Gregory the Great (Wisigothic)→Unknown|gregory great
From: Pope Gregory I
To: John, Bishop of Ravenna
Date: ~595 AD
Context: Gregory rules that clerics serving churches should not be placed in charge of monasteries
I must address a practice that has been reported to me and that I regard as problematic: the appointment of clerics who are actively serving parishes or churches to positions of oversight in monasteries. These are two distinct vocations requiring two distinct kinds of commitment, and a man cannot properly serve both simultaneously. The monastery requires the kind of focused, resident leadership that a parish priest engaged in his own ministry cannot provide. Separate these roles. If a cleric wishes to take up monastic leadership, he must first be properly released from his parish responsibilities. Let this be the rule in your diocese going forward.
AD JOANNEM RAVENNATEM EPISCOPUNM.
Non preponendos monasteriis clericos Ecclesiis de-
8ervientes, |
Gregorius Joanni Ravennali episcopo, elc.
Pervenit ad me (Grat. 18, g. 1, c. 26) * quod in
Eeclesia fraternitatis tuz aliqua loca dudum mona-
sLler.is consecrala nunc habitacula clericorum aut
eliam laicorum ſacta sunt ; dumque hi qui sunt in
ecclesiis fingunt $e religiose vivere, monasteriis pre-
pon: appetunt, et per eorum vitam monasteria de-
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From:Pope Gregory I
To:John, Bishop of Ravenna
Date:~595 AD
Context:Gregory rules that clerics serving churches should not be placed in charge of monasteries
I must address a practice that has been reported to me and that I regard as problematic: the appointment of clerics who are actively serving parishes or churches to positions of oversight in monasteries. These are two distinct vocations requiring two distinct kinds of commitment, and a man cannot properly serve both simultaneously. The monastery requires the kind of focused, resident leadership that a parish priest engaged in his own ministry cannot provide. Separate these roles. If a cleric wishes to take up monastic leadership, he must first be properly released from his parish responsibilities. Let this be the rule in your diocese going forward.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.