quatenus- et ante fſato viro, qui nec 8uum, nec illius altendit habitum, et tantorum causa fuit scelerum, * ultio districta proveniat ; et illa prius procedente vindicla, atque in monasterium sub poeniteutia redacta, one nes res, que de sxpe dicto loco ablatz ſuerant, cum omnibus illis suis ſructibus- atque accessionibus re- vertantur.