Gregory the Great (Wisigothic)→Unknown|gregory great
Gregory to Leontius, bishop, visitor of the Church of Rimini [Ariminum, on the Adriatic coast of Italy].
We have learned from the complaint of the clergy of the Church of Rimini, of which you are visitor [a bishop appointed to oversee a diocese during a vacancy], that having removed everyone else, Your Fraternity has entrusted the management of its patrimony and all other affairs to your own men. If this is so, we do not consider the complaint of that clergy to be unfounded. For this reason, we urge you by these words to arrange that everything pertaining to the aforementioned Church be governed and managed through its own people — whomever you yourself select — or through the deacon who carries this letter, so that no just occasion for murmuring against you may be left to them. If, however, there is perhaps some suspicion of dishonesty among them, then station your own men alongside theirs in the administration, so that through mutual watchfulness they may serve as checks upon one another, rendering full accounts to you in every respect.
Whatever income accrues from the revenues of that Church must, according to custom, be divided into four portions: one to be given to the clergy, another to the poor. Of the remaining two parts, we wish three shares to be made: one for the maintenance of buildings, another to be sent to Castorius, the rightful bishop [the absent or incapacitated bishop of Rimini], for his support, and the remaining one to be kept by you. If anyone in the clergy of the aforementioned Church is found worthy to be ordained as priest, deacon, or to any other rank, you shall have full authority from us to promote him.
Be vigilant, therefore, in winning souls. Be attentive to the proper conduct of the clergy. Do not allow the interests of the Church whose visitation you hold to be unjustly wasted or diminished through any deception, lest — God forbid — you incur both the stain of everlasting peril before God and the guilt of blame before us.
We have also learned that you receive certain grain allowances from the public treasury [i.e., from the imperial fisc], and that this causes you embarrassment, making you less effective than you should be in the affairs of the Church and in the defense of the poor. Therefore, you must abstain from that which brings embarrassment, and be content with the stipends you receive from the Church. For if after our admonition you choose to do otherwise, we shall form a different opinion of you — since you are teaching those entrusted to you to serve avarice by showing them not to be content with sufficient stipends.
Gregory to Leontius, bishop, visitor of the Church of Rimini [Ariminum, on the Adriatic coast of Italy].
We have learned from the complaint of the clergy of the Church of Rimini, of which you are visitor [a bishop appointed to oversee a diocese during a vacancy], that having removed everyone else, Your Fraternity has entrusted the management of its patrimony and all other affairs to your own men. If this is so, we do not consider the complaint of that clergy to be unfounded. For this reason, we urge you by these words to arrange that everything pertaining to the aforementioned Church be governed and managed through its own people — whomever you yourself select — or through the deacon who carries this letter, so that no just occasion for murmuring against you may be left to them. If, however, there is perhaps some suspicion of dishonesty among them, then station your own men alongside theirs in the administration, so that through mutual watchfulness they may serve as checks upon one another, rendering full accounts to you in every respect.
Whatever income accrues from the revenues of that Church must, according to custom, be divided into four portions: one to be given to the clergy, another to the poor. Of the remaining two parts, we wish three shares to be made: one for the maintenance of buildings, another to be sent to Castorius, the rightful bishop [the absent or incapacitated bishop of Rimini], for his support, and the remaining one to be kept by you. If anyone in the clergy of the aforementioned Church is found worthy to be ordained as priest, deacon, or to any other rank, you shall have full authority from us to promote him.
Be vigilant, therefore, in winning souls. Be attentive to the proper conduct of the clergy. Do not allow the interests of the Church whose visitation you hold to be unjustly wasted or diminished through any deception, lest — God forbid — you incur both the stain of everlasting peril before God and the guilt of blame before us.
We have also learned that you receive certain grain allowances from the public treasury [i.e., from the imperial fisc], and that this causes you embarrassment, making you less effective than you should be in the affairs of the Church and in the defense of the poor. Therefore, you must abstain from that which brings embarrassment, and be content with the stipends you receive from the Church. For if after our admonition you choose to do otherwise, we shall form a different opinion of you — since you are teaching those entrusted to you to serve avarice by showing them not to be content with sufficient stipends.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.