Letter 4049: For the dedication of the four altars in your church, I am sending the relics you require.

Gregory to Palladius, bishop. For the dedication of the four altars in your church, I am sending the relics you require. They are to be installed in the altars with appropriate ceremony and reverence. The dedication of altars with relics connects the local church to the broader communion of saints and to the universal church that venerates them. Do not treat this as a mere formality. The relics represent the witness of those who gave their lives for the faith; their installation in your altars is a statement about the kind of community you are and the tradition you stand in. Conduct the ceremony with care. Gregory

AD PALLADIUM EPISCOPUM. Mittit reliquias ad dedicationem quatuor affarmm in basilica quam Palladius construxerat. Gregorius Palladio * episcopo Santonis > Galliz. Veniens lator praesentium Leuparicus presbyter ' vester inSinuavit nobis ſraternitatem vestram eccle- Siam in honorem beati Petri et Pauli apostolorum, necnon Laurentii aique Pancratii martyrum con- struxisse, aique illic tredecim altaria © collocasse ,. ex quibus quatuor necdum dedicala comperimus re- mansisse, ob hoc quod suprascriptorum $anctorunr reliquias iilic collocare Deo annuente disponitis. Ee quia reliquias sanctorum Petri et Pauli, necnon Lau- rentii atque Pancratii martyrum cum veneralione priebuimus, hortamur ut eas cum reverentia $Susci- pere , et collocare, auxiliante Domino, debeatis provisuri ante omnia ut 4 servientibus ibidens non debeant alimoniarum deesse suffragia ©. provincie caput. Restituimus titulum ex Mss. Col- bert.,. VYatic., Norm. In Yulgatis autem legitur epi- . $C0po de Santonibus., © In Vatic. B et nonnvullis legitur, duodecim alta- ria. Allare unicum intra singulas ecclesias habent Gr#ci, ut observat Card. Bona de Rebus liturgicis, I. 1, cap. 14, n. 3. Aliam Latinorum consuetudin-m oslendit hzc Gregorii Mag. epist., ved et Ambrosius epist, 20, ad Marcelli-am $sororem, n. 2, scribens de pace a Valentiniano Catholicis data : Nec mora,. inquit, nuntialur imperatorem jussis8e ut recederent milites de basilica...... certatim hoc nuntiare milites irruentes in altaria, osculis 8ignificare pacis insigne.. Rationem redvit Baronius, cur plura quandoque wdi- ficarentur allaria : Erant, inquit, sepulcra mariyruns allaria, et ubi condebaniur martyres, allare consueve- ral erigi. 1d conslat ex Prudentio lib. tpi Erepavwy, hym. 5, 4, 5; saucto Auguslino, 8erm. 5 de >aucto» Stephano, lib. viu de Civitale, cap. 27; Gregorio Turon., Hist. lib. v, c. 49 ; lib. 1 de Gloria marty- rum, Cc. 35 et 91; Paulino, Poem. 4. Imo ex ejusdem Paulin epist. 52, nove Edit., certum est illus jam- zlate Super sepulcra et reliquias cunſes<orum altaria- ſuisse condita. In capitular. 1 Caroli Mag., an. 8U5S, n. 6, caveiur de altaribus ut uvn superabundent iw ecclesii>, * Gall., ass28stance. Suffragor per translationew ,