Letter 4027: Gregory to Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari). Your Fraternity ought indeed to have been so attentive to pious duties as to be in no need at all of our admonitions to induce you to fulfil them: yet, as certain particulars that require correction have come to our knowledge, there is nothing incongruous in your having besides a letter address...

Gregory to Januarius, Bishop of Cagliari. Your Fraternity should have been so attentive to your pious duties as to need no reminders from us. Still, since certain matters requiring correction have come to our notice, it is not out of place for you to receive a letter bearing our authority. We are informed that the guesthouses established in the vicinity of Cagliari have customarily submitted their accounts periodically to the bishop of the city, to be governed under his oversight and care. Since your Charity has apparently neglected this practice, we urge you — as stated — to see that the managers of these guesthouses submit their detailed accounts on a regular schedule. Appoint men of proven life, character, and competence to preside over them — and specifically men of religious standing, whom secular judges have no power to harass. Otherwise, if such men could be summoned to court, it would create opportunities for draining the meager resources these houses possess. We want you to guard these resources with the greatest care and ensure they are not given away to anyone without your knowledge, lest your Fraternity's carelessness result in their being plundered. Regarding the bearer of this letter, the presbyter Epiphanius, who was criminally accused in certain Sardinians' letters — we investigated his case as we saw fit, and finding no proof of what was charged against him, we have cleared him and restored him to his position. We therefore direct you to track down the authors of these accusations. Unless the person who sent those letters is prepared to support his charges with canonical and absolutely rigorous proof, let him understand the consequences of making false accusations.

Book IV, Letter 27 To Januarius, Bishop. Gregory to Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari). Your Fraternity ought indeed to have been so attentive to pious duties as to be in no need at all of our admonitions to induce you to fulfil them: yet, as certain particulars that require correction have come to our knowledge, there is nothing incongruous in your having besides a letter addressed to you bearing our authority. Wherefore we apprize you that we have been given to understand that it has been the custom for the Guest-houses (Xenodochia) constituted in the parts about Caralis to submit their accounts in detail from time to time to the bishop of the city; that is, so as to be governed under his guardianship and care. Now, as your Charity is said to have so far neglected this, we exhort, as has been said, that the inmates who are or have been established in these guesthouses submit their accounts in detail from time to time. And let such persons be ordained to preside over them as may be found most worthy in life, manners and industry, and at any rate religiosi , whom judges may have no power of annoying, lest, if they should be such as could be summoned to the courts, occasion might be given for wasting the feeble resources which they have: concerning which resources we wish you to take the greatest care, so that they be given away to no one without your knowledge, lest the carelessness of your Fraternity should go so far as to let them be plundered. Moreover, you know that the bearer of these presents, Epiphanius the presbyter, was criminally accused in the letters of certain Sardinians. We, then, having investigated his case as it was our will to do, and finding no proof of what was charged against him, have absolved him, so that he might be restored to his place. We therefore desire you to search out the authors of the charge against him: and, unless he who sent those same letters be prepared to support his charges by canonical and most strict proofs, let him on no account approach the mystery of holy communion. Further, as to Paul the cleric, who is said to have been often detected in malpractices, and who had fled into Africa, having returned to a lay state of life in despite of his cloth, if it is so, we have seen to his being given up to penance after previous corporal punishment, to the end that, according to the apostolic sentence, by means of affliction of the flesh the spirit may be saved, and also that he may be able to wash away with continual tears the earthly filth of sin, which he is said to have contracted by wicked works. Moreover, in accordance with the injunctions of the canons, let no religious person (religiosus) associate with those who have been suspended from ecclesiastical communion. Further, for ordinations or marriages of clerics, or from virgins who are veiled, let no one presume to receive any fee, unless they should prefer to offer something of their own accord. As to what should be done in the case of women who have left monasteries for a lay life, and have taken husbands, we have conversed at length with your Fraternity's aforesaid presbyter, from whose report your Holiness may be more fully informed. Further, let religious clerics (religiosi clerici) avoid resort to or the patronage of laymen; but let them be in all respects subject to your jurisdiction according to the canons, lest through the remissness of your Fraternity the discipline of the Church over which you preside should be dissolved. Lastly, as to the men who have sinned with the aforesaid women who had left their monasteries, and are said to be now suspended from communion, if your Fraternity should observe them to have repented worthily for such a wickedness, we will that thou restore them to holy communion. About this page Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360204027.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.